(3) "He replied that he wished . . . , and that he intended." (2), though theoretically free from ambiguity, is practically ambiguous, owing to a loose habit of repeating the subject unnecessarily. It would be better to insert a conjunctional word or a full stop between the two statements. Thus:
(4) " He replied that he wished to help them, and indeed he intended," &c., or "He replied, &c. He intended, &c."
Where there is any danger of ambiguity, use (3) or (4) in preference to (1) or (2).
29. When there are several infinitives, those that are dependent on the same word must be kept distinct from those that are not.
"He said that he wished to take his friend with him to visit the capital and to study medicine." Here it is doubtful whether the meaning is—
"He said that he wished to take his friend with him,
(1) and also to visit the capital and study medicine," or
(2) "that his friend might visit the capital and might also study medicine." or
(3) "on a visit to the capital, and that he also wished to study medicine."
From the three different versions it will be perceived that this ambiguity must be met (a) by using "that" for "to," which allows us to repeat an auxiliary verb [e.g. "might " in (2)], and (b) by inserting conjunctions. As to insertions of conjunctions, see (37).
"In order to," and "for the purpose of," can be used to distinguish (wherever there is any ambiguity) between an infinitive that expresses a purpose, and an infinitive that does not, e.g. "He told his servant to call upon his friend, to (in order to) give him information about the trains, and not to leave him till he started."
30. The principle of suspense. Write your sentence in such a way that, until he has come to the full stop, the reader may feel the sentence to be incomplete. In other words, keep your reader in suspense. Suspense is caused (1) by placing the "if-clause" first, and not last, in a conditional sentence; (2) by placing participles before the words they qualify; (3) by using suspensive conjunctions, e.g. not only, either, partly, on the one hand, in the first place, &c.
The following is an example of an unsuspended sentence. The sense draggles, and it is difficult to keep up one's attention.
"Mr. Pym was looked upon as the man of greatest experience in parliaments, | where he had served very long, | and was always a man of business, | being an officer in the Exchequer, | and of a ...