The loose
sentence is easy, informal, and familiar; the periodic is stiff,
artificial, and aristocratic. To use none but loose sentences gives a
composition an air of familiarity even to the verge of vulgarity; to
employ only periodic sentences induces a feeling of stiff
artificiality bordering on bombast. The fitness of each for its
purpose is the guide for its use.

There is, however, a reason why young persons should be encouraged to
use periodic sentences. Usually they compose short sentences, so there
is little danger of overburdening the reader's attention. With this
danger removed, the result of the generous use of periodic sentences
will be nothing worse than a too obvious preparation. The sentences
will all be finished to a degree, and unquestionably will give a
feeling of artificiality. However, the attention to sentence-structure
necessary in order to make it periodic is a thing devoutly to be
wished at this stage of growth. No other fault is so common in
sentence-construction as carelessness. A theme will be logically
outlined, a paragraph carefully planned, but a sentence,--anybody
standing on one foot can make a sentence. A well-turned sentence is a
work of art, and it is never made in moments when the writer "didn't
think." The end must be seen at the beginning: else it does not end;
it plays out. There is no other remedy for careless, slipshod
sentence-making so effective as the construction of many periodic
sentences.

Not only will there be care in the arrangement of the material, but
when all details must be introduced before the principal thought,
there will be little chance of any phrase slipping into the sentence
that does not in truth belong there. Dangling participles, trailing
relatives, and straggling generalities can find no chance to hang on
to a periodic sentence. Every detail must be a real and necessary
modification of the germ thought of the sentence, else it can hardly
be forced in. Periodic sentences, then, besides insuring a careful
finish to the work, are also a safeguard against the introduction of
irrelevant material,--the commonest offense against sentence-unity.

Emphasis by Change of Order.

Closely connected with the emphasis gained by the periodic arrangement
of the parts of a sentence is the emphasis gained by forcing words out
of their natural order. In a sentence the points which arrest the eye
and the attention are the beginning and the end. However, if the
subject