[42]
Again it is a blemish to have too many monosyllables in succession, since the inevitable result is
that, owing to the frequency of the pauses, the
rhythm degenerates into a series of jerks. For the
same reason we must avoid placing a number of
short verbs and nouns in succession; the converse
also is true as regards long syllables, since their
accumulation makes our rhythm drag. It is a fault
of the same class to end a number of successive
sentences with similar cadences, terminations and
inflexions.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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