BROKEN CONSTRUCTION
Sometimes the beginning of a sentence presents quite a
different grammatical construction from its end. This arises from the fact
probably, that the beginning is lost sight of before the end is reached. This
occurs frequently in long sentences. Thus: "Honesty, integrity and
square-dealing will bring anybody much better through life than the absence of
either." Here the construction is broken at than. The use of
either, only used in referring to one of two, shows that the fact is
forgotten that three qualities and not two are under consideration. Any one of
the three meanings might be intended in the sentence, viz., absence of any one
quality, absence of any two of the qualities or absence of the whole three
qualities. Either denotes one or the other of two and should never be applied
to any one of more than two. When we fall into the error of constructing such
sentences as above, we should take them apart and reconstruct them in a
different grammatical form. Thus,—"Honesty, integrity and square-dealing
will bring a man much better through life than a lack of these qualities which
are almost essential to success." |
