This section is from the book "The Science And Art Of Phrase-Making", by David Wolfe Brown. Also available from Amazon: The science and art of phrase-making.
150. As a general rule, to facilitate a phrase, we may omit a letter or a syllable when the omission does not make the word illegible, especially if the letter or syllable proposed to be omitted is obscurely sounded. For instance, in log cabin, the omission of k in cabin enables us to phrase two words which otherwise could not be easily joined.
 
Continue to: