they would have more power, and we could then fix
responsibility.

5. There are two main classes of cake, sponge and butter. We
are taught to make both in cooking school. I like the sponge
cake. The butter cake is preferred by most persons.

=Shift in Number, Person, or Tense=

=33. Avoid an inconsistent change in number, person, or tense.=

Faulty change in number: One should save their money.

Right: People should save their money. [Or] A man should save
his money.

Faulty change in person: Place the seeds in water, and in a few
days a person can see that they have started to grow.

Right: Place the seeds in water, and in a few days you will see
that they have started to grow.

Faulty change in number: Take your umbrella with you. They will
be needed today.

Right: Take your umbrella with you. You will need it today.

Faulty change in tense: Freedom means that a man may conduct
his affairs as he pleases so long as he did not injure anybody
else.

Right: Freedom means that a man may conduct his affairs as he
pleases so long as he does not injure anybody else.

Faulty change in tense: When he heard the news, he hurries down
town and buys a paper.

Right: When he heard the news, he hurried down town and bought
a paper.

Note.--A change of tense within a sentence is desirable and necessary in
certain instances, for which see 55.

Sometimes, for the sake of vividness, past events are described in the
present tense, as if they were taking place before our eyes. This usage
is called the _historical present_. A shift to the historical present
should not be made abruptly, or frequently, or for any subject except an
important crisis.

Exercise:

1. A person should be careful of their conduct.

2. Sentences should be so formed that the reader feels it to be
a unit.

3. One should make the best of their surroundings and their
possessions, provided they cannot better them.

4. When he sees me coming, he looked the other way.

5. Silas Marner lost many of his habits of solitude, and goes
out among his neighbors.

=Mixed Constructions=

=34. Do not make a compromise between two constructions.=

Faulty: I cannot help but go.

Right: I cannot help going. [Or] I cannot but go. [Or] I can
but go.

Faulty: They are as fo