The structure of the English language differs greatly from that of
either Latin or Greek. In the two latter, especially in Greek,
sentences are joined together by connecting particles. They are
distributed on the right hand and on the left by men, de, alla, kaitoi,
kai de and the like, or deduced from one another by ara, de, oun,
toinun and the like. In English the majority of sentences are
independent and in apposition to one another; they are laid side by
side or slightly connected by the copula. But within the sentence the
expression of the logical relations of the clauses is closer and more
exact: there is less of apposition and participial structure. The
sentences thus laid side by side are also constructed into paragraphs;
these again are less distinctly marked in Greek and Latin than in
English. Generally French, German, and English have an advantage over
the classical languages in point of accuracy. The three concords are
more accurately observed in English than in either Greek or Latin. On
the other hand, the extension of the familiar use of the masculine and
feminine gender to objects of sense and abstract ideas as well as to
men and animals no doubt lends a nameless grace to style which we have
a difficulty in appreciating, and the possible variety in the order of
words gives more flexibility and also a kind of dignity to the period.
Of the comparative effect of accent and quantity and of the relation
between them in ancient and modern languages we are not able to judge.
Another quality in which modern are superior to ancient languages is
freedom from tautology. No English style is thought tolerable in which,
except for the sake of emphasis, the same words are repeated at short
intervals. Of course the length of the interval must depend on the
character of the word. Striking words and expressions cannot be allowed
to reappear, if at all, except at the distance of a page or more.
Pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions may or rather must recur in
successive lines. It seems to be a kind of impertinence to the reader
and strikes unpleasantly both on the mind and on the ear that the same
sounds should be used twice over, when another word or turn of
expression would have given a new shade of meaning to the thought and
would have added a pleasing variety to the sound. And the mind equally
rejects the repetition of the word and the use of a mere synonym for
it,—e.g. felicity and happiness. The cultivated mind desires something
more, which a skilful writer is easily able to supply out of his
treasure-house.