The second example is an instance of what is called litotes (pron. LY-to-tees), which is an elegant form of understatement expressed by denying something negative:
She’s not a bad cook means She’s quite a good cook.
The effect is by no means negligible means The effect is quite noticeable.
The negative/positive aspect of sentences is worth noting because a diet of too much negativism in your speech and writing can have an overall negative or depressing effect, and can be confusing, too. Sometimes it is better to express negative thoughts in a positive way. She is not beautiful or She’s by no means beautiful are not only negative but vague – she could be statuesque or handsome. A more positive and precise description might be: She is rather homely.
The ‘Voice’ of a Sentence
All sentences are either active or passive, and it is up to the user to decide which ‘voice’ to use. This voice is not something you hear, by the way; it is rather a point of view. The voice of a sentence is the kind of verbal inflection used to express whether the subject acts (active voice) or is acted upon (passive voice). Here are a few examples of both:
| • ACTIVE | The favourite won the 3.30 hurdle event. |
| Her boyfriend bought the ring. | |
| Very few can appreciate his paintings. | |
| • PASSIVE | The 3.30 hurdle event was won by the favourite. |
| The ring was bought by her boyfriend. | |
| His paintings can be appreciated by very few. |
Even a cursory glance at these sentences tell you that active sentences are more direct, lively and interesting than passive sentences, which tend to be detached and impersonal – ancient history, as some would have it. Generally, we use the active voice almost exclusively in our everyday speech and writing, while the passive voice is reserved mostly for technical, scientific and academic writing.
Being aware of the roles of active and passive voice in sentences helps to avoid mixing them – a topic discussed a little later (see Harmony in the Sentence, page 41).
The Mood of a Sentence
Another quality of a sentence is its ‘mood’, or more accurately the mood of its verb – another kind of verbal inflection used to express the speaker’s intention in a sentence, such as making a statement (indicative), giving a command (imperative), or posing a hypothetical situation (subjunctive). Here are some examples:
| • INDICATIVE MOOD | She’s tired and exhausted. |
| Summer is just around the corner. | |
| Is that all we’re having for dinner tonight? | |
| • IMPERATIVE MOOD | Call me tomorrow. |
| Don’t call me, I’ll call you. | |
| Tell me about it tomorrow. | |
| • SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD | If I were you, I’d tell them about it. |
| The judge ordered that he be tried for theft. | |
| The poor girl wished she were dead. |
Although we often use the subjunctive mood without being aware of it (I wish you were here; God Save the Queen; So be it; If I were you I’d . . .) perhaps because such utterances are idiomatic, it is nevertheless the mood that gives us the most trouble.
Here is a sentence from the Guardian which, if it were grammatically correct (note the subjunctive were, indicating an imagined or possible situation), would have been expressed in the subjunctive mood:
| Incorrect | No wonder the Tory Party turned him down as a possible candidate, suggesting he went away and came back with a better public image. |
| Correct | No wonder the Tory Party turned him down as a possible candidate, suggesting he go away and come back with a better public image. |
Let’s face it – most of us would avoid such a construction where the correct use of the subjunctive mood requires grammatical know-how of a very high order. On the other hand we might have the wit to insert should before the verb go away, rendering the sentence both grammatically correct and more readable:
No wonder the Tory Party turned him down as a possible candidate, suggesting that he should go away and come back with a better public image.
The correct use of the subjunctive can undoubtedly look strange, as in this example quoted by Eric Partridge in his Usage and Abusage: Although he die now, his name will live. Not surprisingly most writers tend to avoid or ignore the subjunctive, so that sentences such as I insist that he is sacked (I insist that he be sacked) and It is to be hoped that she stops her bad behaviour (It is to be hoped that she stop her bad behaviour) are now considered acceptable. This may be so, but careful and elegant writers will always fall back on the subjunctive mood to express hypothetical situations in sentences usually containing if and that (If she were here, I would tell her about Tom; I suggest that she be told immediately.)
Ellipsis: Trimming away ‘Sentence Fat’
Nobody these days wants to write more words than necessary, or to be forced to read fifty words when the information could have been conveyed with half that number. We have already seen that by combining simple sentences into compound and complex sentences we can economise on words and even enhance clarity; but there is another grammatical convention that allows us to trim away words we don’t need. It’s called ellipsis and it works like this:
| WITHOUT ELLIPSIS | When the children were called to the dinner table they came to the dinner table immediately. |
| Harry Green had more coins in his collection than Thomas had coins in his collection. | |
| WITH ELLIPSIS | When the children were called to the dinner table they came immediately. |
| Harry Green had more coins in his collection than Thomas had in his. |
The reason we can get away with omitting part of the structure of sentences is that, if the listener or reader is paying attention, he or she will automatically supply the missing words from the context of what is being said or written. There is no loss of clarity, either; on the contrary, repetitive words can lead to boredom.
We resort to ellipsis constantly in our everyday communicating:
| Leaving already? | means | (Are you) leaving already? |
| See you! | means | (I will) see you (later, tomorrow, etc) |
| Coming? | means | (Are you) coming (with me)? |
Sometimes our economising extends to dropping what were once considered essential words:
He was unceremoniously kicked out the door.
The hat Rita bought is a total disaster.
If we heard these sentences spoken in an informal context we would hardly regard them as ungrammatical as, nowadays, even the strictly grammatical versions look a little odd to our eyes:
He was unceremoniously kicked out of the door.
The hat that Rita bought is a total disaster.
Such sentences are considered informal, although their meanings are perfectly clear. If a hostess greets a guest with, ‘I am delighted that you could come’, isn’t she being a trifle formal? More likely, the greeting would be, ‘I’m delighted you could come!’.
Although