Elementary Composition
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Title: Elementary Composition
Author: Dorothy Canfield Fisher
George R. Carpenter
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Language: English
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* * * * *
ELEMENTARY COMPOSITION
BY
DOROTHEA F. CANFIELD
FORMERLY SECRETARY OF THE HORACE MANN SCHOOLS
AND
GEORGE R. CARPENTER
PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC AND ENGLISH COMPOSITION
IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO. LTD.
1918
_All rights reserved_
COPYRIGHT, 1906,
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped. Published August, 1906. Reprinted July,
1907; February, August, 1909; September, 1910; February, 1911;
March, 1913; September, 1914; June, 1915; March, twice, November,
1916.
Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
PREFACE
The authors have endeavored to provide an unusually rich collection
of material for work in composition,--material well arranged, well
graded, well adapted for use in the seventh and eighth grades, and
accompanied by a clear and suggestive statement of the grammatical
and rhetorical principles involved. For skilled advice and
assistance in connection with Chapters II-VI we are greatly indebted
to Miss Jennie F. Owens, of the Jersey City Training School.
D. F. C.
G. R. C.
NEW YORK CITY, July, 1906.
CONTENTS
PAGE
TABLE OF SECTIONS ix
TABLE OF EXERCISES xiii
CHAPTER
I. INTRODUCTION 1
II. THE SENTENCE 4
III. THE PARAGRAPH 29
IV. WORDS 49
V. CONDENSATION, EXPANSION, AND PARAPHRASE 69
VI. WHOLE COMPOSITIONS; OUTLINES 88
VII. ORAL COMPOSITION 102
VIII. THE DIARY 106
IX. THE LETTER 112
X. NARRATION 137
XI. DESCRIPTION 155
XII. NARRATION (_continued_) 188
XIII. EXPOSITION 199
XIV. ARGUMENT 214
XV. SECRETARIAL WORK 225
XVI. VERSIFICATION 234
XVII. PUNCTUATION 247
APPENDIX:
A. RULES FOR SPELLING 269
B. MODEL OF CONSTITUTION 271
INDEX 273
TABLE OF SECTIONS
[The roman numerals refer to chapters; the arabic, to sections.]
CHAPTER PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION 1
II. THE SENTENCE: =1.= Phrases, clauses, and
sentences.--=2.= Simple, complex, and compound
sentences.--=3.= Variety in the use of
sentences.--=4.= Periodic sentences.--=5.=
Bad sentences.--=6.= The "comma" sentence.--=7.=
Sentences without unity.--=8.= The formless sentence 4
III. THE PARAGRAPH: =9.= The use of the paragraph.--=10.=
The beginning.--=11.= Unity in the paragraph.--=12.=
The body of the paragraph.--=13.= Too
many paragraphs.--=14.= The end of a paragraph.--=15.=
Quotations 29
IV. WORDS: =16.= How we learn words.--=17.= The size
and character of the English vocabulary.--=18.=
Increasing one's vocabulary.--=19.= Synonyms.--=20.=
Accuracy in the use of words.--=21.= Figures
of speech.--=22.= Mistakes in the use of words.--=23.=
Spelling.--=24.= Slang.--=25.= Errors in the forms
of words 49
V. CONDENSATION, EXPANSION, AND PARAPHRASE: =26.= Writing
in which the ideas are already at hand.--=27.=
Condensation.--=28.= Method in condensation.--=29.=
Expansion.--=30.= The purpose of expansion.--=31.=
Paraphrase.--=32.= Paraphrase of complete compositions 69
VI. WHOLE COMPOSITIONS; OUTLINES: =33.= Whole compositions.--
=34.= Outlines.--=35.= Essentials in a whole
composition.--=36.= How to plan an essay 88
VII. ORAL COMPOSITION: =37.= The great essential.--=38.=
How to be heard.--=39.= Pronunciation.--=40.=
A plan necessary 102
VIII. THE DIARY: =41.= The value of a diary.--=42.=
Contents of a diary.--=43.= Imaginary
diaries.--=44.= The class diary 106
IX. THE LETTER: =45.= Various kinds of letters.--=46.=
Friendly letters.--=47.= Letters of social
intercourse.--=48.= Formal invitations.--=49.=
Telegrams.--=50.= Business letters.--=51.=
Notices.-- =52.= Appeals.--=53.= Petitions.--=54.=
Advertisements 112
X. NARRATION: =55.= The essentials of a good narrative.--
=56.= Autobiography.--=57.= Biography.--=58.=
History.--=59.= Plain reporting of facts.--=60=.
Conversation 137
XI. DESCRIPTION: =61.= Observation.--=62.= General
scientific description.--=63.= Specific scientific
description.--=64.= Technical terms.--=65.= Literary
description.--=66.= Description of people.--=67.=
Longer description.--=68.= Description of
conditions.--=69.= Description by contrast.--=70.=
Description of events.--=71.= Picture making of
scenes of action.--=72.= Travel.--=73.= Descriptions
of an hour 155
XII. NARRATION (_Continued_): =74.= Historical stories.--
=75.= Fictitious stories.--=76.= The beginning.--
=77.= The ending.--=78.= The body 188
XIII. EXPOSITION: =79.= General principles.--=80.=
Explanation of a material process.--=81.= Explanation
of games.--=82.= Exposition of abstract ideas.--=83.=
Exposition by example.--=84.= Exposition by
repetition.--=85.= Exposition by contrast.--=86.=
Exposition by a figure of speech 199
XIV. ARGUMENT: =87.= General principle.--=88.= The
introduction.--=89.= The reasons.--=90.= The
outline.--=91.= The plea.--=92.= Other forms 214
XV. SECRETARIAL WORK (=93=) 225
XVI. VERSIFICATION (=94=) 234
XVII. PUNCTUATION: =95.= General theory of punctuation.--
=96.= The period.--=97.= The question mark.--=98.=
The exclamation point.--=99.= The semicolon.--=100.=
The colon.--=101.= The comma.--=102.= Parentheses
and brackets.--=103.= The dash.--=104.= The
apostrophe.--=105.= Quotation marks.--=106.=
Italics.--=107.= The hyphen.--=108.= Capitals.--
=109.= List of common abbreviations 247
TABLE OF EXERCISES
CHAPTER II. THE SENTENCE
EXERCISES PAGES
1-3. Distinguishing and constructing phrases, clauses,
and sentences 5, 6
4-13. Distinguishing and constructing simple, complex,
and compound sentences 7-13
14, 15. Variety in the form and length of sentences 15, 16
16. Distinguishing the periodic sentence 19
17-21. Constructing the periodic sentence 19-21
22-24. Distinguishing and correcting the "comma"
sentence 22, 23
25. Correcting sentences that are without unity 24
26, 27. Reconstructing formless sentences 26-28
CHAPTER III. THE PARAGRAPH
28. Noting the force of topic sentences 33
29. Supplying topic sentences 34
30. Writing short paragraphs from topic sentences 35
31. Noting when and why paragraphs lack unity 36
32. Making notes for paragraphs suggested by topic
sentences 40
33. Correcting bad division into paragraphs 41
34. Making notes for paragraphs suggested by summary
sentences 43
35. Making summary sentences for paragraphs indicated
by notes 44
36-38. Use of quotation marks 46-48
CHAPTER IV. WORDS
39-45. Increasing the vocabulary 51, 52
46-52. Synonyms 53-57
53. Distinguishing between similar words 59
54-60. Metaphors and similes 60-62
61-62. Slang 64
63-66. Errors in the forms of words 65-67
CHAPTER V. CONDENSATION, EXPANSION, AND PARAPHRASE
67. Condensing paragraphs 70
68-69. Condensing longer passages 75-77
70. Expanding short and suggestive statements 79
71. Expanding for the sake of clearness 80
72-73. Paraphrasing short passages 82-84
74. Paraphrasing complete poems 87
CHAPTER VI. WHOLE COMPOSITIONS; OUTLINES
75-76. Preparing outlines 96, 101
CHAPTER VII. ORAL COMPOSITION
CHAPTER VIII. THE DIARY
77. Imaginary diaries 109
CHAPTER IX. THE LETTER
78. Friendly letters 118
79. Letters of social intercourse 121
80. Formal invitations 123
81. Telegrams 124
82-84. Business letters 126, 128, 129
85-87. Notices 131, 132
88. Appeals 134
89. Petitions 135
90-91. Advertisements 135, 136
CHAPTER X. NARRATION
92. Fables 138
93. Autobiographical sketches 141
94-96. Biographical sketches 142, 143
97. Historical sketches 150
98. Reporting facts 152
99. Fables told by conversation 153
100-101. Imaginary conversations 153, 154
CHAPTER XI. DESCRIPTION
102. Practice in accurate observation 157
103-104. General scientific description 162
105-107. Specific scientific description 163, 164
108-109. Literary description 168, 169
110-111. Description of people and animals 170, 171
112. Longer descriptions 173
113, 114. Description of conditions 175, 176
115. Description by contrast 177
116. Description of events 179
117, 118. Picture making of scenes of action 180, 181
119. Sketches of travel 185
120. Descriptions of an hour 187
CHAPTER XII. NARRATIVE (_Continued_)
121, 122. Historical stories 190, 191
123. Fictitious stories 193
124. Completing stories, when the beginning is given 194
125. Completing stories, when the ending is given 196
126. Completing stories, when the plot is suggested 198
CHAPTER XIII. EXPOSITION
127-129. Explanation of processes 203, 204
130-131. Explanation of games, sports, etc. 206
132. Explanation by comparison and example 209
133. Explanation (general) 211
134. Explanation of proverbs and quotations 212
135. Explanations of national festivals 213
CHAPTER XIV. ARGUMENT
136. Statement and definition of subject 216
137. Pleas 221
138. Argument (general) 222
139. Giving reasons for personal preference 223
CHAPTER XV. SECRETARIAL WORK
140-141. Minutes, official letters, etc. 228, 230
CHAPTER XVI. VERSIFICATION
142. Arranging verse in stanza form 240
Completing rhymes 241
143-144. Putting fables into verse 243
145. Writing letters, invitations, and stories in verse 245
CHAPTER XVII. PUNCTUATION
146. The semicolon 251
147. The colon and the semicolon 252
148. The comma 257
149. Punctuation of direct quotations 260
150. Punctuation of partial quotations 262
151. Punctuation of quotations within quotations 262
152. Capital letters 265
153. Review of punctuation 266
ELEMENTARY COMPOSITION
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
For several years you have written, from time to time, short
compositions. These have been letters, or stories, or descriptions,
or explanations of ideas you had in mind, or summaries of your
lessons in history or geography. You have now come to a point
in your education where it will be well for you to take up
_composition_ as a separate subject, studying it as you would
geography or history. Let us begin by asking ourselves what it is.
What is composition?
What geography and history are, it is easy to see. Geography is the
subject that has to do with the world as a place. We learn the names
that men have given to the parts of the world, large and small; and,
with regard to each country, what are its climate and the nature of
its soil, its products and manufactures, its cities, and mountains,
and rivers. History is the subject that has to do with the actions
of the inhabitants of the world. We learn what were the chief
nations that have existed or still exist, what were the important
events that took place in each nation, as time went on, and who were
the great men that shaped its destinies. Any one who knew about all
the main events in the life of all the great nations would be a
very learned person indeed; but you have already read or studied
some very important things in the history of Greece or Rome, or the
United States, and thus have a general idea of the history of one or
more of these nations.
Since the beginning of time men have been talking to one another,
and many thousand years ago they found a way of communicating with
one another by written signs or letters; and not so many hundred
years ago they discovered printing, which enables one person to
communicate with many people in different places at the same time.
All over the world, then, people are speaking words or writing
words, and other people are hearing or reading these words and
trying to understand the thoughts intended to be expressed by them.
We have various words to express combinations of spoken or written
words, such as _talk_ or _conversation_, _speech_, _oration_,
_address_, _lecture_, _sermon_, _letter_, _telegram_, _essay_,
_novel_, _poem_, and very many others.
Now, it is obvious that a person may wish to express his ideas and
yet not be successful in doing so. Words may be combined so as to
express thoughts well or to express them badly. _Composition is
the subject that has to do with the best expression of thought by
language._
But how, then, does composition differ from grammar? Grammar is
really a part--a small part--of composition. Each language has
certain customs with regard to the forms which words have under
various circumstances, and to the order in which the parts of a
sentence are placed, as well as a system of names for different
kinds of words and sentences and parts of sentences. This body of
customs or rules we call grammar. But grammar takes into account
mainly the form of a sentence, and pays little or no attention to
its meaning. Composition, on the other hand, deals mainly with words
as expressions of thought.
In our study of composition, then, we are to learn how to combine
or group our words so as best to express our ideas. There are three
ways of gaining skill in composition:--
1. By following a rule or theory.
2. By practice.
3. By imitation.
There are certain rules in composition which are based on the
experience of many writers and speakers. These you will learn as we
go on. These rules will not be of very much value to you, however,
unless you put them into _practice_. If you want to learn how to
swim, you can get the general idea from a friend or a teacher; but
that general idea will not enable you to swim. You must learn to
swim by swimming. In the same way, you must learn composition by
_composing_. Keep trying to express your ideas; let your teachers
and friends tell you how clearly they understand you, take their
criticism to heart, and _try again_.
The third way to learn composition is by imitation, and that is a
very good way indeed. When you think that some one else writes well,
try to write like him or her. Imitation is the greatest possible
help in learning how to do anything well.
CHAPTER II
THE SENTENCE
=1. Phrases, Clauses, and Sentences.=--Composition means putting
together or combining or grouping. The things that we combine are
words. There are three simple ways in which, according to the
customs or grammar of our language, words are combined:--
1. Into phrases.
2. Into clauses.
3. Into sentences.
A phrase is a group of words that does not contain a subject and a
predicate.
EXAMPLES. On the way. In the morning. By the fire. Sailing over the
sea.
A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a
predicate. A clause in which the words do not make complete sense is
called a dependent or subordinate clause.
EXAMPLES. If I could go. When the sun rose. While I was speaking.
Which I saw.
A sentence is a group of words containing at least one subject and
one predicate and making complete sense. A sentence is thus a single
clause or a group of clauses. In a group of clauses, a clause in
which the sense is complete is called an independent or principal
clause.
EXAMPLES. He started at once. If I could, I should start at once.
When the sun rose, the mist disappeared. While I was speaking, the
rain fell heavily.
Neither the phrase nor the dependent clause can be used by itself.
Each is only a part of a sentence. The first rule of English
composition is that we must group our words in sentences.
EXCEPTION. Exclamatory words, phrases, or clauses, such as, Fudge!
Silence in the ranks! If I could only go!
=Exercise 1.=--Which are dependent clauses? phrases? sentences?
Fill out the phrases and clauses so that they become sentences.
1. A little after noon. 2. I found the sea very calm. 3. If we had
kept on board. 4. We should have been all safe. 5. Taking off my
outer clothes. 6. When I came to the ship. 7. How to get on board.
8. I spied a small piece of rope. 9. By the help of that rope. 10.
That all the ship's provisions were dry. 11. When this was done.
12. Putting them together in the form of a raft. 13. I filled the
chests with provisions. 14. Toward the land. 15. My raft went very
well. 16. In the mouth of a little river. 17. On the right shore of
the creek. 18. I made a tent with the sail. 19. Near the sea. 20.
Protected from the heat of the sun.
=Exercise 2.=--Divide the following passages into sentences.
Supply the omitted capitals and the periods or question marks.
1. How late the chimney-swifts are abroad I cannot determine long
after I failed to detect any in the air I could hear them in my
chimney it was the same rustling sound I heard by day when I could
see them coming and going and I know that these birds were leaving
and returning when the night was very dark I think they can be
classed among the nocturnal species
2. Many years ago there was a cold rain-storm in June for comfort
a fire was built on the open hearth instead of in the air-tight
stove that stood before it all went well until the night was well
advanced suddenly a struggle was heard and suppressed cries after
a brief silence there was a shuffling of feet at the doorstep the
men went out with a lantern but no one was to be seen the windows
were then searched but there was nobody near them the matter was
discussed in whispers again and again the noises were heard at last
when everybody was roused to a high pitch of excitement the long
stovepipe heated by the flames upon the hearth parted at a joint and
out flew a sooty and bedraggled little owl no one was superstitious
then but suppose the owl had made its way back to the chimney and
by this way escaped would not every person present have had vague
uncanny feelings would not the house from that time have been haunted
=Exercise 3.=--1. Write a short passage containing the phrases
and clauses used in Exercise 1.
2. Write a short passage containing the following phrases and
clauses:--
About noon--going toward my boat--on the sand--the print of a man's
naked foot--as if I had seen a ghost--up to a rising ground--to look
around--so frightened was I--behind me--every now and then--fancying
every stump to be a man.
=2. Simple, Complex, and Compound Sentences.=--According to the
custom or grammar of our language, we may group our words in
sentences in three ways. Sentences are, from the point of grammar,
of three kinds: simple, complex, and compound.
A simple sentence consists of a single clause.
EXAMPLES. The man fell. The birds sing most sweetly at morning and
at evening.
The subject or the predicate of a simple sentence, or both, may,
however, consist of several parts.
EXAMPLES. The man and the child fell. The man slipped and fell. The
man and the child slipped and fell.
A complex sentence contains one independent or principal clause and
one or more dependent or subordinate clauses.
EXAMPLES. It was nearly night when we heard the glad news. Before
help could reach the city, it had been captured by the enemy.
A compound sentence contains two or more independent or principal
clauses, either with or without dependent or subordinate clauses.
EXAMPLES. Every minute seemed a day; every hour was a year. Finally,
I dropped into an exhausted slumber, but I was awakened by the
sound of bells. The sun, which resembled a ball of fire, touched
the horizon and passed beneath it, and the darkness of the tropical
night came swiftly over us.
=Exercise 4.=--Which sentences are simple? complex? compound?
In the complex sentences, which clauses are dependent? In the
compound sentences, separate the independent clauses from each
other. Mention any dependent clauses which you find in the
compound sentences.
1. It was now near the beginning of the month of June, and we had
twelve weeks of bad weather before us.
2. Our rocky home was greatly improved by a wide porch, which I
made along the whole front of our rooms and entrances.
3. The weeks of imprisonment passed so rapidly that no one found
time hanging heavy on his hands.
4. As the rainy season drew to a close, the weather for a while
became milder.
5. Thunder roared, lightning blazed, torrents rushed toward the sea,
which came in raging billows to meet them.
6. Nature resumed her smiling aspect of peaceful beauty; and soon
all traces of the ravages of floods and storms disappeared beneath
the luxuriant vegetation of the tropics.
7. The recent storms had stirred the ocean to its depths.
8. We crossed the river for a walk along the coast, and presently
Fritz observed on a small island something which was long and
rounded, resembling a boat bottom upward.
9. The island being steep and rocky, it was necessary to be careful;
but we found a good landing place on the farther side.
10. The boys hurried by the nearest way to the beach where lay the
great object, which proved to be a huge stranded whale.
11. Look at these glorious shells and coral branches!
12. Did you notice the extreme delicacy of the shells?
13. We were soon ready to return to the boat, but Ernest had a fancy
for remaining alone on the island till we came back.
14. The more oil we could obtain the better, for a great deal was
used in the large lantern which burnt day and night in the recesses
of the cave.
15. It was unpleasant work to cut up blubber.
=Exercise 5.=--Expand the following simple sentences by
substituting clauses for the italicized words or phrases.
EXAMPLE. I consider him a _trustworthy_ man. I consider him a
man who can be trusted.
1. The _early_ bird catches the worm. 2. We started _before
sunrise_. 3. The _faithful_ steward received a reward. 4. I do
not doubt _your prudence_. 5. They lived in a _rose-embowered_
cottage. 6. Santa Claus came at _candle-lighting_ time. 7. We pity
the _friendless_. 8. The prayer of a _righteous man_ availeth
much. 9. We should share the burdens of the _heavy-laden_. 10. She
carried a dainty _lace-trimmed_ handkerchief. 11. We lingered in the
_lilac-scented_ garden. 12. A _kind-hearted_ man delights in the
happiness of others. 13. The traveler wore a _fur-lined_ coat. 14.
I enjoy driving a _spirited_ horse. 15. A _solemn-looking_ servant
opened the door.
=Exercise 6.=--Use single words in place of the italicized
phrases and clauses in the following sentences.
1. We were stepping _toward the west_. 2. A shout of _joy_ rang
through the woods. 3. The song _of the bluebird_ sounds from the
elm. 4. Her wedding gown, _which was made of silk_, was very
expensive. 5. Words of kindness cheer _those who are unhappy_. 6. We
listened to his tales, _which were often repeated_. 7. His deeds _of
mercy_ made him beloved. 8. A look _of sadness_ clouded the face _of
the leader_. 9. The lawyer _who is able_ secures many clients. 10.
He visited the country, _which had recently been discovered_.
=Exercise 7.=--Substitute, for the italicized words, phrases or
clauses with the same meaning.
EXAMPLE. _Contented_ people are happy (word). People _with
contented minds_ are happy (phrase). People _who are contented_
are happy (clause).
1. An _honest_ man is the noblest work of God. 2. A _friendly_ man
will have friends. 3. He is said to be a _good-natured_ man. 4.
A _beautiful_ child opened the garden-gate. 5. She wore a simple
_muslin_ frock. 6. The king wore his _golden_ crown. 7. He lived
a _noble_ life. 8. The garden is filled with _fragrant_ blossoms.
9. Old King Cole was a _merry_ old soul. 10. The queen made some
_delicious_ tarts. 11. He spoke _hastily_. 12. You have a very
_comfortable_ home. 13. He treated the boy _harshly_. 14. Take her
up _tenderly_. 15. Beware the fury of a _patient_ man.
=Exercise 8.=--Combine each set of simple sentences into one
complex sentence by changing one of them into a dependent clause.
1. The sun is in the west. Man ceases from labor. 2. The dew is
falling. You must not walk in the garden. 3. The clock struck
twelve. The door opened to admit Marley's ghost. 4. Mary has not
written to me. She has been gone a month. 5. The bee is very
industrious. It is always gathering honey. 6. I saw a little red
owl. It lives in a hollow tree. 7. We pitched our tents on the
shore. Then the sea winds blew. 8. We anchored in the bay. The water
was calm. 9. They lived in a village. It was many miles from a
railroad. 10. The poor suffered. The good man mourned.
=Exercise 9.=--Combine the simple sentences, making compound
sentences.
1. The wind blew freshly from the shore. The uneasy billows tossed
up and down. 2. Eustace sat under a tree. The children gathered
round him. 3. Cowards are cruel. The brave love mercy. 4. Charms
strike the sight. Merit wins the soul. 5. He invited his guests to
remain longer. They wished to start before the heat of the day. 6.
The heaven was above his head. The sand was beneath his feet. 7.
The water trickled among the rocks. A pleasant breeze rustled in
the dry branches. 8. The commander was badly wounded. His men were
scattered. 9. It was half-past eight in the evening. The conflict
had raged for an hour. 10. The heavens declare the glory of God. The
firmament showeth his handiwork.
=Exercise 10.=--Combine the following statements into simple
sentences. In each group express the idea of one statement by a
modifying word or phrase.
EXAMPLES. 1. She lay down. She was sorrowful. Sorrowfully she
lay down. 2. She had no shoes. She had to go barefoot. Having no
shoes, she had to go barefoot.
1. He looked back. He saw a cloud of dust. 2. He sprang to his
feet. He ran after the messenger. 3. He donned the white cockade.
He fought for the exiled prince. 4. We climbed the mountain. The
day was cool. 5. We started for home. The sun had set. 6. He lifted
his eyes. He looked toward heaven. He thanked God. 7. It was early
morning. He rowed across the lake. 8. He left early. He wished to
catch the train. 9. He was very studious. He won the scholarship.
10. I went for a ramble. I took little Annie with me. 11. John is a
blacksmith. He lives in the village. 12. He shoes horses. He does
it skillfully. 13. The bluebird sings. He tells us spring is here.
14. We feared to start. The night was stormy. 15. The watchman was
weary. He slept at his post.
=Exercise 11.=--Combine the following statements by using
_relative pronouns_.
EXAMPLES. The flames lit the wreck. They shone on the dead. The
flames _that_ lit the wreck shone on the dead.
1. We heard the roll of ponderous wheels. They roused us from our
slumbers. 2. Travelers are surprised at the beauty of the spot. They
occasionally come upon it by accident. 3. Our throats are choked
with the dust. It lies thick along the road. 4. He drank a cup of
cold water. This refreshed him. 5. Along came a flock of sheep.
They were being driven to market. 6. I went to live in a country
village. It was more than a hundred miles from home. 7. The water
gushed from a little spring. It sparkled in the sunshine. 8. The
villagers were kindly people. They welcomed strangers. 9. I watch
the sunrise stealing down the steeple. This stands opposite my
chamber window. 10. Up came a gallant youth. He wore a scarf of the
rainbow pattern crosswise on his breast. 11. He found under it a
slender little boy. The boy wailed bitterly. 12. The Puritan saw the
boy's frightened gaze. He endeavored to reassure him. 13. Here is a
little outcast. Providence hath put him in our hands. 14. A young
man was on his way to Morristown. He was a peddler by trade. 15. A
little canary bird sings sweetly. It hangs in its gilded cage at my
window.
=Exercise 12.=--Fill the blanks with conjunctions selected from
the following list.
and, also, likewise, moreover, besides, furthermore,
but, yet, however, nevertheless,
or, either, nor, neither,
therefore, hence, then, accordingly.
1. They had been friends in youth, ---- whispering tongues can
poison truth. 2. The waves beside them danced, ---- they outdid the
sparkling waves in glee. 3. The sun sank to rest; ---- we lingered.
4. I came, I saw, ---- I conquered. 5. He wanted to live, ---- he
wanted to work. 6. The owl has a backbone; ---- it is a vertebrate.
7. Our forest life was rough; ---- dangers closed us round. 8.
Knowledge comes; ---- wisdom lingers. 9. 'Tis winter now, ----
spring will blossom soon. 10. We had guns; ---- we had an abundance
of ammunition. 11. I go, ---- I return. 12. All the rivers run into
the sea; ---- the sea is not full. 13. It is storming; ---- we
will not go. 14. He forgave his enemy; ---- he was merciful. 15.
He is not tired, ---- he is lazy. 16. The day proved clear; ----
we began our journey. 17. They had ---- locks to their doors ----
bars to their windows. 18. I assured him of my willingness; ---- he
hesitated. 19. He proved himself honest; ---- I trusted him. 20. The
storm raged; ---- we pushed on.
=Exercise 13.=--Two ideas are sometimes stated as of equal
importance (compound sentence), when one is really dependent
upon the other (complex sentence).
EXAMPLE. "I was on my way to school yesterday morning, and I met
my cousin Raymond."
To revise such a sentence as this, decide which clause contains
the main idea, and make this the principal clause, putting the
subordinate idea in a subordinate clause.
_E.g._ "As I was on my way to school yesterday morning, I met my
cousin Raymond."
Reconstruct the following sentences, making them _complex_
instead of _compound_:--
1. The sun was hot, and we rested in the shade.
2. We visited Stratford, and here Shakspere lived.
3. The poor man was bent with age, and he staggered under the heavy
load.
4. The old woman lived in a little cottage, and it stood on the edge
of the woods.
5. I was walking along the country roads, and I saw some wild
strawberries.
6. The little boy carried a bundle, and it seemed very heavy.
7. The night was chilly, and we built a fire in the grate.
8. I wished to pass away the time, and I read a newspaper.
9. He was very ambitious, and he wished to become President.
10. She struck a match, and it burned with a feeble light.
=3. Variety in the Use of Sentences=:--All your sentences must be
simple, or complex, or compound; but there is no reason why you
should use one of the three kinds in preference to another. If you
examine a passage which you think interesting, you will be quite
likely to find that some sentences are simple, some complex, and
some compound. The variety is pleasing. If all the sentences had
been of one kind, the result would have been decidedly monotonous.
Pupils sometimes ask whether they should use long sentences or
short sentences. This question is really answered in the preceding
paragraph, for a simple sentence is usually shorter than a complex
or a compound sentence. The fact is that what we like is _variety_.
Until you are more experienced in composition, it will be well for
you, in general, to use comparatively short sentences,--that is,
sentences of not more than twenty-five or thirty words. You should
feel at liberty, however, to follow your own taste in such matters,
provided that your sentences are not regularly of about the same
length and about the same form, so that your writing is lacking in
variety.
Be particularly careful, moreover, to avoid the sentence which is so
long as not to be easily understood, such as the following:--
I rose softly, slipped on my clothes, opened the door suddenly,
and beheld one of the most beautiful little fairy groups that a
painter could imagine, consisting of a boy and two girls, the
eldest not more than six, and lovely as seraphs, who were going
the rounds of the house, singing at every chamber door, until
my sudden appearance frightened them into mute bashfulness, so
that they remained for a moment playing on their lips with their
fingers, and now and then stealing a shy glance from under their
eyebrows, until, as if by one impulse, they scampered away, and
as they turned an angle of the gallery, I heard them laughing in
triumph at their escape.
See how much this passage is improved when the long sentence is
broken up into shorter sentences:--
I rose softly, slipped on my clothes, opened the door suddenly,
and beheld one of the most beautiful little fairy groups that
a painter could imagine. It consisted of a boy and two girls,
the eldest not more than six, and lovely as seraphs. They were
going the rounds of the house, singing at every chamber door,
but my sudden appearance frightened them into mute bashfulness.
They remained for a moment playing on their lips with their
fingers, and now and then stealing a shy glance from under their
eyebrows, until, as if by one impulse, they scampered away, and
as they turned an angle of the gallery, I heard them laughing in
triumph at their escape.
=Exercise 14.=--I. Improve the following passage by combining
some of the sentences, making larger complex or compound
sentences:--
I explored an old cellar. I noticed a slight break in the wall.
The neck of a bottle projected from it. I drew it from its resting
place. It proved to be a quaint green glass bottle. It bore a label.
The label read "Currant Wine, 1802." I smacked my lips.
I handed the bottle to my companion to open. He pulled the cork out
with his teeth. We filled two tumblers. I thanked him. I raised the
glass to my lips. I took a deep draught. Instantly I bounded to my
feet. My bound would have done credit to an athlete. I made for the
spring-house.
"Seems to me," remarked the old tenant of the house,--"seems to me
that was horse liniment. I know the smell."
II. Improve the following passage by using a greater number of
sentences:--
Once upon a time there were two princes who were twins and they
lived in the pleasant vale of Argos, far away in Hellas, where they
had fruitful meadows and vineyards, sheep and oxen, and great herds
of horses and all that men could need to make them blest, and yet
they were wretched, because they were jealous of each other, and
from the moment they were born began to quarrel.
=Exercise 15.=--Improve the following by varying the length of
your sentences, making some long and some short:--
A sleep fell upon the whole castle. The beautiful princess slept in
her chamber. The king and the queen were in the great hall. They
fell fast asleep. The horses slept in their stalls. The dogs slept
in the yard. The pigeons slept on the roof. The very fire on the
hearth slept like the rest. The meat on the spit ceased roasting.
The wind ceased. Not a leaf fell from the trees about the castle.
Around about that place grew a hedge of thorns. At last the whole
castle was hidden from view. Nothing could be seen but the vane on
the roof.
Years after a king's son came into that country. He heard about the
enchanted castle. He came near the hedge of thorns. It changed into
a hedge of beautiful flowers. He passed through into the castle
yard. He saw the horses and the hunting dogs lying asleep. On the
roof, the pigeons were sitting with their heads under their wings.
He entered the kitchen. The flies on the wall were asleep. The cook
had her hand uplifted to strike the scullion. The kitchen maid had a
fowl in her lap ready to pluck.
He mounted higher. He saw the whole court asleep. The king and the
queen were asleep on their thrones. At last he came to the tower. He
went up the winding stair. He opened the door. He entered the room
of the princess.
He stooped and kissed the princess. She opened her eyes and looked
kindly at him. She rose. They went forth together. Then the king
and queen and whole court waked up. The horses rose and shook
themselves. The hounds sprang up and wagged their tails. The pigeons
flew into the field. The kitchen fire leaped up and cooked the meat.
The cook gave the scullion a box on the ear. He roared out. The maid
went on plucking the fowl.
The wedding of the prince and princess was celebrated with great
splendor. They lived happily ever after.
=4. Periodic Sentences.=--We have now discussed sentences with
regard to their grammatical structure and with regard to their
length. There is one more way in which they may be looked at; that
is, the degree to which the sense is suspended. This will require a
little explanation.
In each of the following sentences two vertical lines are placed at
the spot where the words first make complete sense.
1. Whenever he comes, he is warmly welcomed.||
2. He is warmly welcomed|| whenever he comes.
3. When Absalom died, David mourned.||
4. David mourned|| when Absalom died.
5. As the President passed, the soldiers saluted.||
6. The soldiers saluted|| as the President passed.
7. While there is life, there is hope.||
8. The sun shines|| on the just and the unjust.
9. The steam tug had long since let slip her hawsers,|| and gone
panting away with a derisive scream.
10. The ship seemed quite proud|| of being left to take care of
itself, and, with its huge white sails bulged out, strutted off like
a vain turkey.
When the words in a sentence are so arranged that the sense is
not immediately complete, the sense is said to be _suspended_. A
sentence in which the sense is suspended until the end, or near the
end, is called a _periodic_ sentence. A sentence in which the sense
is not suspended until the end, or near the end, is called a _loose_
sentence.
A periodic sentence, unless it is long and clumsy, often stimulates
the attention. You cannot understand it at all until you get near
the close, and this very fact keeps your interest alive and leads
your mind on.
In the following passage the sentences are periodic:--
In the midst of a garden grew a rosebush covered with roses.
In one of them, the most beautiful of all, there dwelt an elf.
So tiny was he that no human eye could see him. Behind every
leaf in the rose he had a bedroom. Oh, what a fragrance there
was in his rooms! The walls, which were made of the pale pink
rose leaves, were very clear and bright. Flying from flower to
flower, dancing on the wings of the butterflies, rejoicing in
the warm sunshine, he led a peaceful and happy life.
Here is the same paragraph, so written that none of the sentences is
periodic. Does not the paragraph seem a little flat?
A rosebush covered with roses grew in the midst of a garden. An
elf dwelt in one of them, the most beautiful of all. No human
eye could see him, he was so tiny. He had a bedroom behind every
leaf in the rose. Oh, there was a great fragrance in his rooms!
The walls were very clear and bright, and were made of the pale
pink rose leaves. He led a peaceful and happy life, flying from
flower to flower, dancing on the wings of the butterflies and
rejoicing in the warm sunshine.
The point here, as in the other similar matters we have discussed,
is that the mind likes variety in expression. You need not worry
yourself by thinking much about the form of your sentences; but you
should, if possible, get into the habit of varying them from time
to time. Let them be sometimes short and sometimes long; sometimes
simple, and sometimes complex or compound. And above all, when you
are revising what you have written, try to make sure that in some
cases the sense is sufficiently suspended to make your sentences
interesting.
=Exercise 16.=--In the passage quoted on page 00, mark the place
where the sense is complete in each simple or complex sentence.
In compound sentences mark the place in each independent clause.
=Exercise 17.=--Construct periodic sentences by placing phrases
before the following statements.
EXAMPLE. We idly floated. In among the lily pads we idly floated.
1. The child slept. 2. They eagerly searched. 3. The prisoner
escaped. 4. We explored the creek. 5. The boys laughed. 6. The
people rejoiced. 7. We despaired. 8. The girl fainted. 9. He
blithely sang. 10. She succeeded. 11. He failed. 12. He received his
diploma. 13. The soldiers retreated. 14. Mary turned.
=Exercise 18.=--Construct periodic sentences by placing
dependent clauses before the following statements.
EXAMPLE. They immediately started. When they heard the
signal-gun, they immediately started.
1. They landed. 2. I am happy. 3. We watched. 4. The coward fled. 5.
The raven croaked. 6. The flag will float. 7. The child died. 8. The
poor suffered. 9. Our president died. 10. The slaves were free. 11.
We quietly left. 12. They fled. 13. She returned. 14. We received
the message. 15. He encouraged us.
=Exercise 19.=--Construct periodic sentences by filling the
blanks in the following with phrases or clauses.
1. ---- the village smithy stands. 2. ---- he runs. 3. ---- lay
the little village. 4. ---- to grandmother's house we go. 5. The
moonlight ---- flooded the room. 6. ---- there was a honeysuckle
arbor. 7. ---- he reached home. 8. ---- yet I trust him. 9. ---- I
will help you. 10. ---- Washington ---- took command. 11. ---- rode
the six hundred. 12. ---- a youth ---- passed by. 13. A traveler
---- was found. 14. ---- he still grasped a banner. 15. The prisoner
---- made a confession.
=Exercise 20.=--Construct periodic sentences by filling in the
blanks with phrases or clauses.
1. Far away in the forest ----. 2. Out in the country ----. 3.
A city that is set on a hill ----. 4. With a look of delighted
surprise ----. 5. This young lad, hard as the world had knocked him
about, ----. 6. Yet, through all his fun, ----. 7. Though they spake
little ----. 8. Without any discussion, ----. 9. Looking about her
uneasily, ----. 10. Late that night, as I sat up pondering over all
that had happened, ----.
=Exercise 21.=--Rewrite the following sentences, making them
periodic.
1. The night wind swept by with a desolate moan. 2. The old shutters
swung to and fro, screaming upon their hinges. 3. The village
preacher's modest mansion rose near yonder copse, where once the
garden smiled. 4. The noble six hundred rode into the jaws of death.
5. A sound came from the land between the fitful gusts of wind. 6.
The silvery rain comes aslant like a long line of spears brightly
burnished. 7. The snow arrives, announced by all the trumpets of
the sky. 8. Great burdocks grew from the wall down to the water, so
high that little children could stand upright under the loftiest of
them. 9. The loveliest children ran about on the roads, playing with
the gay butterflies. 10. The clear sun shone warm on the first day
of spring in a little court yard. 11. An old castle looms over the
narrow road. 12. The ivy grows thickly over the crumbling red walls,
leaf by leaf, up to the balcony, and a beautiful girl stands there.
13. She glances up the road as she bends over the balustrade. 14.
The lighthouse of Inverkaldy stood on a little rocky island, quite
a distance from the mainland. 15. He rowed across the water with a
cheerful heart.
=5. Bad Sentences.=--Good sentences, then, are sentences that have
some variety in form and in length, and, in particular, that are
frequently periodic. You will soon learn to give to your writing the
little touch of grace or beauty that comes in this way.
But what are _bad_ sentences? What sorts of sentences should you try
not to make? There are really only three kinds of sentences which
are positively bad. The first is the "comma sentence."
=6. The "Comma Sentence."=--This name is sometimes given to
sentences in which two or more independent clauses, not connected
by conjunctions, are separated only by commas. You should guard
carefully against this fault. If two independent clauses be placed
in a single sentence, they should be connected by a conjunction or
separated by a semicolon.
When independent clauses in the same sentence are connected by a
conjunction, it is proper to use either a semicolon or comma. When
they are not connected by a conjunction, only the semicolon can be
used.
EXAMPLES. 1. It was late, and the moon shone brightly.
2. It was late; and the moon shone brightly.
3. It was late; the moon shone brightly.
4. It was late, the moon shone brightly. [Wrong.]
_Note for the Teacher._--Occasionally, in a compound sentence,
particularly when it consists of three or more short statements,
commas are used instead of semicolons. But it seems best to
encourage pupils to use the semicolon invariably. Insistence on
this practice will greatly strengthen the pupil's grasp of the
sentence and its structure.
=Exercise 22.=--Correct the following sentences:--
1. Everything has its time to flourish, everything passes away. 2.
It was late at night, the moon shone through the windows. 3. We are
in a rich, a happy house, all are cheerful and full of joy, 4. The
door opened and the maid came in, they all stood still, not one
stirred. 5. I was right, we were not of the smallest importance
to her. 6. I'm glad they are gone, now we can be comfortable. 7.
The frost had broken up, a soft plentiful rain had melted the
snowdrifts. 8. The window was a grand advantage, out of it one could
crawl on to the roof, and from the roof was the finest view in all
Nortonbury. 9. It was one of my seasons of excessive pain, I found
it difficult to think of anything but pain. 10. The stream lay so
low as to be invisible from where we sat, you could only trace the
line of its course by the small white sails.
=Exercise 23.=--Insert capitals and periods.
1. I left Salem House upon the morrow afternoon, I little thought
then that I left it, never to return, we traveled very slowly all
night, and did not get into Yarmouth before nine or ten o'clock in
the morning, I looked out for Mr. Barkis, but he was not there; and
instead of him a fat, merry-looking little old man in black, with
rusty little bunches of ribbons at the knees of his breeches, came
puffing up to the coach window, and said, "Master Copperfield?"
2. The conflict had raged for an hour, it grew more furious, from
deck to deck the combatants rushed madly, fighting like demons, the
_Richard_ and her crew suffered terribly, yet they fought on, she
had been pierced by several eighteen-pound balls below water, she
leaked badly, but she would not surrender.
=Exercise 24.=--Construct ten compound sentences in which
no connectives are used, and the clauses are separated by
semicolons.
=7. Sentences without Unity.=--We put into a sentence thoughts
that belong together. Indeed, a good sentence is a group of words
representing thoughts that have a close relationship in the
speaker's or writer's mind. A sentence thus constructed is said to
have _unity_; that is, "one-ness." A sentence in which the words
represent facts or thoughts that do not have such a relationship is
said to lack unity.
EXAMPLES. 1. The owl, which is a nocturnal bird, has round, staring
eyes, and superstitious people dislike to hear it hoot. [Two
thoughts not closely related.]
2. Columbus was assisted by Queen Isabella of Spain, and sailing
across the Atlantic Ocean with a fleet of three vessels, he
discovered a new world. [Two thoughts not closely related.]
3. Columbus was assisted by Queen Isabella, who pawned her jewels
and used the money thus procured in fitting out for him a fleet of
three vessels. [Thoughts closely related.]
4. William Penn settled Pennsylvania and made a treaty with the
Indians under a large elm, which is one of the most graceful of our
trees. [Thoughts not closely related.]
5. William Penn, who was himself a Quaker, founded Pennsylvania as
a place of refuge for the persecuted Quakers. [Thoughts closely
related.]
=Exercise 25.=--Rewrite the following sentences:--
1. The wild strawberry has a delicious flavor, and we enjoy picking
the berries, which belong to the rose family. 2. Mary has a new
beaver muff which her father bought for her in Montreal, the largest
city in Canada. 3. Sir Walter Raleigh was a favorite of Queen
Elizabeth, called the Virgin Queen, and he introduced tobacco into
England. 4. We visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where we saw
the picture called "The Horse Fair," and met Mary, who is certainly
the most discontented girl I know. 5. Once, a long time ago, in a
little cottage beside a dark wood, lived a naughty little boy, and
his mother told him repeatedly that the old witch that lived in the
wood would get him.
=8. The Formless Sentence.=--There is still one other sort of
sentence to be avoided; that is the ugly, shapeless sentence that
results from placing together a number of complete statements
loosely connected by _and_, _but_, or _so_. Sometimes this is
called the _and_ sentence or the _so_ sentence, because these two
connectives are so frequently used by inexperienced writers. Let us
call it the _formless_ sentence, meaning thereby a sentence which
is deficient in form, or the form of which is ugly or distasteful
to the trained eye and ear. You will have to acquire your sense or
taste for form in sentences by practice and experience; but you
will be helped by studying the sentences given below. Those in the
left-hand column are well-written; those in the right-hand column
are _formless_.
1. At half-past nine we 1. At half-past nine we
reached Charles's house, and reached Charles's house and
until half-past ten we were until half-past ten we were
busy thinking what to do. busy thinking what to do,
Finally, some one suggested until some one suggested a
a climb up the Palisades, and climb up the Palisades, and
we started off at eleven. so we started off at eleven.
2. As it was getting very 2. It was getting very
cloudy, we put on some of cloudy, so we put on some of
Charles's old clothes. Charles's old clothes.
3. When I returned, it 3. When I returned, it
had stopped raining, and the had stopped raining, and the
boys were receiving a lecture boys were receiving a lecture
from the farmer's wife. She from the farmer's wife,
told us that we had no right who told us that we had no
on her property, and a few right on her property, and
other things we didn't pay a few other things we didn't
much attention to. But pay much attention to, but
when she said that her husband one thing she told us was
was a magistrate, and that her husband was a magistrate,
that she could have us locked and that she could
up, we got away as quickly have us locked up, and so we
as we could. got away from there as
quickly as we could.
4. I had been traveling 4. I had been traveling
all day through the all day through the snow
snow with one companion, with one companion, who
who had now gone off to had now gone off to what
what our compasses told us our compasses told us was
was the south, in search of the south, in search of wood,
wood. I was hungry and and I was thoroughly hungry
thoroughly tired. More than and tired, for more than
once during the day I once during the day I had
had stepped on what seemed stepped on what seemed to be
to be firmly packed snow, firmly packed snow, only to
only to sink to my waist in sink to my waist in a soft
a soft drift, and it was always drift, and it was always with
with difficulty that difficulty that I had got out.
I had got out.
You will see, then, that there is certain "knack" which you must
acquire of giving a sentence a pleasing form. With a little
patience, you will soon learn it, and you will gain it all the more
easily by remembering that the ugly formless sentence, which you are
to avoid, is simply a _long loose_ sentence (see § 4).
=Exercise 26.=--Reconstruct the following sentences:--
1. There once reigned a queen, and in her garden were found the
most glorious flowers of all seasons and from all lands, but she
loved best the roses, and so she had the most various kinds of this
flower, and they grew against the earth walls, and wound themselves
round pillars and window frames, and all along the ceiling in all
the halls, and the roses were various in fragrance, form, and color.
2. Many years ago there lived an emperor, and he cared enormously
for new clothes, and he wanted to be very fine, so he spent all his
money for clothes, and he did not care about his soldiers, but only
liked to drive out and show his new clothes, and he had a coat for
every hour of the day, and just as they say of a king, "He is in
council," they said of him, "The emperor is in his wardrobe."
3. Napoleon's marshals came to him once in the midst of a battle and
said, "We have lost the day and are being cut to pieces," but the
great soldier drew out his watch, unmoved, and said, "It is only two
o'clock in the afternoon, and though you have lost the battle you
have time to win another," so they charged again and won a victory,
and we should enter our battle-fields of difficulty with the same
unconquerable spirit.
4. The highest courage is sustained courage, for the power of
continuance adds to all other powers, and to face danger, appreciate
the full demand and meet it to the end, is the height of brave
living, for most young hearts can respond to a sudden demand for
courage, but the long stretch finds them lacking.
5. A New York woman called on Emerson one morning and found the
philosopher reading in his study, while near him on a plate there
lay a little heap of cherry stones, and the visitor slipped one of
these stones into her glove. Some months later she met Emerson again
at a reception in Boston and recalled her visit to him and then she
pointed to the brooch she wore, a brooch of gold and brilliants with
the cherry stone set in the center and she said, "I took this stone
from the plate at your elbow on the morning of my call," and Emerson
replied, "Ah, I'll tell my amanuensis of that and he will be so
pleased, for he loves cherries, but I never touch them myself."
6. John was a boy who wanted to be a ventriloquist, and one day he
visited an old engineer in a factory and after a little conversation
he imitated the squeak of badly oiled machinery, and the old
engineer trotted to a certain valve and oiled it, so John let a few
minutes pass and then emitted another series of squeaks and the
engineer again oiled his machinery, and the third time John squeaked
the engineer saw through the joke and, walking up quietly behind
John, squirted a half-pint of oil down the back of his neck, saying,
"There! There'll be no more squeaking to-day."
=Exercise 27.=--Reconstruct the following sentences, putting the
underlined phrases in their proper places.
1. The musician was playing a sonata _with long hair_.
2. I saw at once that he was a villain _with half an eye_.
3. A woman desires a home for her _dog going abroad for the summer_.
4. The kind old gentleman lifted the trembling child _with a
gold-headed cane_.
5. A wreath was made by a little girl of _roses_.
6. The house was painted brown _with the tall flag-pole_.
7. We saw a magnificent cedar tree _entering the woods_.
8. We found some golden-rod _walking along the dusty road_.
9. We saw the lakes _climbing a tree_.
10. The old lady gave alms to a young beggar _with the white hair_.
CHAPTER III
THE PARAGRAPH
=9. The Use of the Paragraph.=--Composition is the combining or
grouping of words. We group our words in sentences. We also group
our sentences in paragraphs.
A _paragraph_ is a group of sentences which together express an
important thought. In a way, of course, every sentence expresses a
thought--a small thought, so to speak. But experience has shown that
the educated mind can best understand written language if it can
take in several of these smaller thoughts, in as many sentences, in
rapid succession, provided only that these smaller thoughts, when
taken together, make up a larger thought. A paragraph is, then,
the expression of a large or important thought, made up of several
smaller or less important thoughts, expressed in sentences.
_Note._--Sometimes, but not often, a single sentence represents
such an important thought that it can best stand by itself.
A paragraph is indicated to the eye by the fact that the beginning
of the first sentence is placed a little way to the right of the
left-hand margin; in other words, it is _indented_. On the printed
page, a paragraph is indented only the space which would be occupied
by two or three letters. In a written composition the paragraph is
indented about an inch.
Another fact that makes it easy for the eye to recognize a paragraph
is that it frequently does not close with the end of a line.
When, therefore, you look at a piece of printed or written
composition, you see at once that you are to receive a certain
number of thoughts or ideas, each of which is placed in a section
or paragraph by itself. In listening to an address or oration you
notice the separation between the thoughts by the fact that the
speaker usually makes a pause of several seconds to indicate that he
has finished the expression of one thought and is now ready to pass
on to another.
_Note._--In writing a long conversation, it is usually customary
to make each speech of each person a paragraph by itself, even
if it consists of only a few words. This is because it is of the
utmost importance, in reading an account of a conversation, to
know just who is speaking.
=10. The Beginning.=--We group our sentences. But how shall we
begin? What sentences shall come first? Usually we shall express
our thoughts most clearly if we begin with a sentence that shows in
brief what the whole paragraph is about. This is sometimes called
the _topic sentence_, because it is the sentence that states the
topic or central idea of the paragraph.
EXAMPLES. 1. To the simple-hearted folk who dwelt in that island
three thousand years ago, there was never a sweeter spot than
sea-girt Ithaca. Rocky and rugged though it may have seemed, yet
it was indeed a smiling land embosomed in the laughing sea. There
the air was always mild and pure, and balmy with the breath of
blossoms; the sun looked kindly down from a cloudless sky, and the
storms seldom broke the quiet ripple of the waters which bathed the
shores of that island home. On every side but one, the land rose
straight up out of the deep sea to meet the feet of craggy hills and
mountains crowned with woods. Between the heights were many narrow
dells green with orchards, while the gentler slopes were covered
with vineyards, and the steeps above them gave pasturage to flocks
of long-wooled sheep and mountain-climbing goats.--JAMES BALDWIN: _A
Story of the Golden Age_.
[Here the first sentence shows that the paragraph is to be about
the beauty of the island.]
2. Upon the ridge above our tent was a third tiny clearing, where
some trappers had once made their winter camp. It was there that I
watched the rabbits one moonlight night from my seat on an old log,
just within the shadow at the edge of the opening. The first arrival
came in with a rush. There was a sudden scurry behind me, and over
the log he came with a flying leap that landed him on the smooth
bit of ground in the middle, where he whirled around and around
with grotesque jumps, like a kitten after its tail. Only Br'er
Rabbit's tail was too short for him ever to catch it; he seemed
rather to be trying to get a good look at it. Then he went off
helter-skelter in a headlong rush through the ferns. Before I knew
what had become of him, over the log he came again in a marvelous
jump, and went tearing around the clearing like a circus horse,
varying his performance now by a high leap, now by two or three
awkward hops on his hind legs, like a dancing bear. It was immensely
entertaining.--WILLIAM J. LONG: _Ways of Wood Folk_.
[Here the first two sentences show that the paragraph is to be
about watching rabbits in a clearing by moonlight.]
3. Soon after he was raised to the dignity of postmaster another
piece of good fortune came in his way. Sangamon County covered a
territory some forty miles long by fifty wide, and almost every
citizen in it seemed intent on buying or selling land, laying out
new roads, or locating some future city. John Calhoun, the county
surveyor, therefore, found himself with far more work than he could
personally attend to, and had to appoint deputies to assist him.
Learning the high esteem in which Lincoln was held by the people
of New Salem, he wisely concluded to make him a deputy, although
they differed in politics. It was a flattering offer, and Lincoln
accepted gladly. Of course he knew almost nothing about surveying,
but he got a compass and chain, and, as he tells us, "studied Flint
and Gibson a little, and went at it." The surveyor, who was a man of
talent and education, not only gave Lincoln the appointment, but,
it is said, lent him the book in which to study the art. Lincoln
carried the book to his friend Graham, and "went at it" to such
purpose that in six weeks he was ready to begin the practice of
his new profession. Like Washington, who, it will be remembered,
followed the same calling in his youth, he became an excellent
surveyor.--HELEN NICOLAY: _The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln_.
[Here the first sentence shows that the paragraph is to be about
a new piece of good fortune in Lincoln's life.]
When you are writing a composition in a single paragraph, you
will find the topic sentence very useful. In no other way can you
so quickly give the reader a notion of what to expect. But it
is not necessary always to begin with a topic sentence. What is
important is that you begin with a hint that will turn the reader's
thoughts in the right direction. Look at the beginnings of several
paragraphs in your reader, and you will see how the hint is given.
=Exercise 28.=--What do the opening sentences in the following
paragraphs show?
1. One cold morning early in December, 1800, a party of tourists
was crossing the Alps,--a pretty large party, too, for there were
several thousands of them. Some were riding, some walking, and most
of them had knapsacks on their shoulders like many Alpine tourists
nowadays. But instead of walking sticks, they carried muskets with
bayonets, and dragged along with them some fifty or sixty cannons.
2. There was one among them who seemed quite to enjoy the rough
marching and tramping along through the deep snow and cold gray
mist. This was a little drummer boy ten years old, whose fresh, rosy
face looked very bright and pretty among the grim, scarred visages
of the old soldiers. When the cutting wind hurled a shower of snow
in his face, he dashed it away with a cheery laugh, and awoke all
the echoes with a lively rattle on his drum, till it seemed as if
the huge black rocks around were all singing in chorus.
3. Ezekiel made the first plea. His argument was a strong one
against all wild and destructive animals in general, and against
this woodchuck in particular. He called attention to the damage
which had been done already to the growing vegetables, and to the
further mischief which might be done if the animal were set free.
4. Between two cliffs lay a deep ravine, with a full stream rolling
heavily through it over bowlders and rough ground. It was high and
steep, and one side was bare, save at the foot, where clustered a
thick, fresh wood, so close to the stream that the mist from the
water lay upon the foliage in spring and autumn. The trees stood
looking upwards and forwards, unable to move either way.
=Exercise 29.=--Supply topic sentences for the following
paragraphs:--
1. He [George Washington] was very tall, powerfully made, with a
strong, handsome face. He was remarkably muscular and powerful. As a
boy, he was a leader in all outdoor sports. No one could fling the
bar farther than he, and no one could ride more difficult horses.
2. It [the old-fashioned school] is a large, dingy room, with a
sanded floor, and is lighted by windows that turn on hinges, and
have little diamond-shaped panes of glass. The scholars sit on long
benches, with desks before them. At one end of the room is a great
fireplace, so spacious that there is room enough for three or four
boys to stand in each of the chimney corners.
3. The hall [of the Imperial library] is two hundred and forty-five
feet long, with a magnificent dome in the center. The walls are of
variegated marble, richly ornamented with gold, and the ceiling
and dome are covered with brilliant fresco paintings. The library
numbers three hundred thousand volumes and sixteen thousand
manuscripts, which are kept in walnut cases, adorned with medallions.
4. [The Country Boy's Vacation.] When school keeps he has only to
"do chores and go to school," but between terms there are a thousand
things on the farm that have been left for the boys to do. Picking
up stones in the pastures and piling them in heaps used to be one of
them.
5. [Recess in a Country School.] He is like a deer; he can nearly
fly; and he throws himself into play with entire self-forgetfulness,
and an energy that would overturn the world if his strength were
proportioned to it. For ten minutes the world is absolutely his;
the weights are taken off, restraints are loosed, and he is his own
master.
=Exercise 30.=--Write short paragraphs to complete three of the
following topic sentences:--
1. From the summit of the hill they saw the sun set.
2. When the flames were out, we saw how great the damage was.
3. In a moment, the storm was upon them.
4. At ten years old, I was taken to help my father in his business.
5. It was a beautiful little craft.
6. There stood Lincoln, a remarkable figure.
7. It was market day.
8. Close by the roadside stands a little schoolhouse.
9. In the year 1776 a remarkable event occurred.
10. His attention was arrested by a dove, pursued by a kingbird.
=11. Unity in the Paragraph.=--In your study of the sentence, you
learned that every good sentence must have _unity_; that is, that
the thoughts included in a sentence must be very closely associated.
You are now to learn that every good paragraph must likewise have
_unity_. A paragraph, whether it be long or short, has _unity_ when
it treats of but a single topic. The _topic sentence_ will be a
great help to you in giving your paragraphs _unity_. You will not be
so apt to jumble into one paragraph material that should be placed
in two or three, if you will, before you begin to write, decide upon
the subject of your paragraph and make a topic sentence for it. You
can test the unity of your paragraph by asking with respect to each
sentence that you construct, "Does it relate to the subject of my
paragraph?"
=Exercise 31.=--The following paragraphs lack _unity_. How many
topics are treated in each?
1. In the German land of Würtemberg lies the little town of Marbach.
Although this place can be ranked only among the smaller towns, it
is charmingly situated on the Neckar stream, that flows on and on,
hurrying past villages and old castles to pour its waters into the
proud Rhine. It was late in autumn. The leaves still clung to the
grapevine, but they were already tinged with red. Rainy gusts swept
over the country, and the cold autumn winds increased in violence.
2. Cecelia's home was an old family mansion situated in the midst
of a pleasant farm. This was inclosed by willow hedges and a broad
and gently murmuring river; nearer the house were groves with rocky
knolls and breezy bowers of beech. Cecelia's bosom friend at school
was Alice Archer; and after they left school, the love between them
rather increased than diminished.
3. Alice Archer was a delicate girl with a pale transparent
complexion and large gray eyes that seemed to see visions. Her
figure was slight, almost fragile; her hands white and slender.
The old house in which she lived with her mother, with four sickly
Lombardy poplars in front, suggested gloomy and mournful thoughts.
It was one of those places that depress you as you enter. One other
inmate the house had, and only one. This was Sally Manchester, the
cook. She was an extraordinary woman of large frame and masculine
features,--one of those who are born to work. A treasure she was to
this family.
4. Far out in the sea the water is as blue as the petals of the
most beautiful corn-flowers, and as clear as the purest glass. But
it is very deep, deeper than any cable will sound; and down there
live the sea people. The Sea King had been a widower for many years.
His old mother kept house for him and his daughters, the little sea
princesses.
5. Shylock, the Jew, lived at Venice. He was a usurer, who had
amassed an immense fortune by lending money at great interest to
Christian merchants. Being a hard-hearted man, he was much disliked
by all good men. Antonio was the kindest man that lived, the best
loved, and had the most unwearied spirit in doing courtesies. He was
greatly beloved by all his fellow-citizens; but the friend who was
nearest to his heart was Bassanio, a noble young Venetian. One day,
Bassanio came to Antonio and told him that he wished to repair his
fortune by a wealthy marriage with a lady whom he dearly loved.
=12. The Body of the Paragraph.=--We are to begin with a topic
sentence, or with a sentence that gives some hint of what is to
follow. And what next? Next comes the body of the paragraph, the
real paragraph, the idea we had in mind to express.
The best plan to follow in the making of your paragraph is this:--
1. Write brief notes of your material on the topic you have in mind,
and make sure that it all bears directly on the topic.
2. Arrange these notes in the order that would be most natural and
intelligible to the reader.
3. Find a good topic sentence.
4. Write the paragraph according to the plan arranged.
EXAMPLE I. Subject of paragraph: The Long-spurred Columbine.
_A._ Material: 1. Native of the Rocky Mountains. 2. Blooms
abundantly. 3. Grows on shady slopes. 4. Color--blue, white,
occasionally pink, never red. 5. Sepals--ovate with slender spurs,
spreading; double length of the petals with which they alternate.
6. Petals--round and lighter in color than sepals. 7. Size--three
inches broad. 8. Beauty--so great that it has been introduced into
gardens.
[In this example, the material has fallen of its own accord into a
good order: general statements, 1, 2, 3; color, 4; form, 5, 6; size,
7; beauty, 8. In this case, therefore, it will not be necessary to
rearrange the material.]
_B._ Topic sentence: The long-spurred columbine is an exquisite
flower.
_C._ Whole paragraph: The long-spurred columbine is an exquisite
flower. It is a native of the Rocky Mountains, where it blooms
abundantly on shady slopes. It often wears a blue gown; it also
wears white and occasionally pink, but never red. The ovate sepals,
with their slender spurs, are spreading, and double the length of
the round, lighter-colored petals with which they alternate. In size
it is quite three inches across. It is so beautiful that it has been
introduced into many gardens.
EXAMPLE II. Subject of paragraph: Emigration to California in 1849.
_A._ Material: 1. In '49, "gold fever" reaches Eastern states. 2.
Rush for West. 3. Eighty thousand men reach California before end of
year. 4. A few gain riches. 5. The greater part barely make a living
by exhaustive toil. 6. Hardships of journey across Isthmus of Panama
and across continent (overland route). 7. San Francisco, from
an insignificant settlement, sprang into city of twenty thousand
inhabitants.
_B._ Material rearranged: 1. In 1849--"gold fever" reaches Eastern
states. 2. Rush for West. 3. Hardships of journey. 4. Eighty
thousand men reach California. 5. San Francisco's rapid growth. 6. A
few gain riches. 7. The greater number barely make a living by their
exhausting toil.
[Notice that 6 has been made 3. The hardships of the journey
should naturally be described before the facts about the arrival
are given.]
_C._ Topic sentence: In 1849 the "gold fever" reached the Eastern
states, and a great rush of emigration began, both by land and by
sea.
_D._ Whole paragraph: In 1849 the "gold fever" reached the Eastern
states, and a great rush of emigration began both by land and by
sea. Many died of sickness contracted in crossing the Isthmus of
Panama; multitudes more perished on the overland route across the
continent. Notwithstanding the hardships and loss of life, over
eighty thousand men succeeded in reaching California before the end
of the year. From an insignificant settlement San Francisco suddenly
sprang into a city of twenty thousand inhabitants. A few of these
emigrants gained the riches they so eagerly sought, but the greater
part barely made a living by the most exhausting toil.
EXAMPLE III. Subject of paragraph: President Lincoln's Call for
Volunteers.
_A._ Material: 1. Lincoln calls for seventy-five thousand volunteers
April 15, 1861. 2. Wishes them to serve three months. 3. Within
thirty-six hours several companies from Pennsylvania had reached
Washington. 4. Men of all parties at the North forgot their
political quarrels and hastened to the defense of the capital. 5.
The Sixth Massachusetts Regiment was the first full regiment to
march. 6. Few supposed the war would last longer than three months.
7. The Sixth Massachusetts speedily followed the Pennsylvania
regiments.
_B._ Material rearranged: 1. Lincoln calls for seventy-five thousand
volunteers April 15, 1861. 2. For three months' service. 3. Few
supposed the war would last longer. 4. Men of all parties at North
forgot their political quarrels and hastened to the defense of the
capital. 5. Within thirty-six hours several Pennsylvania regiments
had reached Washington. 6. The Sixth Massachusetts was the first
full regiment to march. 7. The Sixth Massachusetts speedily followed
the Pennsylvania regiments.
_C._ Topic sentence: On April 15, 1861, President Lincoln called for
seventy-five thousand volunteers.
_D._ Whole paragraph: On April 15, 1861, President Lincoln called
for seventy-five thousand volunteers. They were to enlist for only
three months, for few then supposed the war would last longer than
that. In response to the President's call, men of all parties at the
North forgot their political quarrels, and hastened to the defense
of the capital. Within thirty-six hours several companies from
Pennsylvania had reached Washington. They were speedily followed by
the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment--the first full regiment to march.
=Exercise 32.=--Make notes for completing the paragraphs
suggested by the following topic sentences. In arranging your
notes, you should follow some simple plan. If you are writing
a story, for instance, you will naturally follow the order of
time, and put things down in the order in which they occurred.
If you are writing a description of scenery, you may mention
the various objects in the order in which you saw them, or
in the order of place, or in the order of importance. If you
are explaining something, you will present facts in the order
of their importance, and according to their connection with
each other, always keeping in mind that you wish to make your
explanation simple and clear.
1. The journey had been long and tiresome.
2. At sunset I stood on a hill, overlooking the town.
3. The dew had not disappeared, when, just after sunrise, I started
out, fishing rod in hand.
4. Golden-rod is one of the most common and the most beautiful of
our wayside flowers.
=13. Too Many Paragraphs.=--Sometimes matter that might be properly
included in one paragraph is spread over two or three paragraphs, as
in the following passages:--
I. As the Hurons, to every appearance, had abandoned the pursuit,
there was no apparent reason for this excess of caution.
The flight was, however, maintained for hours, until they had
reached a bay, near the northern termination of the lake.
Here the canoe was driven upon the beach, and the whole party landed.
II. The Duke of Normandy landed in Sussex, in the year 1066. He had
an army of sixty thousand chosen men, for accomplishing his bold
enterprise.
Many gallant knights who were not his subjects joined him, in the
hope of obtaining fame in arms and estates, if his enterprise should
prosper.
=Exercise 33.=--Write the following selection in three
paragraphs. State the subject of each paragraph.
Burton Holmes, the lecturer, says that the Indians of Alaska regard
white men and canned goods as so closely associated that they are
nearly synonymous.
Wherever the white man is seen, canned meats, fruits, and vegetables
are found.
When Mr. Holmes visited Alaska recently, he carried with him a
phonograph. This was exhibited to an old chief who had never seen a
talking machine before.
When the machine was started, and the sound of a human voice came
from the trumpet, the Indian was much interested.
He listened gravely for a time, then approached and peered into the
trumpet.
When the machine finished its cylinder and stopped, the Indian
pointed at it, and smiling an expansive smile, remarked, "Huh! Him
canned white man."
=14. The End of a Paragraph.=--Occasionally you will find that it is
convenient to put at the end of a paragraph a sentence that will sum
up your whole idea in a few words. Such a sentence is particularly
useful when no topic sentence has been used.
EXAMPLES:--
1. The great error in Rip's composition was a strong dislike of
all kinds of profitable labor. It could not be from the want of
perseverance; for he would sit on a wet rock, with a rod as long
and heavy as a lance, and fish all day without a murmur, even
though he should not be encouraged by a single nibble. He would
carry a fowling piece on his shoulder for hours together, trudging
through woods and swamps, and up hill and down dale, to shoot a
few squirrels or wild pigeons. He would never refuse to assist a
neighbor even in the roughest toil, and was a foremost man at all
country frolics for husking Indian corn, or building stone fences;
the women of the village, too, used to employ him to run their
errands, and to do such little odd jobs as their less obliging
husbands would not do for them. In a word, Rip was ready to attend
to anybody's business but his own; but as to doing family duty,
and keeping his farm in order, he found it impossible.--WASHINGTON
IRVING: _Rip Van Winkle._
2. I was fatigued with traveling, rowing, and want of rest; I was
very hungry, and my whole stock of cash consisted of a Dutch dollar
and about a shilling in copper. This latter I gave the people of
the boat for my passage, who at first refused it on account of my
rowing; but I insisted on their taking it. A man is sometimes more
generous when he has but a little money than when he has plenty,
perhaps through fear of being thought to have but little.--BENJAMIN
FRANKLIN: _Autobiography._
3. We are a part of the public, and help to make its opinions and
give it its power. Laws are practically useless unless the general
sentiment of the community sanctions them. The rules of great
corporations prohibiting the use of liquor by employees are now
enforced as they could not have been a few years ago. They can be
enforced now because of a growth of the belief that intoxicants are
harmful, and a growing demand that those intrusted with human lives
and with great interests shall be clear of brain and reliable of
hand. Public opinion is a power, and it is one that we should help
to form and help to use.
=Exercise 34.=--Make notes for paragraphs suggested by the
following summary sentences:--
1. In a word, it was a magnificent sight.
2. Thus died a brave soldier.
3. It was a simple but a kindly act.
4. It was too late.
=Exercise 35.=--Find summary sentences for the paragraphs
suggested by the following notes:--
1. Tom obliged to whitewash fence.--Holiday.--Other boys come
for him.--Pretends to enjoy his task.--Refuses to let them help
him.--Finally accepts bribe and lets the boys do his work. [Summary
sentence expressing an opinion of Tom's cleverness.]
2. Autumn storm--rocky coast--high wind--big waves--dashing spray.
[Summary sentence expressing your pleasure or discomfort.]
3. Getting up early on a winter
morning--unpleasant--dark--cold--sleepy. [Summary sentence
indicating your dislike.]
=15. Quotations.=--This is a convenient place to explain the
punctuation of quotations.
Quotations are _direct_ when the exact words of the speaker or
writer are repeated. They are _indirect_ when the thought is
expressed without using the exact words.
1. _Direct._ "Good evening, Dance," said the doctor, with a nod.
"And good evening to you, Jim. What good wind brings you here?"
2. _Indirect._ The doctor nodded, said good evening to Dance and
Jim, and asked what good wind brought them there.
In writing down a conversation, it is customary to make each speech
of each person a paragraph by itself, even if it consists of only a
few words.
A direct quotation should be inclosed in quotation marks.
When a direct quotation is broken or separated by words which
are not quoted, each part of the quotation should be inclosed in
quotation marks.
1. _Unbroken._ "Have you any money?" asked the baker.
2. _Broken._ "Run along," said the woman, kindly; "carry your bread
home, child."
The first word of a direct quotation should begin with a capital
letter.
If the quotation when _unbroken_ is composed of two independent
parts separated by a semicolon, a semicolon (not a comma) should
follow the author's words when the quotation is broken.
1. _Unbroken._ Solomon said, "Boast not thyself of to-morrow;
for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth."
2. _Broken._ "Boast not thyself of to-morrow," said Solomon;
"for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth."
When a quotation is long or formally introduced, it is usually
preceded by a colon, or by a colon and a dash.
1. Nathan Hale, before he was executed, spoke the following words:
"I regret that I have only one life to give for my country."
2. In Tennyson's _Bugle Song_ we find the following beautiful
lines:--
"O love, they die in yon rich sky,
They faint on hill, or field, or river;
Our echoes roll from soul to soul
And grow forever and forever."
=Exercise 36.=--Rewrite the following sentences, putting in the
quotation marks. Make each speech of each person a paragraph by
itself.
1. The mother turned her head as Alice entered, and said, Who is
it? Is it you, Alice? Yes, it is I, mother. Where have you been so
long? I have been nowhere, dear mother. I have come directly home
from church. How long it seems to me! It is very late. It is growing
quite dark. I was just going to call for the lights. Why, mother!
exclaimed Alice, in a startled tone, what do you mean? The sun is
shining directly into your face! Impossible, my dear Alice. It is
quite dark. I cannot see you. Where are you? Alice leaned over her
mother and kissed her. Both were silent,--both wept. They knew that
the hour, so long looked forward to with dismay, had suddenly come.
Mrs. Archer was blind!
2. Yonder comes Moses. As she spoke, Moses came in on foot, sweating
under the deal box, which he had strapped round his shoulders like
a peddler. Welcome, welcome, Moses; well, my boy, what have you
brought us from the fair? I have brought you myself, cried Moses,
with a sly look, and resting the box on the dresser. Ah, Moses,
cried my wife, that we know, but where is the horse? I have sold
him, cried Moses, for three pounds five shillings and twopence.
Well done, my good boy, returned she. Between ourselves, three
pounds five shillings and twopence is no bad day's work. Come, let
us have it, then. I have brought back no money, cried Moses again.
I have laid it all out in a bargain, and here it is, pulling out a
bundle from his breast; here they are, a gross of green spectacles,
with silver rims and shagreen cases. A gross of green spectacles!
repeated my wife in a faint voice. And you have parted with the
colt, and bought us back nothing but a gross of green paltry
spectacles! Dear mother, cried the boy, why won't you listen to
reason? They were a dead bargain, or I should not have bought them.
=Exercise 37.=--Change the following _indirect_ quotations to
_direct_ quotations:--
1. The fir tree wished it were tall enough to go to sea, and asked
the stork to tell it what the sea looked like; but the stork replied
that it would take too much time to explain.
2. The little boy asked his grandmother whether the swarm of white
bees had a queen bee and she replied that they certainly had.
3. Rip asked in despair whether nobody there knew Rip Van Winkle,
and some one answered that he stood leaning against a tree yonder.
Rip looked, and beheld a precise counterpart of himself as he went
up the mountain. The poor fellow was now completely confounded and
wondered whether he was himself or another man. In the midst of his
bewilderment, the man in the cocked hat demanded who he was and what
was his name. Rip replied that he was not himself but somebody else,
and that he could not tell who he was.
=Exercise 38.=--Write from dictation.
1. A little daughter of a clergyman was not feeling well, and had to
be put to bed early.
"Mother," she said, "I want to see my dear father."
"No, dear," said her mother, "father is not to be disturbed just
now."
Presently came the pleading voice, "I want to see my father."
"No, dear," was the answer, "I cannot disturb him."
Then the four-year-old parishioner rose to the question of privilege.
"Mother," said she, "I am sick woman, and I want to see my minister."
2. One night my friend put up at a small country hotel. The next
morning, at breakfast, the landlord said to him, "Did you enjoy the
cornet playing in the room next to yours last night?"
"Enjoy it!" my friend replied, "I should think not. Why, I spent
half the night pounding on the wall to make the man stop."
"It must have been a misunderstanding," said the landlord. "The
cornet player told me that the person in the next room applauded him
so heartily that he went over every piece he knew three times."
CHAPTER IV
WORDS
=16. How We Learn Words.=--We have now for some time been studying
about combinations of words, but we have said very little about
words themselves. This was the proper course to follow, for in our
native language we need to be told about combinations of words more
than about words themselves; about these we cannot help finding out
much by ourselves. Indeed, it is life that teaches us words,--life
and association with our fellows. We could scarcely avoid learning
rapidly the names which the people who speak our language have
given to the multitude of actual things which we see and touch,
and the common words which are customary to express our feelings
and thoughts with regard to these objects. As we grow older and
wiser, and particularly if we associate with persons of intelligence
and information, and read widely in books of all sorts, we become
rapidly acquainted also with a great mass of words that have grown
up to express the most abstract thoughts and the most delicate
shades of feeling.
Life, then, and association with our fellows, and reading will bring
to our knowledge, in due course of time, all the words we shall
ever need to use. There are a few hints to be given, however, which
will be of service to you in this process of learning the customary
words which the people of our race and nation use to express their
thoughts and feelings.
=17. The Size and Character of the English Vocabulary.=--We use
the word _vocabulary_ to express the total number of words used
by a person or group of persons. The English vocabulary, then, is
the total number of words used by the people who write and speak
English. There are more than three hundred thousand such words
collected in our dictionaries, and the number is being added to
every year. No single person would be acquainted with all these
words, for many of them have been used only rarely, or only
among little groups of people, or in connection with sciences
not understood by the people at large. The number of words that
an intelligent and educated person would understand when he saw
or heard them is not often more than sixty thousand; the number
of words that such a person would himself use is very much
less--probably not, as a rule, more than twenty thousand.
A great many of our words come from the Latin language, and you will
be greatly aided in your study of English words if you can learn
something of that language.
=18. Increasing One's Vocabulary.=--It is clear, then, that you will
greatly increase your vocabulary as you grow older and wiser. It is
also true, in general, that as your vocabulary grows you will grow,
to some extent, in knowledge of the world. It will be worth while
for you, therefore, to get into the habit of learning new words.
This could, of course, be done by reading the dictionary (and the
dictionary is by no means an uninteresting volume to pick up from
time to time), but the more natural way is to reach this result
by cultivating the habit of _attention_ to words. You might begin
the habit by noticing accurately the names of things you see or
handle,--of tools and implements, birds, animals, and flowers; the
names of different colors and shades; the names applied to persons
to describe their duties and occupations.
=Exercise 39.=--Write as many words as possible that name:--
1. Various trades and professions. 2. Vehicles used on land. 3.
Boats (from a man-of-war to a flatboat). 4. Buildings--(_a_)
churches, (_b_) public buildings, (_c_) educational buildings, (_d_)
buildings used for amusements. 5. Parts of a bicycle. 6. Tools. 7.
Birds. 8. Flowers. 9. Colors. 10. Musical instruments.
=Exercise 40.=--After each of the following nouns place a verb
that describes the sound made by the animal mentioned.
Sheep, owls, sparrows, goats, oxen, frogs, hens, bears, horses,
robins, roosters, doves, lions, parrots, ravens, monkeys, elephants,
snakes.
=Exercise 41.=--Notice the following words which might be used
in describing some one's appearance:--
_Eyes_: bright, dull, sparkling, clear, heavy,
close-set, shifting, narrow, honest, gentle, penetrating, keen,
kindly, expressive, lovely, hard.
_Forehead_: noble, high, receding, low, broad, narrow, well-shaped.
_Figure_: muscular, wiry, broad-shouldered, well-proportioned,
slender, thick-set, stout, short, tall.
1. Make a similar list to describe a person's disposition, ability,
conversation.
2. Make a list of the descriptive words used by Longfellow in _The
Village Blacksmith_.
=Exercise 42.=--Find as many descriptions of winter as you can.
Make lists of words used by the authors in describing it. Make
lists of words that you might use in describing the following:
_a picnic_; _Christmas night_; _the weather_; _the character of
Washington_; _an old house_; _a shell_; _a feather_; _a sunset_;
_Mount Washington_; _a lily-of-the valley_; _your favorite walk_.
=Exercise 43.=--The same scene may look very different to you at
different times,--for instance, a piece of woods which you visit
in company with some merry boys and girls in search of spring
flowers, and the same woods in which you wander alone, having
lost your way.
Select from the following list adjectives which you might use in
writing the first description; the second.
_Things described_: path, leaves on the ground, birds,
squirrels, trees, brook.
_Descriptive words_: lonely, crisp, solitary, chattering,
moaning, merry, mournful, timid, scolding, shady, romantic,
charming, singing, sweet-voiced, warning, sobbing, dismal,
gloomy.
=Exercise 44.=--Compare the following: 1. New York Harbor
seen by a citizen of New York who is returning home after a
long absence in some foreign country. 2. The same viewed by a
homesick Norwegian girl who has left all her friends in Norway.
Select some of your descriptive words from the following, adding
as many others as you feel that you need: _inhospitable_,
_gloomy_, _cold_, _hard_, _welcome_, _joyous_, _sad_, _bright_,
_glorious_, _fearful_, _lonely_, _pathetic_, _homesick_.
=Exercise 45.=--1. The village bell is ringing. Describe the way
it sounds to you on the following occasions:--
Calling to church service on a clear, sunny Sabbath morning;
tolling for the death of a dear friend; ringing in celebration
of a victory (suppose that we are at war with another country);
ringing to celebrate a wedding; ringing "the old year out, and
the new year in." [Read _The Bells_, by Edgar Allan Poe, before
writing.]
2. Write a paragraph telling how you felt when you heard that
you were to have some unexpected pleasure.
3. Imagine yourself living on the morning of April 15, 1865.
Describe your feelings on learning of the death of Lincoln.
=19. Synonyms.=--Synonyms are words which have the same or nearly
the same meaning.
EXAMPLES: Liberal, generous; face, countenance.
A knowledge of synonyms will be valuable to you in several ways.
First, it will enable you to avoid the too frequent repetition of a
word. By using synonyms, then, you add variety to your writing.
"When the _walk_ is over there is abundance to think about;
and the _ramble_ reviewed at night before the andirons is a
repetition of the day's enjoyment."
If you will substitute _walk_ for _ramble_ in the preceding
sentence, you will see how much the sentence loses by not using
the synonym.
=Exercise 46.=--In each of the following fill each blank with
an appropriate synonym of the italicized word in the same
sentence:--
1. Be astir at ----, then, and receive the greeting of that lover
of the _dawn_, the blackcap. 2. The ---- thickened, so that now
you waded through a condensation of _gloom_. 3. The thrush filled
every lone pathway with its sweet _music_, and I wondered that the
world should hear so little of this woodside ----. 4. The sobering
_silence_ of the night was the subject of our conversation, when
suddenly a sad, sweet song broke the ----. 5. In the _city_ these
conditions are not so well marked; but beyond the ---- limits,
nature still rules. 6. It was just the day for a _ramble_, and I
was off early for an all-day ----. 7. The _gale_ died away, and he
tried to go northward again; but again came the ---- and swept him
back into the waste. 8. And what became of the little ----, the
poor _boy_ in the pretty town of Marbach? 9. He comes up the stairs
---- and opens the door _noiselessly_. 10. When the first week had
_passed_, the queen took little Eliza into the country, and but a
short month had ---- when the king had entirely forgotten his little
daughter.
=Exercise 47.=--In the following use a synonym in place of one
of the underlined words:--
1. He has many _wealthy_ friends, although he is not a _wealthy_
man himself. 2. At his first glimpse of the _countenance_, Ernest
did fancy that there was a resemblance between it and the familiar
_countenance_ upon the mountain side. 3. Celia considered that it
would be unsafe for two young _maids_ of rank to travel in their
rich clothes; she therefore proposed that they should dress like
country _maids_. 4. When the servant of the house of Montague
met the servant of the house of Capulet, a _quarrel_ ensued; and
frequent were the _quarrels_ from such accidental meetings. 5.
Portia dressed herself and Nerissa in men's _apparel_, and putting
on the _apparel_ of a counselor, she took Nerissa with her as clerk
and set out for Venice. 6. Portia now _desired_ Shylock to let her
see the bond; and when she had read it she _desired_ him to be
merciful. 7. The importance of the arduous _task_ Portia had engaged
in gave her courage, and she boldly proceeded to perform the _task_
she had undertaken. 8. The _lady_ expressed great sorrow at hearing
this, and said she wished to see the father of Helena, a young
_lady_ who was present. 9. The mourners sat in _silence_, with only
a smothered sob now and then to break the _silence_. 10. She tried
to _comfort_ the sorrowful girl, but could think of nothing that
would _comfort_ her.
=Exercise 48.=--1. Give one or more synonyms for each of the
following words. Consult your dictionary.
Dawn, neglect, perform, astonish, collect, bestow, appeal,
destroy, attend, grieve, joy, brilliance, gloomy, happy, gentle,
calm, excitable, fond, sweet, simple, just, honorable, gloaming,
bewilder.
2. Rearrange the following list, putting together all words that
are synonyms:--
Crime, smite, maid, fault, fervent, labor, reverence, ardent,
instantly, respect, fraternal, quickly, work, glowing, entreat,
toil, honor, brotherly, beg, venerate, beseech, gloaming, waste,
importune, twilight, squander, glitter, shine, glisten, sparkle,
offense, girl, strike, lass, sincere, faithful, transgression,
true, desire, wish.
A knowledge of synonyms, then, is valuable, since it enriches your
vocabulary and enables you to give variety to your writing. There
is still another way in which this knowledge may be useful to you,
There is generally some slight difference in meaning, even in words
classed as synonyms, and a wise choice will enable you to express
your thought with more exactness.
EXAMPLE. "I frantically _begged_ a knot of sailors not to let
them perish before our eyes."
In the dictionary you will find the following synonyms for
_beg_, with an explanation of the different shades of meaning:
ask, entreat, beseech, implore, supplicate.
"One _asks_ what he feels he may fairly claim; he _begs_ for
that to which he advances no claim but pity; _entreat_ implies a
special earnestness of asking, and _beseech_, a still added and
more humble intensity. To _implore_ is to ask with weeping and
lamentation; to _supplicate_ is to ask, as it were, on bended
knees." (_Standard Dictionary._)
It would be better, then, to write,--
"I frantically _implored_ a knot of sailors not to let them
perish before our eyes."
=Exercise 49.=--Choose one of the synonyms given in each of
the following sentences. Consult your dictionary to get the
different shades of meaning.
1. They were making out to me, in an [agitated, excited, disturbed]
way that the lifeboat had been bravely manned an hour ago, and could
do nothing.
2. The thunder was loud and [ceaseless, incessant, continuous].
3. I was [perplexed, confused, distracted] by the terrible sight.
4. The excited voice went [calling, crying, clamoring] along the
staircase.
5. I was [tired, fatigued, exhausted] with traveling and want of
rest.
6. I made a most [awkward, ridiculous, absurd, grotesque] appearance.
7. A man is sometimes more [generous, liberal, open-handed] when he
has but a little money than when he has plenty.
8. Dost thou love life? Then do not [squander, waste, spend] time.
9. He [continued, admonished, warned, counseled, advised] me not to
let so good an offer pass.
10. The eagle listens to every sound, [looking, gazing, glancing]
now and then to the earth beneath.
=Exercise 50.=--Fill the blanks below with words from the
following groups of synonyms:--
I. Large, colossal, great, big, commodious, huge, vast, capacious,
immense, spacious, huge.
1. Joan of Arc rode at the head of a ---- body of troops. 2. Our
world itself is a very ---- place. 3. If a ---- giant could travel
all over the universe and gather worlds, all as ---- as ours,
and were to make first a heap of merely ten such worlds, how ----
it would be. 4. I pushed aside the heavy leathern curtain at the
entrance, and stood in the ---- nave. The ---- cupola alone is
sixty-five feet higher than the Bunker Hill Monument, and the four
---- pillars on which it rests are each one hundred and thirty-seven
feet in circumference. The awe I felt in looking up at the ---- arch
of marble and gold did not humble me. 5. The old lady drew a package
of peppermints from her ---- pocket. 6. He lived in a ---- mansion
with ---- rooms.
II. Tiny, little, small, diminutive, minute.
1. The Lilliputians were a very ---- people. 2. Each ---- point was
carefully explained. 3. I met a ---- cottage girl. 4. Far away in
the forest, grew a pretty ---- fir tree. 5. The lame boy was so ----
that they called him ---- Tim.
=Exercise 51.=--Consult your dictionary to get the exact meaning
of each word in the following two groups of synonyms. Insert
words in the blanks, using each word but once.
1. Funny, odd, strange, queer, grotesque, peculiar.
2. Brave, bold, daring, fearless, courageous, reckless.
1. He told us of many ---- happenings. 2. The bird has a ---- cry.
3. We laughed at the ---- story. 4. What an ---- stick he is, to
be sure. 5. ---- faces were carved over the door. 6. It is a ----
coincidence. 7. He was a ---- bad man. 8. The ---- soldier was
foremost in the fray. 9. The ---- deed was applauded. 10. He is
a ---- man, and never considers consequences. 11. He seems to be
perfectly ----. 12. The fireman received a medal for his ---- act.
=Exercise 52.=--Do you see any difference in meaning in
the pairs of words given below? Write sentences using each
correctly.
Artist, artisan; healthy, healthful; bring, fetch; applause,
praise; propose, purpose; in, into; distinct, clear; few,
little; defend, protect; thankful, grateful; right, privilege;
occasion, opportunity; custom, habit; brutal, brutish;
temperance, abstinence; exile, banish; excuse, apology; duty,
obligation; doubt, suspense; price, worth; interfere, interpose;
surprised, astonished; flexible, pliable.
=20. Accuracy in the Use of Words.=--Accuracy in the use of words
comes from practice. It is better to blunder by using a word without
a complete knowledge of its meaning than to be afraid to use any
but the commonest words. Some words sound very much alike and yet
have very different meanings, and some words are so nearly alike
in meaning that it is almost or quite impossible to define the
difference between them, though we may perhaps feel it. All that we
can do, then, is simply to go on learning, using new words as fast
as we get fairly well acquainted with them, and depending upon our
teachers and older friends to point out to us when we are wrong.
What we must avoid is the stupid habit of using words thoughtlessly,
after the manner of the blundering Mrs. Malaprop in Sheridan's
_Rivals_, who said:--
I would by no means wish a daughter of mine to be a _progeny_
of learning; I don't think so much learning becomes a young
woman.... As she grew up, I would have her instructed in
_geometry_ that she might know something of the _contagious_
countries; but above all, Sir Anthony, she should be mistress of
_orthodoxy_, that she might not misspell and mispronounce words
so shamefully as girls usually do; and likewise that she might
_reprehend_ the true meaning of what she is saying. This, Sir
Anthony, is what I would have a woman know; and I don't think
there is a _superstitious_ article in it.
=Exercise 53.=--Distinguish between the meaning of the following
words: _luxuriant_ and _luxurious_; _effect_ and _affect_;
_disease_ and _decease_; _descent_ and _dissent_; _principal_
and _principle_; _suspect_ and _expect_; _sensuous_ and
_sensible_; _allude_ and _elude_; _noted_ and _notorious_;
_emigrant_ and _immigrant_; _ovation_ and _innovation_; _torpid_
and _tepid_.
=21. Figures of Speech.=--There is a strange way we all have of
using words in a sense different from that of ordinary expression.
We say, for example, that a brave soldier "was a lion." Of course,
he was not a lion actually; he merely had certain qualities which we
think lions have to a particularly great degree, that is, strength
and courage. In the same way, especially in joke, we may speak of
a person as an ass, a mule, a fox, a goose, an elephant, etc. Or,
instead of saying that a soldier fought bravely, we may say that
he fought like a lion, and similarly, that he was as stubborn as
a mule, as keen as a fox, etc. We thus say either what a thing
is _not_, or what it is _like_, instead of what it _is_. Such
expressions are called =figures= (that is, forms) of =speech=. In a
metaphor, one thing is called by the name of another. In a simile,
one thing is said to be like another.
We use both the metaphor and the simile quite frequently and
naturally in our ordinary speech and writing, particularly when our
feelings are aroused in any way.
1. Bread is the staff of life. (Metaphor.)
2. The ground was an oven floor; and the breeze that passed
by, the breath of a furnace. (Metaphor.)
3. His eye glowed like a fiery spark. (Simile.)
4. The carded wool, like a snowdrift, was piled at her knee.
(Simile.)
=Exercise 54.=--Pick out the metaphors and similes in the
following sentences:--
1. In this world a man must either be anvil or hammer. 2. He beheld
the lights in the houses, shining like stars in the dusk and mist
of the evening. 3. Hearty and hale was he, an oak that is covered
with snowflakes. 4. Their lives glide on like rivers that water
the woodland. 5. Their hearts leaped like the roe, when he hears
in the woodland the voice of the huntsman. 6. Life is a sheet of
paper white. 7. Her eyes are stars; her voice is music. 8. A fat
little steamer rolled itself along like a sailor on shore. 9. He
glared at us like a tiger out of a jungle. 10. Cornwallis, speaking
of Washington, said he would "bag the old fox" in the morning. 11.
He is a little chimney and heated hot in a moment. 12. John is the
black sheep of the family. 13. She is like a gleam of sunlight on a
dark day. 14. Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul
and health to the bones. 15. Her heart is as pure as the lilies.
=Exercise 55.=--Change the following similes and metaphors to
plain language:--
1. He is a Samson. 2. He is a wet blanket. 3. They are a pair of
turtle doves. 4. Never cross bridges until you come to them. 5. He
is a tower of strength. 6. You are pure gold. 7. Night's candles
are burnt out. 8. He is unstable as water. 9. He carries the world
on his shoulders. 10. What a bear he is! 11. That is a hard nut to
crack. 12. Don't be a dog in the manger. 13. Mother nature laughs
around. 14. Don't rub him the wrong way. 15. The Roman mother said
of her children, "These are my jewels."
=Exercise 56.=--Find similes or metaphors to express the
following:--
1. Time passes quickly. 2. Her eyes are very bright. 3. The boat
moved rapidly through the water. 4. She sings very sweetly. 5. The
wind makes a sound in the tops of the pines. 6. He is very cross. 7.
They are exceedingly poor. 8. Do not find fault with a gift. 9. Her
hair is fine and soft. 10. The night was very dark.
=Exercise 57.=--I. Compare the two following passages. Notice
how the account of the beginning of the boat race loses in force
by the changes from figurative language to plain language.
1. Hark! the first gun. The report sent Tom's heart into his mouth.
The crowds on the bank began to be agitated by the shadow of the
coming excitement.
Long before the sound of the starting-gun can roll up the river, the
pent-up life and energy which has been held in leash is let loose.
2. Hark! the first gun. The report made Tom nervous. The crowds
on the bank began to be agitated by the thought of the coming
excitement.
Long before the sound of the starting-gun can be heard up the river,
the life and energy which has been checked is released.
II. Rewrite the following, changing the similes and metaphors to
plain language. Notice how much the paragraph loses in force.
Isn't he grand, the captain, as he comes forward _like lightning_,
stroke after stroke? As the space narrows, the _fiery_ little
cockswain's eyes _flash_ with excitement.
=Exercise 58.=--Rewrite the following, using two or more similes
or metaphors:--
The first snow came. It covered the brown fields and green meadows.
It protected the roots of the plants hidden under it. It was very
white and clean. It covered the bushes and trees and fences with a
soft white covering.
=Exercise 59.=--Write sentences comparing the descent of an
eagle upon its prey to the fall of a thunderbolt; the falling of
rain to weeping; a cheerful face to a sunbeam; the loss of hope
to the setting of the sun; a modest little girl to a violet; a
sailing vessel to a bird; dandelions to pieces of gold; a good
book to a friend; a burst of anger to a storm; old age to sunset.
=Exercise 60.=--Write a paragraph describing something you have
seen in nature,--a brook, a meadow where cattle are grazing, a
field of daisies, a waterfall, or anything else you may choose.
Try to use at least one metaphor or simile.
=22. Mistakes in the Use of Words.=--Let us now consider the
principal errors which we are likely to make with regard to words.
=23. Spelling.=--If our letters corresponded exactly to our English
sounds, we could all spell fairly well, because we could use the
symbols that answered to our pronunciation. But our letters do
not agree well with our sounds; and there are many oddities and
inconsistencies which cause the young student a great deal of
trouble. Many plans have been proposed for simplifying our spelling,
and it is to be hoped that eventually some wise scheme will be
generally adopted, but that is not likely to come to pass for many
years, and in the meantime we must follow the established custom.
If we do not learn to spell in this way, we run the risk of being
thought unintelligent and uneducated. As a matter of fact, however,
students of your age are already over the worst of their troubles in
this respect. All they have to do is to pay careful attention to the
form of words as they read, and to keep a list of the words which
they spell incorrectly in their own compositions, making sure that
they do not make the same mistake a second time.
A set of rules which will be of service to you will be found in the
Appendix.
=24. Slang.=--By slang we mean strange words or expressions, not
employed in serious or dignified composition, whether written or
spoken. They are sometimes used in conversation, largely in jest,
by persons of intelligence and education, but more generally by
persons of defective education, who are not really acquainted with
the forms of the language used by the educated classes. There can
be no great objection to playing with words on occasions where play
is appropriate, particularly when the speakers are young or full of
boisterous fun. It is, however, unwise for young students to get the
habit of thus playing with words so firmly established that they
play when they should be serious, or that they become unfamiliar
with really good English. Particular care should be taken to avoid
slang that is vulgar or coarse.
Here is an extract which is intended to represent the natural and
playful speech of a boy of high spirits:--
"I say, East, can't we get something else besides potatoes? I've
got lots of money, you know."
"Bless us, yes, I forgot," said East, "you've only just come.
You see all my tin's been gone this twelve weeks. I've got a
tick at Sally's, of course; but then I hate running it high, you
see, toward the end of the half, because one has to shell out
for it all directly one comes back, and that's a bore."
"Well, what shall I buy?" said Tom, "I'm hungry."
"I say," said East, "you're a trump, Brown. I'll do the same
by you next half. Let's have a pound of sausages, then; that's
the best grub for tea I know of."--THOMAS HUGHES: _Tom Brown's
Schooldays_.
There is a certain vigor and picturesqueness of expression here,
and it would be absurd to expect boys, on all occasions, to speak
like dictionaries. On the other hand, you will readily see that the
italicized expressions in the following sentences would be wholly
inappropriate in serious written composition.
1. John made a bad _break_. 2. Your new hat is simply _immense_. 3.
I think that's the _limit_. 4. Children should _take a back seat_.
5. He _passed in his checks_. 6. That's only a _bluff_. 7. He's
a big _chump_. 8. The people made a big _kick_. 9. That boy is a
_fresh kid_. 10. He _chucked_ the tea overboard.
=Exercise 61.=--Rewrite the sentences given above, substituting
correct English for the slang words or expressions.
What slang expression do you use most frequently? Write a
paragraph explaining exactly what you mean by it.
=Exercise 62.=--Point out the exaggeration in the use of the
italicized words by giving the meaning of the word. Suggest
words which might be substituted for them.
1. We had an _awfully_ good time. 2. Butter is _frightfully_ dear.
3. I'm _terribly_ tired. 4. We were _horribly_ bored. 5. He is
_tremendously_ pleased. 6. This is a _magnificent_ lead pencil. 7.
You are _fearfully_ late this morning. 8. I _adore_ chocolate fudge.
9. This is _beautiful_ jelly cake. 10. What a _splendid_ apple!
=25. Errors in the Forms of Words.=--The following exercises will
give you practice in the forms of words in which young students most
often make mistakes.
=Exercise 63.=--Write sentences containing the following:--
Babies', women's, boy's, boys', girl's, children's, man's, men's,
girls', baby's, cats', cat's.
=Exercise 64.=--Write from dictation:--
1. The dog returns at John's call and rubs against his legs. He
waits while his master's horse is dozing at the post, and his master
talks within, and gossips with the other dogs, who are snapping at
the flies. Nobody knows how many dogs' characters are destroyed
in this gossip. 2. Malcolm entered the ladies' cabin and looked
for a seat. A baby, who was pulling impatiently at its mother's
dress, suddenly ran to him, crying, "Baby's papa,"--to his great
embarrassment. 3. It's now midnight. 4. Olive's skates are with
Alice's. 5. Yours is not so well prepared as ours. 6. Read Dickens's
"Christmas Carol."
=Exercise 65.=--I. Fill the blanks with _I_ or _me_. Give
reasons for your choice.
1. His lecture gave pleasure to Frank and ----. 2. He is cleverer
than ----. 3. This is for you and ----. 4. Henry and ---- went
driving. 5. Is it you? It is ----. 6. May Ethel and ---- remain
after school? 7. There is an agreement between you and ----. 8. This
story was read by ----. 9. My sister and ---- were traveling through
Yellowstone Park.
II. Fill the blanks with _we_ or _us_:--
1. ---- girls have formed a society. 2. He gave ---- boys permission
to leave early. 3. Was it ---- whom you saw? 4. You know that as
well as ----. 5. You are far nobler than ----. 6. You can do it
better than ----. 7. He has promised to take our cousin and ---- to
the circus. 8. He wishes to give ---- pleasure.
III. Fill the blanks with _he_ or _him_:--
1. It was ----. 2. All except ---- came early. 3. I can do it as
well as ----. 4. Who saw it first, you or ----? 5. I have no time
for children like you and ----. 6. What are you and ---- doing? 7.
It was either ---- or James that did it. 8. ---- who had promised
failed to fulfill his promise. 9. I thought it was ----. 10. I
should not like to be ----.
IV. Fill the blanks with _she_ or _her_:--
1. We gave ---- one more chance. 2. ---- and I are going. 3. You
read better than ----. 4. Can it be ----? 5. I am sure it is ----.
6. I will keep you and ----. 7. ---- and her friends have gone. 8.
If I were ---- I would do it. 9. The fault lies between you and
----. 10. I am going with ----.
V. Fill the blanks with _they_ or _them_:--
1. We are as good as ----. 2. Could it have been ----? 3. It was
----. 4. ---- and their company have gone. 5. We are not as well
educated as ----.
VI. Fill the blanks with _who_ or _whom_:--
1. ---- are you to believe? 2. ---- do you think it was? 3. I like
to help those ---- deserve it. 4. Do you remember ---- you saw? 5.
Can you tell ---- to believe? 6. ---- can this be from? 7. ---- do
you think this is? 8. I heard from a boy ---- was a pupil. 9. He
invited all ---- he believed to be his friends. 10. He saw a man
---- he supposed to be the minister. 11. I gave it to the one ----
seemed to need it most. 12. I hardly know ---- to believe. 13. I
have appointed a clerk ---- I believe can be trusted. 14. We know
---- you are. 15. Mary, ---- is my friend, will certainly support
me. 16. Lincoln was the man ---- liberated the slaves. 17. If I
cannot believe in her, in ---- can I believe? 18. I will give it to
the one ---- gets here first. 19. They left me in doubt as to ----
it was. 20. I have found my child ---- was lost. 21. A man ---- I
expected to meet failed to arrive. 22. He spoke to the boy ----
he pitied. 23. He helped the boy, ---- had been deserted by his
parents. 24. He was a man ---- was greatly beloved. 25. Helen, ----,
I am told, is the winner of the medal, is a very studious child.
=Exercise 66.=--I. Use some form of verb _set_ or _sit_:--
1. ---- the plant on the window sill. 2. He ---- the table. 3. The
hen is ----. 4. Harold is ---- out tomato plants. 5. The shepherds
---- on the ground in a row. 6. They were ---- there at nightfall.
7. He ---- in the front seat. 8. She was ---- by the fire. 9. We
---- under the sycamore tree.
H. Use some form of _lie_ or _lay_:--
I. ---- still and rest. 2. He ---- under the lilac bush. 3. He was
---- there when I arrived. 4. We ---- her in the cold, moist earth.
5. Mary, ---- on the couch. 6. The men are ---- a board walk. 7. We
have ---- our plan. 8. The ship is ---- in the harbor. 9. She has
---- there since seven o'clock.
III. Use some form of _do_:--
1. My work is ----. 2. He ---- (past tense) his work well. 3. We
---- (past tense) our duty. 4. Has he ---- it yet? 5. You---- (past
tense) it.
IV. Use some form of _bring_ or _take_:--
1. Horace ---- his teacher a rose. 2. Miss Klein ---- it home with
her. 3. Frank, --- -me your book. 4. He ---- it to me. 5. He has
---- it to me. 6. He ---- his dog into the garden. 7. He has ---- it
home.
V. Use some form of _learn_ and _teach_:--
1. ---- me to sew. 2. Mother has ---- me to knit. 3. I have ---- how
to sew. 4. I am ---- how to cook. 5. She ---- her brother how to
skate. 6. She is ---- him to be fearless.
VI. Use some form of _see_:--
1. I ---- the sunset. 2. I have ---- the sunset. 3. He has ---- the
procession. 4. He ---- it now.
VII. Use correctly in sentences _see_, _saw_, _seen_.
VIII. Use in sentences all forms of the following verbs:--
Go, drive, break, do, ring, run, bring, lie, lay, sit, set, teach,
read, know, take.
IX. Change the form of the verbs below from present to perfect or
past perfect:--
1. The boy runs rapidly. 2. The old man rings the bell at sundown.
3. I saw the lights of the village. 4. Tiny Tim sings very sweetly.
5. We sit by the fire in the gloaming. 6. Mr. Towne teaches drawing.
7. Mary reads well. 8. He lays fresh flowers on her grave. 9. He
sets a light in the window. 10. Mary plays the piano.
CHAPTER V
CONDENSATION, EXPANSION, AND PARAPHRASE
=26. Writing in which the Ideas are already at Hand.=--Young people
have an abundance of things to write about. Their lives are usually
full of interesting incidents, and their minds are fresh and eager.
Before passing on, however, to the principal part of composition,
that in which the writer expresses his own ideas, let us undertake
a little practice in a form of composition in which the ideas are
furnished us. We shall thus not have to devote so much effort to
thinking what we are going to write, and can devote all the more
attention to the pleasing form of what we write.
=27. Condensation.=--Here are two well-written and clear paragraphs
on an interesting topic, and beneath each are two or three pleasing
sentences which give the same idea in a shorter or condensed form.
1. Centuries ago, in a remote village among some wild hills in
France, there lived a country maiden, Joan of Arc, who was at this
time in her twentieth year. She had been a solitary girl from her
childhood; she had often tended sheep and cattle for whole days
where no human figure was seen or human voice was heard; and she had
often knelt, for hours together, in the gloomy empty little village
chapel, looking up at the altar and at the dim lamp burning before
it, until she fancied that she saw shadowy figures standing there,
and even that she heard them speak to her.--CHARLES DICKENS: _A
Child's History of England._
Joan of Arc lived centuries ago in a remote French village. Her
childhood had been a solitary one. Often she was for days alone
with her sheep, and she knelt long alone in the gloomy village
chapel, where she fancied that she saw shadowy shapes that spoke
to her.
2. I think it was Hans, our Eskimo hunter, who thought he saw a
broad sledge track. The drift had nearly effaced it, and we were
some of us doubtful at first whether it was not one of those
accidental rifts which the gales make in the surface snow. But, as
we traced it on to the deep snow among the hummocks, we were led
to footsteps; and, following these with religious care, we at last
came in sight of a small American flag fluttering from a hummock,
and lower down a little banner hanging from a tent pole hardly above
the drift. It was the camp of our disabled comrades; we reached it
after an unbroken march of twenty-one hours.--E. E. KANE: _Arctic
Explorations_.
Hans, our Eskimo hunter, found what seemed to be the faint
traces of a sledge, and this led us to footsteps. Following
these with great care, we came at length to the camp of our
disabled comrades.
=Exercise 67.=--Condense the following paragraphs, making your
sentences pleasing to the ear:--
1. In order to begin at the beginning of the story, let us suppose
that we go into a country garden one fine morning in May, when the
sun is shining brightly overhead, and that we see hanging from the
bough of an old apple tree a black object which looks very much like
a large plum pudding. On approaching it, however, we see that it is
a large cluster or swarm of bees clinging to each other by their
legs; each bee with its two fore legs clinging to the hinder legs
of the one above it. In this way as many as twenty thousand bees may
be clinging together, and yet they hang so freely that a bee, even
from quite the center of the swarm, can disengage herself from her
neighbors and pass through to the outside of the cluster whenever
she wishes.--ARABELLA BUCKLEY: _Fairyland of Science_.
2. This warning stopped all speech, and the hardy mariners, knowing
that they had already done all in the power of man to insure their
safety, stood in breathless anxiety, awaiting the result. At a short
distance ahead of them the whole ocean was white with foam, and the
waves, instead of rolling on in regular succession, appeared to be
tossing madly about. A single streak of dark billows, not half a
cable's length in width, could be discerned running into this chaos
of water; but it was soon lost to the eye amid the confusion. Along
this narrow path the vessel moved more heavily than before, being
brought so near the wind as to keep her sails touching. The pilot
silently proceeded to the wheel, and with his own hands undertook
the steering of the ship. No noise proceeded from the frigate to
interrupt the horrid tumult of the ocean; and she entered the
channel among the breakers in dead silence.--JAMES FENIMORE COOPER:
_The Pilot_.
=28. Method in Condensation.=--The length of any piece of writing
depends upon the purpose for which it is intended. For instance, the
answer to the question, "Who was Abraham Lincoln?" might, according
to the circumstances, be given in a paragraph, in a page, or in a
chapter; or it might be expanded into a work of many volumes. If
you were required, in preparation for a written lesson in history
or geography, to read several pages, you would not be expected to
write all you had read, but to be able to condense; that is, to
omit details and select the _most important_ points. The ability
to decide which points _are_ the important ones, and which may be
omitted with least loss to the passage, will be of great value to
you in all your serious reading and study.
The following suggestions will help you in condensing:--
1. Read the whole passage through carefully.
2. Pick out the things so important that they must be retained. As a
rule, the more important the point, the greater the space the author
allots to it. Drop the minor points.
3. Arrange the facts you decide to retain in order of importance,
and in condensing the passage give most space to the most important
points.
Read, for example, the following narrative, and notice the
condensation printed below it:--
In the reign of the great caliph, there lived in the city of Bagdad
a celebrated barber, of the name of Ali. He was famous for a steady
hand, and could shave a head, or trim your beard or whiskers, with
his eyes blindfolded. There was not a man of fashion at Bagdad who
did not employ him; and such a run of business had he that at length
he became very proud and insolent.
Firewood was always scarce and dear at Bagdad; and it happened
one day that a poor woodcutter, ignorant of the character of Ali,
stopped at his shop, to sell him a load of wood, which he had just
brought from a distance on his donkey. Ali immediately offered him
a certain sum "_for all the wood that was upon the donkey_." The
woodcutter agreed, unloaded his beast, and asked for the money.
"You have not given me all the wood yet," said the barber. "I
must have your wooden pack saddle into the bargain: that was our
agreement."
"What!" said the other, in great amazement; "who ever heard of such
a bargain? It is impossible."
But after many words the overbearing barber seized the pack saddle,
wood, and all, and sent away the poor peasant in great distress. The
woodcutter then ran to the judge and stated his griefs; the judge
was one of the barber's customers, and refused to hear the case.
Then he went to a higher judge; he also patronized Ali, and made
light of the complaint.
The poor woodcutter was not disheartened, but forthwith got a scribe
to write a petition to the caliph himself. The caliph's punctuality
in reading petitions is well known, and it was not long before the
woodcutter was called to his presence. When he had approached the
caliph, he kneeled and kissed the ground; and then, folding his arms
before him, his hands covered with the sleeves of his cloak, and his
feet close together, he awaited the decision of his case.
"Friend," said the caliph, "the barber has words on his side:
you have equity on yours. The law must be defined by words, and
agreements must be made by words. The law must have its course, or
it is nothing; and agreements must be kept, or there would be no
good faith between man and man. Therefore the barber must keep all
his wood, but"--
Then calling the woodcutter close to him, the caliph whispered
something in his ear, and sent him away quite satisfied. The
woodcutter, having made obeisance, took his donkey by the halter,
and returned home.
A few days later he applied to the barber, as if nothing had
happened between them, requesting that he, _and a companion of his
from the country_, might enjoy the dexterity of his hand; and the
price for which both operations were to be performed was settled.
When the woodcutter's beard had been properly shaved, Ali asked
where his companion was. "He is standing just outside," said the
woodcutter; "he shall come in at once." Accordingly he went out, and
led in his donkey by the halter. "This is my companion," said he:
"shave him."
"Shave him!" exclaimed the barber, in a rage: "is it not enough that
I should degrade myself by touching _you_, but you must insult me by
asking me to shave your donkey? Away with you!"
The woodcutter immediately went to the caliph and related his case.
"Bring Ali and his razors to me this instant," exclaimed the caliph
to one of his officers; and in the course of ten minutes the barber
stood before him. "Why do you refuse to shave this man's companion?"
said the caliph to the barber: "was not that your agreement?" Ali,
kissing the ground, answered, "It is true, O caliph, that such was
our agreement; but who ever made a companion of a donkey before?"
"True enough," said the caliph; "but who ever thought of insisting
upon a pack saddle's being included in a load of wood? No, no, it is
the woodcutter's turn now. Shave this donkey instantly!"
So the barber was compelled to prepare a great quantity of soap, to
lather the beast from head to foot, and to shave him in the presence
of the caliph and of the whole court, whilst he was jeered and
mocked by the bystanders. The poor woodcutter was then dismissed
with a present of money; and all Bagdad resounded with the story,
and praised the justice of the caliph.
There was once in Bagdad a barber who was so skillful that he
was employed by all the men of fashion, and who became so proud
that he would seldom work for any but men of rank. One day a
poor woodcutter came to his shop to sell a load of wood. Ali
offered him a sum of money for "all the wood upon the donkey."
The woodcutter agreed, whereupon Ali seized the wooden pack
saddle as well as the wood, saying it was included in the
bargain.
After in vain seeking redress from the judges, the peasant went
to the caliph, who decided that, according to the terms made,
the bargain must stand; but, calling the woodcutter to him, he
whispered something in his ear.
A few days afterward the woodcutter asked the barber to shave
him and a companion from the country, agreeing to pay the price
asked by the barber. After the woodcutter had been attended to,
the barber asked for the companion, whereupon the woodcutter
led in his donkey. The barber in rage drove them from his shop,
but the woodcutter immediately went to the caliph and stated
his case. The tables were now turned, for the caliph decided in
favor of the woodcutter. The barber was obliged to shave the
beast in the presence of the caliph and the whole court, who
mocked at him; and the woodcutter was dismissed with a rich
present.
=Exercise 68.= In a similar way condense this account of the
battle of Hastings into about two hundred words.
In the middle of the month of October, in the year one thousand and
sixty-six, the Normans and the English came front to front. All
night the armies lay encamped before each other in a part of the
country then called Senlac, now called Battle. With the first dawn
of day they arose. There, in the faint light, were the English on
a hill. A wood lay behind them, and in their midst was the royal
banner, representing a fighting warrior, woven in gold thread,
adorned with precious stones.
Beneath the banner, as it rustled in the wind, stood King Harold
on foot, with two of his remaining brothers by his side; around
them, still and silent as the dead, clustered the whole English
army--every soldier covered by his shield, and bearing in his hand
the dreaded English battle-ax.
On an opposite hill, in three lines,--archers, foot soldiers, and
horsemen,--was the Norman force. Of a sudden, a great battle cry,
"God help us!" burst from the Norman lines. The English answered
with their own battle cry, "God's Rood! Holy Rood!" The Normans then
came sweeping down the hill to attack the English.
There was one tall Norman knight who rode before the Norman army on
a prancing horse, throwing up his heavy sword and catching it, and
singing of the bravery of his countrymen. An English knight, who
rode out from the English force to meet him, fell by this knight's
hand. Another English knight rode out, and he also fell; but then a
third rode out and killed the Norman.
The English, keeping side by side in a great mass, cared no more
for the showers of Norman arrows than if they had been showers of
Norman rain. When the Norman horsemen rode against them, with their
battle-axes they cut men and horses down. The Normans gave way. The
English pressed forward. A cry went forth among the Norman troops
that Duke William was killed. Duke William took off his helmet, in
order that his face might be distinctly seen, and rode along the
line before his men. This gave them courage.
As they turned again to face the English, some of their Norman horse
divided the pursuing body of the English from the rest, and thus all
that foremost portion of the English army fell, fighting bravely.
The main body still remaining firm, heedless of the Norman arrows,
and with their battle-axes cutting down the crowds of horsemen when
they rode up, like forests of young trees, Duke William pretended to
retreat. The eager English followed. The Norman army closed again
and fell upon them with great slaughter.
"Still," said Duke William, "there are thousands of the English firm
as rocks around their king. Shoot upward, Norman archers, that your
arrows may fall down upon their faces."
The sun rose high, and sank, and the battle still raged. Through all
the wild October day, the clash and din resounded in the air. In the
red sunset, and in the white moonlight, heaps upon heaps of dead men
lay strewn, a dreadful spectacle, all over the ground.
King Harold, wounded with an arrow in the eye, was nearly blind.
His brothers were already killed. Twenty Norman knights now dashed
forward to seize the royal banner from the English knights and
soldiers, still faithfully collected round their blinded king. The
king received a mortal wound and dropped. The English broke and
fled. The Normans rallied, and the day was lost.
Oh, what a sight beneath the moon and stars when lights were shining
in the tent of the victorious Duke William, which was pitched near
the spot where Harold fell--and he and his knights were carousing
within--and soldiers with torches, going slowly to and fro without,
sought for the corpse of Harold among piles of dead--and Harold's
banner, worked in golden thread and precious stones, lay low, all
torn and soiled with blood--and the Duke's flag, with three Norman
lions upon it, kept watch over the field.--CHARLES DICKENS: _A
Child's History of England_.
=Exercise 69.=--Condense such of the passages suggested below as
your teacher may indicate.
1. The passage quoted on pages 88-90.
2. The passage quoted on pages 144-148 (or 182-185).
3. A passage from your text-book in history or geography.
4. An account (of a fire, for instance), from a daily or weekly
paper.
=29. Expansion.=--An exercise just the opposite of the preceding is
also highly profitable to young writers. Here, for example, are two
sentences that will suggest a good deal to you. You will see at once
that it is easy to expand them into a larger piece of writing, and
just below is an entire paragraph which is based on these sentences.
1. Lord Fairfax asked George Washington to survey his lands in
Virginia. The boy was very glad to do so, for he loved a wild and
adventurous life.
2. Lord Fairfax wished very much to have his lands in the valley of
Virginia surveyed, and he asked young George Washington if he would
undertake the work. The boy was very glad to do so. Nothing could
have pleased him better than work of this sort. He loved the open
air and horseback riding; he would delight to explore that grand and
beautiful country where Indians and wild animals still roamed at
will; and he at once began to make ready for his journey.
Here is another example of the same process:--
1. The _Mayflower_ sailed on the 16th of September. After a long and
stormy voyage the Pilgrims sighted land.
2. On the 16th of September the sails were spread once more, and
the _Mayflower_ glided out upon the waters of the broad Atlantic.
Fierce storms arose, and the vessel was tossed like an eggshell upon
the waves. The main beam was wrenched from its place, and the ship
was in danger of breaking in pieces. One passenger fell overboard
and was lost. At length, on the 19th of November, the joyful cry
of land rang through the ship. All eyes were strained to see the
welcome sight. There it was--a long reach of sandy shore with dark
forest trees in the background. The hard, dangerous voyage was
almost at an end. The Pilgrims were nearly home.
=Exercise 70.=--You will now be ready to try this form of
writing for yourselves. Below are given a number of short and
suggestive statements. Expand them, using your own imagination
to fill out the material, and trying, in each case, to make your
sentences pleasing to the ear.
1. Rip Van Winkle was a great favorite among the good wives of the
village. The children, too, loved him, and followed him about.
2. The Catskill Mountains lie to the west of the Hudson River. They
are very beautiful.
3. The news of Lexington and Concord was sent to Philadelphia. Here
the Continental Congress was assembled. The members agreed upon
Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.
=30. The Purpose of Expansion.=--We sometimes expand passages in
order to make them clearer by explanation or illustration.
EXAMPLES. 1. In the Old World there are various grades of society,
and it is almost impossible for a boy born in the lower to rise into
the higher ranks. In this country this is not so; every man is as
good as his neighbor.
2. In the aristocracies of the Old World, wealth and society are
built up like the strata of rock which compose the crust of the
earth. If a boy be born in the lowest stratum of life, it is almost
impossible for him to rise through the hard crust into the higher
ranks; but in this country it is not so. The strata of our society
resemble rather the ocean, where every drop, even the lowest, is
free to mingle with all others, and may shine at last on the crest
of the highest wave. This is the glory of our country, and you need
not fear that there are any obstacles which will prove too great for
any brave heart.
=Exercise 71.=--Expand into a paragraph such of the following
statements as your teacher may indicate:--
1. The early bird catches the worm.
2. If you would be well served, serve yourself.
3. For want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe, the
horse was lost; for want of a horse, the rider was lost; for want of
the rider, the army was lost.
4. Benedict Arnold's last request, it is said, was that he might die
in his old American uniform; his last prayer, that God would forgive
him for ever having put on any other.
5. After Washington's retreat from Long Island in September, 1776,
he needed information as to the British fortifications. A young
American officer, Nathan Hale, volunteered to get the information.
While inside of the enemy's lines he was taken prisoner and hanged
as a spy. With his latest breath he regretted that he had only one
life to lose for his country.
=31. Paraphrase.=--There is just one further kind of writing, in
which the ideas are given you, that will be profitable to you as
practice. This is _paraphrase_. To paraphrase a piece of writing is
to restate it in your own words and in a simpler form.
You used one form of paraphrasing in the exercise on page 60, when
you explained figurative expressions by changing them into simpler
or plainer language. In figurative language a resemblance between
things otherwise unlike is pointed out or taken for granted, and
in order to understand the author's meaning you must be able to
discover the resemblance. By reducing the figure to plain language
you make sure that you understand it; and you are often led in this
way to see much more clearly the beauty or the force of the figure.
In a similar manner paraphrasing will aid you in understanding
difficult passages, whether in verse or in prose, which you may come
on in your reading. It is said of Lincoln that whenever he read
anything that seemed to him very difficult, he would try to express
it so simply that people who knew less than he could understand it.
Perhaps this is one reason why Lincoln's speeches and writings are
so beautifully clear.
EXAMPLES. 1. The reports of the expedition demonstrated the
practicability of establishing a line of communication across the
continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
The reports of the expedition proved that it would be possible
to build a road across the continent, from the Atlantic to the
Pacific Ocean.
2. Two leading objects of commercial gain have given birth to
wide and daring enterprise in the early history of the Americas,
the precious metals of the south and the rich peltries of the
north. While the Spaniard, inflamed with the mania for gold,
has extended his discoveries and conquests over those brilliant
countries scorched by the ardent sun of the tropics, the Frenchman
and Englishman have pursued the no less lucrative traffic in furs
amid the hyperborean regions of the Canadas.--WASHINGTON IRVING:
_Astoria_.
Two important objects of commerce have given birth to daring
undertakings in the early history of North and South America.
These are the gold and silver of the south and the rich furs
of the north. The Spaniard, mad for gold, has explored and
conquered the tropical countries. Meanwhile, the Frenchman and
the Englishman have followed the equally profitable traffic in
furs in the far northern regions of Canada.
3. Meanwhile the choleric captain strode wrathful away to the council,
Found it already assembled, impatiently waiting his coming;
Men in the middle of life, austere and grave in deportment,
Only one of them old, the hill that was nearest to heaven,
Covered with snow, but erect, the excellent Elder of Plymouth.
--H. W. LONGFELLOW: _The Courtship of Miles Standish_.
Meanwhile the quick-tempered captain strode wrathfully away to
the council, which he found already assembled, and impatiently
waiting his coming. They were middle-aged men, stern and grave
in bearing. Only one of them was old, the excellent Elder
of Plymouth, but he still stood erect, though his hair was
white--like the snow cap on a tall mountain.
=Exercise 72.=--Paraphrase the following; try to express the
thought so simply that people who know less than you do can
understand it.
1. It was not until the year 1776 that the fur trade regained
its old channels; but it was then pursued with much avidity and
emulation by individual merchants, and soon transcended its former
bounds.--WASHINGTON IRVING: _Astoria_.
2. It is characteristic of such a people [the Aztecs] to find a
puerile pleasure in a dazzling and ostentatious pageantry; to
mistake show for substance; vain pomp for power; to hedge round the
throne itself with barren and burdensome ceremonial, the counterfeit
of real majesty.--W. H. PRESCOTT: _The Conquest of Mexico_.
3. The messenger found access to the benignant princess and
delivered the epistle of the friar. Isabella had always been
favorably disposed to the proposition of Columbus. She wrote in
reply to Juan Perez, thanking him for his timely service, and
requesting that he would repair immediately to the court, leaving
Columbus in confident hope until he should hear further from
her.--WASHINGTON IRVING: _Life of Columbus_.
4. It cannot be disputed that the light toil requisite to cultivate
a moderately sized garden imparts such zest to kitchen vegetables as
is never found in those of the market gardener. Childless men, if
they would know something of the bliss of paternity, should plant
a seed with their own hands and nurse it from infancy to maturity
altogether by their own care.--NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE: _Mosses from an
Old Manse_.
5. Dorcas nourished her apprehensions in silence till one afternoon
when Reuben awoke from an unquiet sleep and seemed to recognize her
more perfectly than at any previous time. She saw that his intellect
had become composed, and she could no longer restrain her filial
anxiety.--_From the same_.
=Exercise 73.=--Paraphrase the following passages:--
1. Ah, no longer wizard Fancy
Builds her castles in the air,
Luring me by necromancy
Up the never-ending stair.
But instead she builds me bridges
Over many a dark ravine,
Where beneath the gusty ridges
Cataracts dash and roar unseen.
--H. W. LONGFELLOW: _The Bridge of Cloud_.
2. For a cap and bells our lives we pay,
Bubbles we buy with a whole soul's tasking;
'Tis heaven alone that is given away,
'Tis only God may be had for the asking;
No price is set on the lavish summer;
June may be had by the poorest comer.
--J. R. LOWELL: _The Vision of Sir Launfal_.
3. Oh, for festal dainties spread,
Like my bowl of milk and bread;
Pewter spoon and bowl of wood,
On the door stone, gray and rude!
O'er me, like a regal tent,
Cloudy-ribbed, the sunset bent,
Purple-curtained, fringed with gold,
Looped in many a wind-swung fold;
While for music came the play
Of the pied frogs' orchestra;
And, to light the noisy choir,
Lit the fly his lamp of fire.
I was monarch: pomp and joy
Waited on the barefoot boy.
--J. G. WHITTIER: _The Barefoot Boy_.
=32. Paraphrase of Complete Compositions.=--It is also sometimes
a helpful exercise to paraphrase, not an extract, but a complete
poem or short piece of prose, in order to make sure that you
understand it thoroughly. This often requires a good deal of study,
for details, which you had not at first noticed, but which are
essential to the meaning, need to be carefully thought out.
Read, for example, Longfellow's delightful poem, _Walter Von der
Vogelweid_ and then the paraphrase that follows.
Vogelweid the Minnesinger,
When he left this world of ours,
Laid his body in the cloister,
Under Würtzburg's minster towers.
And he gave the monks his treasures,
Gave them all with his behest:
They should feed the birds at noontide
Daily on his place of rest;
Saying, "From these wandering minstrels
I have learned the art of song;
Let me now repay the lessons
They have taught so well and long."
Thus the bard of love departed;
And, fulfilling his desire,
On his tomb the birds were feasted
By the children of the choir.
Day by day, o'er tower and turret,
In foul weather and in fair,
Day by day, in vaster numbers,
Flocked the poets of the air.
On the tree, whose heavy branches
Overshadowed all the place,
On the pavement, on the tombstone,
On the poet's sculptured face,
On the crossbars of each window,
On the lintel of each door,
They renewed the War of Wartburg,
Which the bard had fought before.
There they sang their merry carols,
Sang their lauds on every side;
And the name their voices uttered
Was the name of Vogelweid.
Till at length the portly abbot
Murmured, "Why this waste of food?
Be it changed to loaves henceforward
For our fasting brotherhood."
Then in vain o'er tower and turret,
From the walls and woodland nests,
When the minster bells rang noontide,
Gathered the unwelcome guests.
Then in vain, with cries discordant,
Clamorous round the Gothic spire,
Screamed the feathered Minnesingers
For the children of the choir.
Time has long effaced the inscriptions
On the cloister's funeral stones,
And tradition only tells us
Where repose the poet's bones.
But around the vast cathedral,
By sweet echoes multiplied,
Still the birds repeat the legend,
And the name of Vogelweid.
Walter Von der Vogelweid was an old German Minnesinger, that
is, a poet who sang of love, and his name means Walter of the
Bird-meadow. When he passed from this world, his body was laid in
the cloister under the towers of the cathedral of Würtzburg. He gave
all his property to the monks, on condition that they should feed
the birds that flew about his grave. "For," said he, "I want to
repay the birds, who have taught me the art of song."
Every noon, as Walter had desired, the children of the choir fed the
birds about his tomb. Day after day, in larger and larger numbers,
these small wandering minstrels flocked to be fed, in fair or stormy
weather. On the tree that overshadowed his grave, on the pavement,
on the tombstone, even on the face of the marble statue of the
poet, they would cluster, singing in rivalry as he had once sung in
competition with other poets at the castle of Wartburg. And in their
carols was always the name of Vogelweid.
At last the abbot determined that this waste of food should not
continue, but that loaves of bread should be bought instead for
the fasting priests. After this the birds clamored in vain for the
children who had fed them.
Time has long since worn away the inscription on the tombstone of
the cloister, and now there is nothing to tell us where the poet's
bones rest; but around the cathedral the sweet voices of the birds
still repeat the story and the name of Walter Von der Vogelweid.
=Exercise 74.= Paraphrase such complete poems or prose passages
as your teacher may indicate.
Suggested poems:--1. Longfellow's _The Legend of the Crossbill_,
or _The Wreck of the Hesperus_. 2. Tennyson's _Lady Clare_. 3.
Browning's _An Incident of the French Camp_. 4. Scott's _Lochinvar_.
5. Campbell's _Lord Ullin's Daughter_. 6. Bayard Taylor's _A Song
of the Camp_. 7. Whittier's _Telling the Bees_. 8. Kingsley's _The
Sands o' Dee_. 9. Leigh Hunt's _Abou Ben Adhem_. 10. Lowell's _The
Courtin'_.
CHAPTER VI
WHOLE COMPOSITIONS; OUTLINES
=33. Whole Compositions.=--You have now studied the combination
of words into sentences and the combination of sentences into
paragraphs. You must meanwhile have guessed that there is a still
larger process of composition,--the combining of paragraphs into the
essay or chapter or book. This process we must now examine briefly.
Read the following passage, which, to be sure, is not exactly a
whole composition in itself, for it forms a part of a long essay on
a visit to Shakspere's birthplace. It is sufficiently long, however,
to show how paragraphs are combined.
I had come to Stratford on a poetical pilgrimage. My first
visit was to the house where Shakspere was born, and where,
according to tradition, he was brought up to his father's craft
of wool-combing. It is a small, mean-looking edifice of wood
and plaster, a true nestling place of genius, which seems to
delight in hatching its offspring in by-corners. The walls of
its squalid chambers are covered with names and inscriptions
in every language, by pilgrims of all nations, ranks, and
conditions, from the prince to the peasant; and present a
simple, but striking instance of the spontaneous and universal
homage of mankind to the great poet of nature.
The house is shown by a garrulous old lady, in a frosty red
face, lighted up by a cold blue anxious eye, and garnished
with artificial locks of flaxen hair, curling from under
an exceedingly dirty cap. She was peculiarly assiduous in
exhibiting the relics with which this, like all other celebrated
shrines, abounds. There was the shattered stock of the very
matchlock with which Shakspere shot the deer, on his poaching
exploits. There, too, was his tobacco box; which proves that he
was a rival smoker of Sir Walter Raleigh; the sword also with
which he played Hamlet; and the identical lantern with which
Friar Laurence discovered Romeo and Juliet at the tomb!
The most favorite object of curiosity, however, is Shakspere's
chair. It stands in the chimney nook of a small gloomy chamber,
just behind what was his father's shop. Here he may many a time
have sat when a boy, watching the slowing revolving spit with
all the longing of an urchin; or of an evening, listening to the
cronies and gossips of Stratford, dealing forth churchyard tales
and legendary anecdotes of the troublesome times of England.
In this chair it is the custom of every one that visits the
house to sit: whether this be done with the hope of imbibing
any of the inspiration of the bard I am at a loss to say--I
merely mention the fact; and mine hostess privately assured me,
that, though built of solid oak, such was the fervent zeal of
devotees, that the chair had to be new bottomed at least once in
three years. It is worthy of notice also, in the history of this
extraordinary chair, that it partakes something of the volatile
nature of the Santa Casa of Loretto, or the flying chair of the
Arabian enchanter; for though sold some few years since to a
northern princess, yet, strange to tell, it has found its way
back again to the old chimney.
I am always of easy faith in such matters, and am ever willing
to be deceived, where the deceit is pleasant and costs nothing.
I am therefore a ready believer in relics, legends, and local
anecdotes of goblins and great men; and would advise all
travelers who travel for their gratification to be the same.
What is it to us, whether these stories be true or false, so
long as we can persuade ourselves into the belief of them,
and enjoy all the charms of the reality? There is nothing
like resolute good-humored credulity in these matters; and on
this occasion I went even so far as willingly to believe the
claims of mine hostess to a lineal descent from the poet, when,
unluckily for my faith, she put into my hands a play of her
own composition, which set all belief in her consanguinity at
defiance.--WASHINGTON IRVING: _Stratford-on-Avon_.
You will notice that the opening sentences give you a hint of what
is coming. You will also notice that the author has a separate
thought for each paragraph:--
1. The house in general.
2. The relics exhibited by the housekeeper.
3. The most interesting relic; its history.
4. The author's "good-humored credulity."
These thoughts, when taken together, build up in the reader's mind a
larger thought, just as the thoughts expressed in each sentence in
a paragraph, when taken together, build up in the reader's mind a
smaller idea.
Furthermore, you will notice how careful the writer has been to
build up that idea in the reader's mind clearly and easily. He began
with a thought that was easy to grasp and that gave you a hint of
what was coming.
Here is another good instance of an author's skill in planning his
work:--
Let us consider briefly the structure of the earth, studying
first its crust, second its interior, third its atmosphere.
It has been found that what is called the earth's crust--that
is, the outside of the earth, as the peel is the outside of an
orange--is composed of various rocks of different kinds and
ages, all of them, however, belonging to two great classes:
stratified [that is, deposited in layers] rocks and igneous
[made by fire] rocks. The stratified rocks have been deposited
by water, principally by the sea. This is proved by two facts:
first, in their formation they resemble the beds lying deposited
by water at the present time; secondly, they nearly all contain
remains of fishes and shell-fish. Such remains, being dug out of
the earth, are called fossils, from the Latin _fossilis_, dug.
The whole series of sedimentary rocks have been disturbed by
eruptions of volcanic materials. Molten rock ejected from the
interior of the earth and cooling form the igneous rocks we have
spoken of. They are easily distinguished from the sedimentary
rock, as they have no appearance of stratification and contain
no fossils.
We have numerous proofs that the interior of the earth is at a
high temperature at present, although its surface has cooled.
Our deepest mines are so hot that, without a perpetual current
of cold air it would be impossible for the miners to live
in them. The water brought up in artesian wells is found to
increase in temperature one degree for from fifty to fifty-five
feet of depth. In the hot lava emitted from volcanoes we have
further evidence of this internal heat. It has been calculated
that the temperature of the earth increases as we descend at
the rate of one degree Fahrenheit in a little over fifty feet.
We shall therefore have a temperature of two thousand seven
hundred degrees at a depth of twenty-eight miles. At this
temperature everything which we are acquainted with would be in
a state of fusion.
We now pass to the atmosphere, which may be likened to a
great ocean, covering the earth to a height not yet exactly
determined. This height is generally supposed to be forty-five
or fifty miles, but there is evidence to show that we have an
atmosphere of some kind at a height of four hundred or five
hundred miles. The chemical composition by weight of one hundred
parts of the atmosphere at present is as follows: nitrogen,
seventy-seven parts; oxygen, twenty-three parts. Besides these
two main constituents, we have carbonic acid, whose quantity
varies with the locality; aqueous vapor, variable with the
temperature and humidity; and a trace of ammonia.--Adapted from
LOCKYER'S _Astronomy_.
Here, as before, you will notice that the author has a separate idea
for each paragraph, as follows:--
1. The three parts of the earth.
2. The crust.
3. The interior.
4. The atmosphere.
He has also begun in this case with a paragraph that states
precisely what plan he is going to follow; namely, that he will
treat the subject under three heads.
=34. Outlines.=--A full outline of the selection would be as
follows:--
I. Introduction.
_A._ Announces whole topic.
_B._ Names subdivisions--_crust, interior, atmosphere_.
II. Crust.
_A._ Composed of two kinds of rocks:--
1. Stratified.
2. Igneous.
III. Interior.
_A._ Heat (proofs).
_B._ Molten state.
IV. Atmosphere.
_A._ Height.
_B._ Chemical composition.
Now read the following composition:--
THE CUP OF WATER
No touch in the history of the minstrel-king David gives us a
more warm and personal feeling toward him than his longing for
the water at the well of Bethlehem. Standing as the incident
does in the summary of the characters of his mighty men, it is
apt to appear to us as if it had taken place in his latter days;
but such is not the case. It befell while he was still under
thirty, in the time of his persecution by Saul.
It was when the last attempt at reconciliation with the king
had been made, when the affectionate parting with the generous
and faithful Jonathan had taken place, when Saul was hunting
him like a partridge on the mountains on the one side, and the
Philistines had nearly taken his life on the other, that David,
outlawed, yet loyal at the heart, sent his aged parents to the
land of Moab for refuge, and himself took up his abode in the
caves of the wild limestone hills that had become familiar to
him when he was a shepherd. Brave captain and heaven-destined
king as he was, his name attracted round him a motley group of
those that were in distress, or in debt, or discontented, and
among them were the "mighty men" whose brave deeds won them the
foremost parts in that army with which David was to fulfill the
ancient promises to his people. There were his three nephews,
Joab, the ferocious and imperious, the chivalrous Abishai, and
Asahel, the fleet of foot; there was the warlike Levite Benaiah,
who slew lions and lionlike men, and others who, like David
himself, had done battle with the gigantic sons of Anak. Yet
even these valiant men, so wild and lawless, could be kept in
check by the voice of their young captain; and outlaws as they
were, they spoiled no peaceful villages, they lifted not their
hands against the persecuting monarch, and the neighboring farms
lost not one lamb through their violence. Some at least listened
to the song of their warlike minstrel:--
"Come, ye children, and hearken to me:
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
What man is he that lustest to live,
And would fain see good days?
Let him refrain his tongue from evil
And his lips that they speak no guile;
Let him eschew evil and do good;
Let him seek peace and ensue it."
With such strains as these, sung to his harp, the warrior
gained the hearts of his men to enthusiastic love, and gathered
followers on all sides, among them eleven fierce men of Gad,
with faces like lions and feet swift as roes, who swam the
Jordan in time of flood, and fought their way to him, putting
all enemies in the valleys to flight.
But the Eastern sun burnt on the bare rocks. A huge fissure,
opening in the mountain ridge, encumbered at the bottom with
broken rocks, with precipitous banks scarcely affording a
footing for the wild goats,--such is the spot where, upon a
cleft on the steep precipice, still remains the foundations of
the "hold," or tower, believed to have been David's retreat; and
near at hand is the low-browed entrance of the galleried cave,
alternating between narrow passages and spacious halls, but all
oppressively hot and close. Waste and wild, without a bush or a
tree, in the feverish atmosphere of Palestine, it was a desolate
region, and at length the wanderer's heart fainted in him, as
he thought of his own home, with its rich and lovely terraced
slopes, green with wheat, trellised with vines, and clouded with
gray olive, and of the cool cisterns of living waters by the
gate of which he loved to sing,--
"He shall feed me in a green pasture,
And lead me forth beside the waters of comfort."
His parched longing lips gave utterance to the sigh, "O that one
would give me to drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem
that is by the gate!"
Three of his brave men, apparently Abishai, Benaiah, and
Eleazar, heard the wish. Between their mountain fastness and the
dearly-loved spring lay the host of the Philistines; but their
love for their leader feared no enemies. It was not only water
that he longed for, but the water from the fountain which he had
loved in his childhood. They descended from their chasm, broke
through the midst of the enemy's army, and drew the water from
the favorite spring, bearing it back, once again through the
foe, to the tower upon the rock! Deeply moved was their chief at
this act of self-devotion,--so much moved that the water seemed
to him too sacred to be put to his own use. "May God forbid it
me that I should do this thing. Shall I drink the blood of these
men that have put their lives in jeopardy, for with the jeopardy
of their lives they brought it?" And as a hallowed and precious
gift, he poured out unto the Lord the water obtained at the
price of such peril to his followers.--CHARLOTTE YONGE: _A Book
of Golden Deeds_.
Notice the arrangement of the paragraphs in _The Cup of Water_,
and study the way in which they are connected. Thus, in ¶ 1, the
persecution of David by Saul is spoken of. ¶ 2 carries on the
thought by speaking of David's attempt at reconciliation with Saul
and ends with a song of David. ¶ 3 opens with a reference to this
song--"with such strains as these," etc. ¶ 4 is connected with ¶ 3
by _but_ and ends with the expression of David's longing. ¶ 5 opens
with direct reference to _the wish_.
The following is an outline of the composition:--
I. Introduction.
_A._ The incident gives us a warm feeling for him.
_B._ It occurred when he was still a young man.
II. Situation.
_A._ David in hiding.
_B._ His valiant followers.
_C._ David's influence over them.
III. The devotion of his followers.
IV. What led David to wish for the water.
_A._ The heat.
_B._ The barren region.
_C._ His memories of the cool spring at Bethlehem.
V. The wish fulfilled.
_A._ Expedition of the three valiant men.
_B._ Their return.
_C._ David's noble deed.
=Exercise 75.=--Prepare outlines of passages indicated by the
teacher.
=35. Essentials in a Whole Composition.=--Your study of the
preceding models and your practice in making outlines must have
shown you some of the things a long composition should have. Let us
now gather up these points.
You have learned that both the sentence and the paragraph must
have unity. The longer composition must also have _unity_. As in
the paragraph everything must relate to one topic, so in the long
composition everything must relate to one larger topic. Suppose
that your subject is "Benjamin Franklin the Statesman"; you would
then omit facts about Franklin's boyhood, also those about his
discoveries in science, since, important and interesting as these
facts are, they do not bear directly on the topic.
In a good composition, one paragraph leads up to or suggests
another. Look again at the passage on page 88. In ¶ 1 the house
itself is described. In ¶ 2 we are taken inside by the housekeeper,
who exhibits the relics. ¶ 3 gives a more detailed account of one
relic in particular (Shakspere's chair). Doubts of its authenticity
naturally lead to the author's little talk on relics in general,
which you find in ¶ 4. Very often, although not always, you will
find paragraphs joined by connecting words; but there should
_always_ be connection in thought.
In the chapter on _Condensation_ you are directed to decide
carefully as to the relative importance of the different points
treated, and to treat _the most important points at the greatest
length_.
Remember, then, that everything in your composition should treat
of one theme; that the paragraphs should follow each other in an
orderly way, each one carrying on the thought suggested by the
preceding paragraph; and that the most important points should be
treated _at the greatest length_.
=36. How to Plan an Essay.=--Let us suppose that you take as your
subject for a composition _The Cotton Gin_. Read all you can find
on the subject, jotting down points of interest, such as the
following:--
Boyhood of Whitney. His visit to the South. He becomes
interested in problem of cleaning seeds from cotton wool. The
method of removing seeds before the invention. Condition of
cotton industry in the South. Description of cotton gin. Eli
Whitney's attempts to make a machine. His success. Result of
invention as to cotton raising. Whitney's character. Relation
between slavery and the cotton gin. Effect of invention as
to manufacturing at North. Amount of cotton exported after
invention. Price of cotton before invention; after invention.
From this mass of material you must choose the important facts. Keep
only the facts that bear upon your topic. _Reject everything else._
The result would be somewhat as follows:--
_Accepted_:--
Condition of cotton industry before invention of cotton gin.
Method of removing seeds before invention of cotton gin.
Price of cotton.
Whitney becomes interested in problem.
His first attempt to make a machine.
His success.
Price of cotton after invention of cotton gin.
Description of Whitney's cotton gin.
Result of invention as to cotton raising.
Relation between slavery and the cotton gin.
Amount of cotton exported after the invention.
Effect of invention on manufacturing at the North.
_Rejected_:--
Boyhood of Whitney.
Visit to South.
Whitney's character.
These points are rejected because they do not bear directly upon the
main theme, although suggested by it.
Close attention to the selection of material in this way will give
your composition _unity_.
After selecting your facts, the next point is to arrange them in an
orderly way, so that one paragraph will lead naturally to the next.
You would then have some such arrangement as this:--
I. Condition of cotton industry before invention of cotton gin.
_A._ Method of removing seeds before invention of cotton gin.
_B._ Price of cotton.
II. Whitney's solution of the problem.
_A._ His first attempt to make a machine.
_B._ His success.
_C._ Description of Whitney's cotton gin.
III. Result of invention.
_A._ Price of cotton after invention of cotton gin.
_B._ Amount of cotton exported after the invention.
_C._ Effect of invention on manufacturing at the North.
_D._ Relation between slavery and the cotton gin.
Here, for further illustration, is a similar outline for a
composition on _cotton_.
I. Description of plant.
_A._ Root.
_B._ Stem.
_C._ Leaves.
_D._ Flowers.
_E._ Cotton boll.
_F._ Seeds.
II. Where grown.
_A._ Of what country a native.
_B._ Where grown most extensively.
III. Preparation.
_A._ Picking.
_B._ Ginning.
_C._ Packing.
IV. Manufacturing.
_A._ Articles manufactured.
V. History of Plant.
_A._ Discovery.
_B._ In America before invention of cotton gin.
_C._ In America after invention of cotton gin.
_D._ Value to-day.
=Exercise 76.=--I. Make outlines for composition on such topics
as the teacher indicates.
Suggested topics:--
1. Our Fourth-of-July Celebration.
2. The Lost Child.
3. Tobacco.
4. The Battle of Bull Run.
II. Write compositions, using the outlines you have made. Be sure
you reject everything, no matter how interesting, that does not
relate to your subject. Arrange your paragraphs carefully, using
connecting words when possible. Treat the most important facts at
greatest length.
CHAPTER VII
ORAL COMPOSITION
=37. The Great Essential.=--We have now discussed certain matters
which will be of service to you if you write your thoughts for
others to read. Will these principles still hold if you speak your
thoughts for others to hear? Yes, in the main; but you must remember
that in the one case the persons you address have simply to _read_;
if they do not understand, they can simply look back and reread. In
the other case, the persons you address are listening, and they must
understand each sentence as it comes to them, for of course any one
in an audience cannot stop a speaker because he fails to hear a word
or a phrase. A speaker must therefore, first of all, take pains that
each person in his audience hears clearly every word he says.
=38. How to be Heard.=--If you wish to speak so that every one in
your audience can hear all that you say, you must take pains about
several things:--
1. _Proper Position._--Speech is sound produced by a stream of air
forced from the lungs (as from a bellows) and striking against
certain cords in the throat. By altering the tightness of these
cords and by changing the position of the palate, tongue, and
teeth, we change the character of the sound. If we are to speak to
a considerable number of people, then, we must make sure that all
this bodily machinery works with special ease and force, and first
of all, that the lungs (the bellows) move freely. This means that
they must have space to work, and this in turn means that we must
stand erect, with the shoulders thrown back, the chest out, and
the stomach in. The body should not be held stiffly or else the
throat muscles are likely to become rigid also; but we should stand
naturally, and firmly, not as if we were about to tumble over or to
jump, but as if we were ready to speak quietly to our friends--which
is just what we are to do.
2. _Proper Breathing._--We should breathe slowly, regularly, and
deeply, from the abdomen rather than from the top of the lungs. If
we breathe too fast or too irregularly, we shall speak in a rapid,
jerky way, and find it very difficult to make ourselves understood.
3. _Proper Use of the Muscles of the Throat and Mouth._--We must
be careful not to cramp the muscles of the throat, but to let them
move easily. We can thus produce a loud clear tone without tiring
ourselves unduly. If the head does not hang down, if the mouth is
opened wide, and the throat muscles are allowed to work freely,
without rigidity, the voice will be clear and distinct.
4. _Proper Pitch._--We must be sure (particularly the girls) not to
pitch the voice too high, as if it were a siren whistle or a fife.
A clear, rather low-pitched voice is the most pleasant to hear. We
must be careful, too, not to talk (as so many of us do) through our
noses. A nasal voice is almost always a disagreeable voice.
5. _Clear Articulation._--So much for the voice in general;
now, last of all, we must be careful to pronounce clearly, to
_articulate_ distinctly, that is, to give each syllable its proper
value. Of course we do not ordinarily like to listen to a very
prim and precise speaker, who pronounces every syllable with equal
distinctness, uttering sharply, for instance, the _d_ in such an
unimportant word as _and_. It is the custom of our language to
distinguish between the accented syllables, which we pronounce
distinctly, and the unaccented syllables, over which we pass
lightly. But, on the other hand, we do not like to listen to the
slovenly speaker, who drops entirely the _d_ in _and_ and the _g_ in
_ing_, and who sounds all his vowels very much alike. In this matter
of articulation, you will do well to take some older person, a good
speaker or reader, as a model, and to imitate him or her. Practice
reading aloud to your friends, standing sometimes at the very end of
the room, or at the end of a suite of rooms, as far as possible from
your hearers, asking any one of them to interrupt you the moment
that anything you say is not distinctly heard.
=39. Pronunciation.=--As to pronunciation, you must remember that
often custom is not uniform. There are sometimes two or even more
ways of pronouncing a word, both or all of which are given in the
dictionaries; and occasionally there is a thoroughly proper way of
pronouncing a word which the men who make the dictionaries have
unfortunately omitted, but which is used by many educated and
cultivated people. In general, you should use the pronunciation
of the most intelligent and respected people you know, and in
particular that of your teacher and your school. It is quite
proper and desirable that every school or teacher should establish
its own custom for words which are usually pronounced in one of
several ways, and the pupil should do his best to conform, for the
convenience of all, to the custom of the class or the school in this
respect.
=40. A Plan Necessary.=--There is no other important difference
which you need now consider between oral composition and written
composition. In both it is better, before you begin, to think
carefully over what you have to say. In oral composition, as in
written, it is wise to make a plan, and you can make it in precisely
the same way.
NOTE FOR THE TEACHER.--It does not seem necessary to insert
special exercises in oral composition. Almost any of the
exercises from the following chapters may be used with
advantage.
CHAPTER VIII
THE DIARY
=41. The Value of a Diary.=--The diary is the simplest form of
writing, for you are writing for yourself, making for yourself a
record of your life. What do you think should go in a diary? If your
parents had kept one when they were your age, what would you have
found most interesting now? A great many things which they would
have taken for granted would seem odd to you, _i.e._ no telephone,
big stoves in the class room, different studies, etc. If a boy in
China kept a diary, what would you find most interesting? Some
account of his games, of his playmates, of the look of the streets
he passed through, of how he felt towards his teacher, etc. Bear
these points in mind, for when you grow older, though you will not
live in another land or another generation, you will be very far
from your school-days, and your diary should make a picture of them
for you. If you had been able to keep a diary when you were six or
seven, what would you now read in it with most interest? The ideal
is to set down at the end of the day a reminder of it, so that when
you look at it you will remember what made that day different from
every other. This is not possible always, but as a matter of fact
every day has some special features, if it is only the weather.
From a practical point of view, the diary is a great aid to
letter-writing, since it really forms the notes for a narrative
of your life. It often settles disputes about the date on which
something was done; it furnishes data for calculations in planning;
_i.e._ you wish to have an early spring picnic, and, consulting your
diary, find that on the 20th of March of the year before you were in
the woods without an overcoat and found arbutus; or you wish to get
up an entertainment, and turn back in your diary for the description
of one you saw during the summer. It gives you material for writing
exercises for your English work; for instance, the entry, "To-day we
went to Aunt Julia's to help pick cherries; I was almost bitten by
their dog when we came down from the tree," is really the outline
for a short story, if you make your note on it sufficient to bring
the picture up before your mind.
=42. Contents of a Diary.=--No two diaries should be alike, but
certain things should always be noted so as to make a continuous
record, even if they do not seem of special interest; _i.e._ the
weather (very briefly if it is nothing unusual), the movements of
the family (if any one is away or just returned), the health of
the family (this only if any one is ill), what the general news of
school is (if any special event of school life has taken place), and
what you yourself have been doing. You may sometimes think that you
have done nothing worth putting down, but anything that has made
the day different from the day before is worth writing. Do not try
to make entries for different days of same length. Try to cultivate
the ability to pick out the details of an incident which will make
_you_ remember it most distinctly. Later on, in letter writing and
description, you will have to select details which will bring a
picture most clearly before the minds of other people, but in your
diary you are freer. In your entry after an afternoon's sledding,
for instance, it may be sufficient for you to say: "Went sledding
on Holmes's hill. Weather very cold, with a high wind, that sent
the snow flying. Broke my sled, trying to make the corner curve
too fast. The whole crowd of us come home together, taking turns
in pulling each other and playing Eskimos, and I almost frosted my
nose." If those were the important events of the afternoon to you,
they should bring up the whole picture before you, so that you could
see it clearly enough to remember all the other details that would
be necessary to give any one else an idea of what the expedition was
like.
It is absolutely essential that the entry for each day should be
made while it is fresh in your mind; do _not_ wait for several days,
and then "write up" your diary. A short entry on the day of the
occurrence is worth more than a page written a week later.
After the school news, and what you yourself have done, enter
anything unusual which any one you know has done, or any change of
conditions at home; _i.e._ that it is preserving time and the house
is full of odor of cooking fruit; that it is near Christmas, and you
worked with the others on making wreaths for the decorations of the
church. You will find that a brief record of your work at school,
how you succeeded and how you failed, what you found hard and why,
is of real use to you.
=43. Imaginary Diaries.=--After you have formed the habit of making
every day a picture of your own actual life, try making a similar
picture of the life of an imaginary person. Take any period you have
studied in your history and try to make a diary of a boy or girl who
lived in that time.
=Exercise 77.=--1. A Puritan boy in the first winter of the stay
of the Puritan fathers in New England; choose a week when they
first land, and a week when spring begins to come. Bring out the
difference in his feelings.
2. A girl in Dutch Manhattan. Tell the story of the taking of
Manhattan by the English as it would have appeared to her. From
your study of the customs and habits of the time, write a week's
entries of her holiday week, Christmas customs, etc.
3. An Indian boy: a week's diary in the West, on the plains,
etc., and then later, a week's entries after he arrives at the
Indian school and is being taught the customs of the white men.
4. Diary of a week spent as you would like best to spend it.
Diary of an imaginary week in the country; in the city; in South
America; on an ocean voyage; during a week's illness.
5. Diary of the inhabitant of any country you are studying in
your geography lessons.
=44. The Class Diary.=--If there is not already such a custom in
your class room, it is a good thing for you to start a class diary,
or record of the year's school work and activities. This aims to
do the same thing for the class that your personal diary does for
your own life, and in it should be written all that makes the life
of each school day or week distinctive. This book is left in your
class room, to form one of a series of such records, which will be
of increasing interest as the years go on. Any large blank book may
be used for this purpose, and great care should be taken to keep
the record very neatly written. Nothing should be entered until all
corrections have been made, so that a fair copy may be written.
Sometimes, when only the larger events are to be chronicled, it is
better that this record be set down by weeks, rather than by days.
A good plan is to divide the class into committees of four or five
each, who take charge of noting down the happenings of the week.
They write the entry, read it to the class for suggestions and
criticisms, and set it down in the class diary.
It is well to have fixed a certain number of items which are to be
noted regularly, and these may be divided among the members of the
committee for the week. For instance, one may make it his business
to note the weather, the temperature, the wind, or any unusual
conditions out of doors; another, the advance of the seasons, the
day when the first robin arrives, or when the first definite signs
of winter were seen, whether this be the falling of the last leaves,
the first snowstorm, or the fact that the street cars are heated;
another may take as his share the state of the studies of the class,
unusual lessons, if any, and the progress made in the regular ones;
another, any items of general interest in other classes in the
school. A record of all manner of items may be kept here,--facts
which the class is interested in keeping, such as the attendance
for each day, or the average attendance for the week, the average
percentage of the class in any study, etc.
For special events,--entertainments, debates, excursions,
etc.,--there may be a member of the committee delegated to report,
or the accounts may be written as an exercise, and the best one
selected by the committee or teacher.
The entry for the week should be made up of these various reports,
entered neatly in the class diary, and signed by the pupils
composing the committee.
CHAPTER IX
THE LETTER
=45. Various Kinds of Letters.=--You have seen that the diary or
journal is the most informal and simple form of written expression,
since it is intended, as a rule, for the writer only. The letter is
less personal than the diary, because it is addressed to one other
person; but it is more personal than general writing (description,
stories, etc.), which is addressed to a number of persons, most of
whom the writer does not know. Letters differ widely according to
their purposes, but the merit of any sort of a letter may be judged
by putting yourself in the place of the person receiving it, and
trying to feel whether you would be satisfied by it.
Letters may be classified as follows according to their purposes:--
1. To bridge over, as far as possible, a separation between
people who know each other well, and to take the place of a
conversation between them. _Friendly letters._
2. To arrange matters of social intercourse in the most correct
and pleasing manner, to extend and accept or refuse invitations,
etc. _Social letters._
3. To give information or ask questions as clearly as possible.
_Business letters._
4. To give information or ask questions as briefly as is
consistent with perfect clearness. _Telegrams._
5. To take the place of going about and telling many people the
same thing. _Notices._
6. To present a request for a favor in the most persuasive
manner. _Petitions._
=46. Friendly Letters.=--There are five main parts to every letter:
(1) the heading; (2) the salutation; (3) the body, or what is
written; (4) the complimentary ending; (5) the conclusion. In a
friendly letter the heading, which consists of the post-office
address of the writer and the date of writing, is sometimes omitted,
although it is always best to write the date, even in letters of the
greatest intimacy. Some of the usual salutations in letters to near
friends or relatives are: My dear Mother, Dear Father, Dear Mary,
My dear Mrs. Smith, My dear Aunt Martha. According to the degree
of intimacy the usual complimentary endings are: Sincerely yours,
Very sincerely yours, Cordially yours, Heartily yours, Yours ever,
Affectionately yours, Yours lovingly, Your loving daughter, Your
affectionate son, etc. In letters to members of the family or close
friends the first name only is sometimes signed.
The following are good typical forms for friendly letters:--
(1)
DORSET, N.H.,
May 10, 1906.
MY DEAR GILBERT,--
-----------------------------
------------------------------------------
------------------
Faithfully yours,
JAMES MEYER.
(2)
BUTTE, April 16, Thursday.
DEAR MOTHER,--
--------------------------
------------------------------------------
---------------------------
Your affectionate son,
HENRY.
The ideal in friendly letters is to write to your correspondent
what you would say to him if you could see him, and to answer the
questions he would put to you. If you are away on a visit, for
instance, the questions he would probably ask are, "What sort of a
place is it where you are? Are you having a good time? What are you
doing to amuse yourself?" Try to think what sort of a letter you
would like to have him write if he were away, and write accordingly.
Although you wish to write naturally and almost as though you were
talking, it is best to make out a list of the really important
things you wish to say, or you will find that you have come to the
end of your letter without stating some vital facts you wished your
friend to know. It has been said that a friendly letter should be
like a conversation, but you must remember that it is a conversation
limited in time. If you were about to see your friend for only a
half hour, it would be well to think of a few main facts you wished
to tell him, or questions you wish him to answer, and bear them
in mind; otherwise your time might come to an end before you had
said the important things. Even for the most informal letter it is
always best to make an outline, although it may be a very brief one.
Suppose you wish to describe the way in which you spent Christmas
away from home. Probably nothing very unusual happened, and you may
think an outline unnecessary; but you will find, even in relating
the facts of one day, that if you do not have some plan and keep in
your mind the main events in their proper order, you will be likely
to write a confused and incomplete account of what you did. Some
such outline as the following is needed:--
INTRODUCTION. The place where I was,--city, country, or village;
the weather; general conditions. (This information can be given
as briefly as you please, in a paragraph, but it is essential to
understanding what you say about Christmas Day itself.)
MAIN BODY OF THE LETTER. _Morning._ Why we hung up our
stockings, and how we received our presents. _Dinner._ How we
helped prepare it, and any special features of it. _Afternoon._
Coasting. _Evening._ Charades, and the one we thought
particularly good.
ENDING. Inquiries about your friend's Christmas, friendly
greetings, and the close.
A letter written on the above outline follows:--
NEWTONVILLE, WIS.
January 2, 1906.
MY DEAR HARRY,--
I promised you before the holidays began that I would let you
know how I had spent my Christmas, but the last day of the
vacation has come and I have not written you a line. The
truth is that I have been having such a good time every minute
that I have not realized how fast the week has been going. You
remember my big cousin who goes to the State University, don't
you? He came to visit our school once, last winter. His father,
my uncle, invited our family to come out here and have a real
"country Christmas" on his farm, and here we have been since the
day after school closed. He lives in a fine, large farmhouse,
with room enough in it for his big family and ours, too. We are
three miles from town, but there are plenty of horses to drive,
and the air is so bracing and the weather so clear and cold that
we don't mind the walk. Besides that, there are such a lot of us
that nobody ever has to go alone. I never knew what fun it is to
be in a big family. There is always somebody ready for a tramp
whenever you want to go out, and in the evenings it is like
being at a party all the time.
On Christmas eve we hung up our stockings, even the grown-ups.
That was for the little children, who still think there is a
Santa Claus. There was hardly room enough along the mantelpiece
for them all, and the next morning, when they were all full and
knobby, they actually overlapped. Christmas morning we were all
up ever so early. Before it was really light, my big cousin
was around knocking at the doors, calling us to breakfast and
shouting, "Merry Christmas!" We scrambled into our clothes and
raced downstairs to breakfast, and then to the stockings. We
pretended we thought Santa Claus had just that minute gone, and
you ought to have seen the little girls look up the chimney
after him.
By the time everybody had looked at all his own presents and the
things other people had, it was time to begin thinking about
dinner. We helped get it. I shouldn't be surprised if we were
more in the way than a help, but it was lots of fun. The girls
worked around in the kitchen and helped set the table, and we
boys decorated the rooms with greens and turned the ice-cream
crank. There were eighteen of us at table, and you couldn't hear
yourself think for the talking and laughing. The last thing we
did was to pass around a big sheet of paper, and everybody wrote
his name on it and anything else he wanted to say. We are going
to try, all of us, to get together that way every Christmas,
and make such a list each time for a remembrance. My big cousin
wrote, "United we cook, united we eat, united we die!" I said it
was the best Christmas I had ever had.
We had eaten so much that after dinner we just sat around and
talked for a while, and then a crowd of boys went out to coast
and try our new sleds. There is a fine hill right near the
house, and the snow was exactly right. You can coast as much
as ten city blocks without slowing up at all, and then you run
along on a level for four or five more.
In the evening some of the neighbors came in and we played
charades. I never knew you could have so
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