2. The Mosaic

The crystallizing force of Locke's writing may be seen in the effect his Second Treatise of Government had in shaping some of the familiar features of our own government. That much-criticized branch known as the Supreme Court and the combination of many powers in the hands of the executive under the New Deal are modern examples. But even the foundations of our state-the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution-have re-echoed its claims for human liberty, for the separation of powers, and for the sanctity of private property. True, the influence of others is also marked in our Constitution-from the trend and aim of writers like Languet and Bodin, Hooker and Grotius, to say nothing of Aristotle and the Stoic school of natural law; but the fundamental influence is Locke's Treatise, the very quarry of liberal doctrines.

Note how the following phrases have been lifted out of the original text and moved into new patterns:

1. crystallizing force of Locke's writing
2. some of the familiar features of our own government
3. much-criticized branch known as the Supreme Court
4. combination of many powers in the hands of the executive under the New Deal
5. have re-echoed its claims for human liberty ... property
6. from the trend and aim ... Grotius
7. to say nothing of Aristotle and ... natural law
8. quarry of liberal doctrines

Unlike Example 1, there is really no way of legitimizing such a procedure. To put every stolen phrase within quotation marks would produce an almost unreadable, and quite worthless, text.