PRECEPT V.—­Supply words that are wanting:  thus, instead of saying, “This action increased his former services,” say, “This action increased the merit of his former services.”—­“How many [kinds of] substantives are there?  Two; proper and common.”—­See E.  Devis’s Gram., p. 14.  “These changes should not be left to be settled by chance or by caprice, but [should be determined] by the judicious application of the principles of Orthography.”—­See Fowlers E. Gram., 1850, p. 170.

PRECEPT VI.—­Avoid equivocal or ambiguous expressions:  as, “His memory shall be lost on the earth.”—­“I long since learned to like nothing but what you do.”

PRECEPT VII.—­Avoid unintelligible, inconsistent, or inappropriate expressions:  such as, “I have observed that the superiority among these coffee-house politicians proceeds from an opinion of gallantry and fashion.”—­“These words do not convey even an opaque idea of the author’s meaning.”

PRECEPT VIII.—­Observe the natural order of things or events, and do not put the cart before the horse:  as, “The scribes taught and studied the Law of Moses.”—­“They can neither return to nor leave their houses.”—­“He tumbled, head over heels, into the water.”—­“’Pat, how did you carry that quarter of beef?’ ’Why, I thrust it through a stick, and threw my shoulder over it.’”

SECTION III.—­OF PRECISION.

Precision consists in avoiding all superfluous words, and adapting the expression exactly to the thought, so as to say, with no deficiency or surplus of terms, whatever is intended by the author.  Its opposites are noticed in the following precepts.

PRECEPT I.—­Avoid a useless tautology, either of expression or of sentiment; as, “When will you return again?”—­“We returned back home again.”—­“On entering into the room, I saw and discovered he had fallen down on the floor and could not rise up.”—­“They have a mutual dislike to each other.”—­“Whenever I go, he always meets me there.”—­“Where is he at?  In there.”—­“His faithfulness and fidelity should be rewarded.”

PRECEPT II.—­Repeat words as often as an exact exhibition of your meaning requires them; for repetition may be elegant, if it be not useless.  The following example does not appear faulty:  “Moral precepts are precepts the reasons of which we see; positive precepts are precepts the reasons of which we do not see.”—­Butler’s Analogy, p. 165.

PRECEPT III.—­Observe the exact meaning of words accounted synonymous, and employ those which are the most suitable; as, “A diligent scholar may acquire knowledge, gain celebrity, obtain rewards, win prizes, and get high honour, though he earn no money.”  These six verbs have nearly the same meaning, and yet no two of them can here be correctly interchanged.