Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-21

Dear Sir: AS q more or less consiS-
tent reader of your columns and one
who enjoys most of your musings (pre-
sumably because I usually agree with
them) I should be pleased to see your
comments on the subject Of sentence
construction.
"I have always been somewhat of a
crank on this subject, at least for the
other fellow, and believe 1 am becom-
ing more and more cranky as the mod
srn writer's become more and more care
less in this respect. and it has been
called to my attention more forcibly
than usual recently, in reading Fannie
Hurst's "A. President Is Born
II am not conversant with this
writer's usual style, as / had been I'M
der the impression that she usually con-
which 1 do not indulge to any great
extent.
II was led to read this book by some
very enthusiastic criticisms, and, con-
trary TO my usual experience in such
cases, felt that the book entirely JUS
titled the favorable comments. For
fidelity and strength in her analysis of
the ordinary experiences and emotions
of every day, this book would be hard
to beat, and I enjoyed these features
of it immensely; but, all the time 1 was
-
dissatisfaction and criticism at the v1o-
lent disregard of all the old-fashioned
rules of grammar.
II don't mean merely the lack Of the
proper use of commas, Semicolon, etc,
in an otherwise properly constructed
sentence, in which particular so many
modern books are so sadly remiSS and
the proper use of which adds so much,
but the continual and persistent and
aytr NJ nf
be sentences las indicated by the pres
ence Of period dividing one from an
otherG varying all the way from a
single word land, often, dozens of such
conSecutively) to a single, short clause
introduced by a proposition and up to
long string of words with no subject
and with nothing even approximating
verb. Very truly yours, A. w. c."
X
Most readers will feel, with our cor
respondent, that manhandling of the
honest sentence has gone far enough
in the writing world.
Some of the Nations most noteworthy
fictionistS have no more respect for the
heritage of the sentence than they have
for old-time conventions.
WORDS, they believe, are merely for
the expression of thought, and If one
Is able TO put over" thought by leav-
ing out verb, or the subject, or both,
one should by all means 20 it.
The omission, they seem to feel is a
rather clever feat, setting one above
the common herd Of those who still use
sentences.
Several entirely original writers,
writing from Paris, have given up sense,
too, and throw out words as a cutie
fish does his Ink.
If the words happen to mean any
thing to the reader, we'll and good; if
they do not but appear to him only so
much balderdash, so much the worse
for him.
The sophisticated originator of such
wordy outpourings knows, or presumes
he does, what the words mean; If he
does not, he takes refuge in queer
sounding titles for his work and is
proud to be regarded by few followers
as the originator of new style"
All this time the undisputed great
authors, in all languages, are going
right ahead, in their old-fashioned,
plodding way, writing sentences which
more or less resemble sentences, and
which square with grammatical rules of
all civilized nations.