introductory.dita

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<concept id="concept_ptf_gh3_z2b">
    <title>Introductory</title>
    <shortdesc>This book aims to give in brief space the principal requirements of plain English
        style.</shortdesc>
    <conbody>
        <p>It aims to lighten the task of instructor and student by concentrating attention (in
            Chapters <xref href="elementary_rules_of_usage.dita" format="dita">II</xref> and <xref
                href="elementary_principles_of_composition.dita" format="dita">III</xref>) on a few
            essentials, the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated. In
            accordance with this plan it lays down three rules for the use of the comma, instead of
            a score or more, and one for the use of the semicolon, in the belief that these four
            rules provide for all the internal punctuation that is required by nineteen sentences
            out of twenty. Similarly, it gives in <xref
                href="elementary_principles_of_composition.dita" format="dita">Chapter III</xref>
            only those principles of the paragraph and the sentence which are of the widest
            application. The book thus covers only a small portion of the field of English style.
            The experience of its writer has been that once past the essentials, students profit
            most by individual instruction based on the problems of their own work, and that each
            instructor has his own body of theory, which he may prefer to that offered by any
            textbook.</p>
        <p>The numbers of the sections may be used as references in correcting manuscript.</p>
        <p>The writer's colleagues in the Department of English in Cornell University have greatly
            helped him in the preparation of his manuscript. Mr. George McLane Wood has kindly
            consented to the inclusion under <xref keyref="rule_10">Rule 10</xref> of some
            material from his <cite>Suggestions to Authors</cite>.</p>
        <p>The following books are recommended for reference or further study: in connection with
            Chapters <xref href="elementary_rules_of_usage.dita" format="dita">II</xref> and <xref
                href="a_few_matters_of_form.dita" format="dita">IV</xref>, F. Howard Collins,
                <cite>Author and Printer</cite> (<keyword keyref="frowde"/>); <keyword
                keyref="chicago_press"/>, <cite>Manual of Style</cite>; T. L. De Vinne,
                <cite>Correct Composition</cite> (<keyword keyref="century"/>); Horace Hart,
                <cite>Rules for Compositors and Printers</cite> (<keyword keyref="oxford"/>); George
            McLane Wood, <cite>Extracts from the Style-Book of the Government Printing Office</cite>
                (<keyword keyref="us_geological"/>); in connection with Chapters <xref
                href="elementary_principles_of_composition.dita" format="dita">III</xref> and <xref
                href="words_and_expressions_commonly_misused.map" format="dita">V</xref>, <cite>The
                King's English</cite> (<keyword keyref="oxford"/>); Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch,
                <cite>The Art of Writing</cite> (<keyword keyref="putnam"/>), especially the
            chapter, Interlude on Jargon; George McLane Wood, <cite>Suggestions to Authors</cite>
                (<keyword keyref="us_geological"/>); John Lesslie Hall, <cite>English Usage</cite>
                (<keyword keyref="scott"/>); James P. Kelley, <cite>Workmanship in Words</cite>
                (<keyword keyref="little"/>). In these will be found full discussions of many points
            here briefly treated and an abundant store of illustrations to supplement those given in
            this book.</p>
        <p>It is an old observation that the best writers sometimes disregard the rules of rhetoric.
            When they do so, however, the reader will usually find in the sentence some compensating
            merit, attained at the cost of the violation. Unless he is certain of doing as well, he
            will probably do best to follow the rules. After he has learned, by their guidance, to
            write plain English adequate for everyday uses, let him look, for the secrets of style,
            to the study of the masters of literature.</p>
    </conbody>
</concept>