On Decrease of Predication 



This exhibit of course includes only the verb-suppressions 

 through aid of the simplest substitutes. That there has been 

 a similar saving by the use of verbal nouns, gerundive con- 

 structions, and other devices will be apparent to any student. 

 The discovery of just how far and in just what direction this 

 saving has gone is left for more especial and expert inquiry. 

 The object of this investigation, as has been said, was to de- 

 termine the course and extent of predicational decrease together 

 with the growth of the simple-sentence structure. On com- 

 pleting that inquiry it seemed to me worth while to demonstrate, 

 by a specific test, the principle taken throughout for granted, 

 that each author has his own consistent predicational as well as 

 simple-sentence average. Following Professor Sherman's sim- 

 ilar test for constancy of sentence length, I used Macaulay's 

 History of England^ through forty thousand periods. The 

 summary of results here found is given on pp. 9-11 ; the 

 several entries showing the results for consecutive hundreds 

 throughout. At the end of all will be added an alphabetical 

 exhibit of all authors examined, with entries of predicate and 

 simple-sentence averages under separate hundreds. 



In regard to predicational development in individual styles 

 the following may be of interest. 



Average 2.42 34 



21 



