Carried to an extreme it is fatal to vitality of style.
But human nature is more often prone to shirk, and this is the thing
that is passed over from laziness. If you find one who declaims against
the utmost care in verbal polish, you will find a lazy man.
The beginner, however, rarely knows how to set to work, and this chapter
is intended to give some practical hints. We assume that the student
knows perfectly well what good grammar is, as well as the leading
principles of rhetoric, and could easily correct his faults in these if
he should see them. There are several distinct classes of errors to
look for: faults of grammar, such as the mixing of modes and tenses,
and the agreement of verbs and particles in number when collective nouns
are referred to; faults of rhetoric, such as the mixing of figures of
speech; faults of taste, such as the use of words with a disagreeable
or misleading atmosphere about them, though their strict meaning makes
their use correct enough; faults of repetition of the same word in
differing senses in the same sentence or paragraph; faults of tediousness
of phrasing or explanation; faults of lack of clearness in expressing the
exact meaning; faults of sentimental use of language, that is, falling into
fine phrases which have no distinct meaning---the most discordant fault of
all; faults of digression in the structure of the composition.
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