Sec. 22. The right succession of the principal and subordinate propositions
in a sentence manifestly depends on the same law. Regard for economy of
the recipient's attention, which, as we find, determines the best order
for the subject, copula, predicate and their complements, dictates that
the subordinate proposition shall precede the principal one when the
sentence includes two. Containing, as the subordinate proposition does,
some qualifying or explanatory idea, its priority prevents misconception
of the principal one; and therefore saves the mental effort needed to
correct such misconception. This will be seen in the annexed example:
"The secrecy once maintained in respect to the parliamentary debates,
is still thought needful in diplomacy; and in virtue of this secret
diplomacy, England may any day be unawares betrayed by its ministers
into a war costing a, hundred thousand lives, and hundreds of millions
of treasure: yet the English pique themselves on being a self-governed
people." The two subordinate propositions, ending with the semicolon and
colon respectively, almost wholly determine the meaning of the principal
proposition with which it concludes; and the effect would be lost were
they placed last instead of first.
Sec. 23. The general principle of right arrangement in sentences, which we
have traced in its application to the leading divisions of them, equally
determines the proper order of their minor divisions. In every sentence
of any complexity the complement to the subject contains several
clauses, and that to the predicate several others; and these may be
arranged in greater or less conformity to the law of easy apprehension.
Of course with these, as with the larger members, the succession should
be from the less specific to the more specific--from the abstract to the
concrete.
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