Perspicuity depends mainly upon these few things:--
1. +One's Clear Understanding of What One Attempts to Say.+--You cannot
express to others more than you thoroughly know, or make your thought
clearer to them than it is to yourself.
2. +The Unity of the Sentence.+--Many thoughts, or thoughts having no
natural and close connection with each other, should not be crowded into
one sentence.
3. +The Use of the Right Words.+--Use such words as convey your
thought--each word expressing exactly your idea, no more, no less, no
other. Use words in the senses recognized by the best authority. Do not
omit words when they are needed, and do not use a superfluity of them. Be
cautious in the use of _he_, _she_, _it_, and _they_. Use simple
words--words which those who are addressed can readily understand. Avoid
what are called bookish, inkhorn, terms; shun words that have passed out of
use, and those that have no footing in the language--foreign words, words
newly coined, and slang.
4. +A Happy Arrangement.+--The relations of single words to each other, of
phrases to the words they modify, and of clauses to one another should be
obvious at a glance. The sentence should not need rearrangement in order to
disclose the meaning. Sentences should stand in the paragraph so that the
beginning of each shall tally exactly in thought with the sentence that
precedes; and the ending of each, with the sentence that follows.
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