Business English: A Practice Book by Rose Buhlig

daily with fifty trunks containing parcels. =Exercise 60--Sentence Errors= =S. 1.= THE BABY BLUNDER.--In writing, one of the most elementary forms of correctness is shown in the proper division into sentences. The ability instinctively to end a sentence at the right place is called the "sentence sense." Students who do not possess it or who have not learned the difference between sentences, subordinate clauses, and phrases frequently make the mistake of setting off too much or too little for one sentence. For example, they run two sentences together as one; as, _Wrong_: Motor wagons are economical, department stores of all large cities are acquiring them. The sentence, as written above, contains one form of the sentence error--one of the worst possible mistakes in writing. It is sometimes called the _comma fault_ or the _baby blunder_. For brevity we shall call it _S 1_ (sentence error number one). _Motor wagons are economical_ is a principal clause. _Department stores of all large cities are acquiring them_ is also a principal clause. Two such clauses may not stand in the same sentence separated only by a comma. To correct, divide into two sentences; as, _Right_: Motor wagons are economical. Department stores of all large cities are acquiring them. Sometimes the thought in the two principal clauses is closely connected. In that case they may be put into the same sentence, provided they are properly connected or separated. Use a comma _plus_ a coördinate conjunction (as _and_, _or_, _but_) to connect them, or a semicolon (;) to separate them. Be particularly careful of the conjunctive adverbs _so_, _then_, _therefore_, _thus_, _also_, _still_, _otherwise_, _however_, _hence_, _consequently_, _moreover_, _nevertheless_. When they are used to join the principal clauses of a compound sentence, a comma is not sufficient punctuation between the clauses. A semicolon or a comma and a coördinate conjunction must be used. _Wrong_: He had been a good customer, so they were sorry to lose his trade. _Right_: He had been a good customer; so they were sorry to lose his trade. _Right_: He had been a good customer, and so they were sorry to lose his trade. =S. 2.=--The first form of the sentence error (_S 1_) is made by using too much for one sentence. The second form (_S 2_) is made by using too little. It consists in writing a subordinate clause or a phrase as a sentence; as,