see, stand in two groups. Those of each group are more closely related to
one another than they are to the sentences of the other group. Do you see
how? In studying this short selection you may find the general topic, or
heading, to be something like this: _My First Experiences in Philadelphia_.
Now examine the first group of sentences and see whether its topic might
not be put thus: _My Condition on Reaching Philadelphia_. Then examine the
sentences of the second group and see whether all will not come under this
heading: _How I Found Something to Eat_. You see that even a short
composition like this has a general topic with topics under it. As _sub_
means _under_, we will call these under topics _sub-topics_. There are two
groups of sentences in this selection because there are two distinct
sub-topics developed. The sentences of each group stand together because
they jointly develop one sub-topic.
A group of sentences related and held together by a common thought we call
a +Paragraph+. How is the paragraph indicated to the eye? What help is it
to the reader to have a composition paragraphed? What, to the writer to
know that he must write in paragraphs?
+The Style of the Author+.--This selection is mainly +Narrative+. The
matter is somewhat tame, and the expression is commonplace. The words are
ordinary, and they stand in their usual place. Figures of speech are not
used. Yet the piece has a charm. The thoughts are homely; the expression is
in perfect keeping; the style is clear, simple, direct, and natural. The
closing sentence is slightly humorous. Benjamin Franklin trudging along the
street, hugging a great roll of bread under each arm, and eating a third
roll, must have been a laughable sight.
Have you ever known boys and girls in writing school compositions, or
reporters in writing for the newspapers, to use large words for small
ideas, and long, high-sounding phrases and sentences for plain, simple
thoughts? Have you ever seen what could be neatly said in three or four
lines "padded out" to fill a page of composition paper or a column in a
newspaper?
When Franklin said. "My pockets were stuffed out with shirts and
stockings," he said a homely thing in a homely way; that is, he fitted the
language to the thought. To fit the expression to the thought on every
occasion is the perfection of style. If Franklin had been a weak, foolish
writer, his sentence might have taken this form:--
"Not having been previously provided with a satchel or other receptacle for
my personal effects, my pockets, which were employed as a substitute, were
protruding conspicuously with extra underclothing."
Compare this sentence with Franklin's and point out the faults you see in
the substitute. Can you find anything in the meaning of _provided_ that
makes previously unnecessary? Do you now understand what Lowell meant when,
in praise of Dryden, he said, "His phrase is always a short cut to his
sense"?
TO THE TEACHER.--What is here taught of the paragraph and of style will
probably not be mastered at one reading. It will be found necessary to
return to it occasionally, and to refer pupils to it for aid in their
composition work.
SUGGESTIONS FOR COMPOSITION WORK.
TO THE TEACHER.--We suggest that the pupils reproduce from memory the
extract above, and that other selections of narrative be found in the
Readers or elsewhere and studied as above.
The pupils may be able to note to what extent the narrative follows the
order of time and to what extent it is topical. They may also note the
amount of description it contains. They should, so far as possible, find
the topic for each paragraph, thus making an outline for a composition to
be completed from reproduction.
It will now require little effort to write simple original narratives of
real or imagined experiences.
* * * * *
Exercises on the Composition of the Sentence and the Paragraph.
FROM C. D. WARNER'S "MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN."
1. In the driest days, my fountain became disabled; the pipe was stopped
up. 2. A couple of plumbers, with the implements of their craft, came out
to view the situation. 3. There was a good deal of difference of opinion
about where the stoppage was. 4. I found the plumbers perfectly willing to
sit down and talk about it--talk by the hour. 5. Some of their guesses and
remarks were exceedingly ingenious; and their general observations on other
subjects were excellent in their way, and could hardly have been better if
they had been made by the job. 6. The work dragged a little--as it is apt
to do by the hour.
1. The plumbers had occasion to make me several visits. 2. Sometimes they
would find, upon arrival, that they had forgotten some indispensable tool;
and one would go back to the shop, a mile and a half, after it; and his
comrade would await his return with the most exemplary patience, and sit
down and talk--always by the hour. 3. I do not know but it is a habit to
have something wanted at the shop. 4. They seemed to me very good workmen,
and always willing to stop, and talk about the job or anything else, when I
went near them. 5. Nor had they any of that impetuous hurry that is said to
be the bane of our American civilization. 6. To their credit be it said
that I never observed anything of it in them. 7. They can afford to wait.
8. Two of them will sometimes wait nearly half a day, while a comrade goes
for a tool. 9. They are patient and philosophical. 10. It is a great
pleasure to meet such men. 11. One only wishes there was some work he could
do for them by the hour.
+The Uses of Words and Groups of Words+.--How can you make the last part of
1 express more directly the cause of becoming disabled? Would you use a
semicolon to separate the sentences thus joined, or would you use a comma?
Give a reason for the comma after _days_, Find in 2 an adverb phrase that
expresses purpose. Use an equivalent adjective in place of _a couple of_.
Explain the use of _there_ in 3. What adjective may be used in place of
_good_ in _a good deal_? What long complex phrase modifies _deal_? Put
_what_ after the preposition _about_ and find a group of words that takes
the place of a noun. Find in this group a subject and a predicate. Find in
4 an objective complement. Find a compound infinitive phrase and tell what
it modifies. Notice that the dash helps to show the break made by repeating
_talk_. When 5 is divided into two sentences, what word is dropped? This,
then, must be the word that connected the two sentences. Notice that the
two main parts of 5 are separated by a semicolon. This enables the writer
to show that the two main divisions of 5 are more widely separated in
meaning than are the parts of the second division where the comma is used.
Give the three leading predicate verbs in 5 and their complements. _If they
had been made by the job_ is joined like an adverb to what verb? What is
the predicate of this modifying group?
The infinitive phrase in 1, paragraph 2, modifies what? Is _me_, or
_visits_, the object complement of _make_? Put _what_ after _would find_ in
2 and get the object complement. Can you make a sentence of this group?
What are its principal parts? Does the writer make an unexpected turn after
_talk_? How is this shown to the eye? Put _what_ after _do know_ in 3 and
find the object complement. Can you make a sentence of this object
complement? What phrase can you put in place of the pronoun _it_ without
changing the sense? By using the word _it_, a better arrangement can be
made. What group of words in 5 is used like an adjective to modify _hurry_?
Change the pronoun _that_ to _hurry_ and make a separate sentence of this
group. What word, then, must have made an adjective of this sentence and
joined it to _hurry_? What is the object complement of _can afford_ in 7?
Supply a preposition after _will wait_ in 8, and then find two groups of
words that tell the time of waiting. Find a subject and a predicate in the
second group. What explains _it_ in 10? Find the object complement of
_wishes_ in 11. What is the subject of _was_? The office of _there_? After
_work_ supply the pronoun _that_ and tell the office of the group it
introduces. What is the object complement of _could do_? What connects this
group to _work_?
+The Grouping of Sentences into Paragraphs+.--There are two distinct sets
of sentences in this selection--distinct because developing two distinct
sub-topics. Accordingly, there are two paragraphs. Let us take for the
general topic _The Visits of the Plumbers_. Let us see whether all the
sentences of the first paragraph will not come under the sub-topic _First
Visit_, and those of the second under the sub-topic _Subsequent Visits_.
The sentences of each paragraph should be closely related to one another
and to the sub-topic. They should stand in their proper order. Do the
paragraphs above stand such tests? If they do, they possess the prime
quality of +Unity+.
+The Author's Style+.--This selection we may call +Narrative+, though there
are descriptive touches in it. It is a story of what? Is the story clearly
told throughout? If not, where is it obscure? Is it made interesting and
entertaining? Is Mr. Warner here giving us a bit of his own experience? Or
do you think he is drawing upon his imagination? Would you call the style
plain, or does it abound with metaphors, similes, or other figures of
speech? Are the sentences generally long, or generally short? What are the
faults or foibles of these real or fancied plumbers? Does the author speak
of them in a genial and lenient way? or is he hostile, and does he hold up
their foibles to scorn and derision? Does he make us laugh with, or does he
make us laugh at, the plumbers? If the former, the style is humorous; if
the latter, the style is satirical or sarcastic. Would you call Mr.
Warner's quality of style +Humor+? or that +form of wit+ known as +Satire+?
Is our author's use of it delicate and refined? or is it gross and coarse?
Does it stop short of making its object grotesque, or not? Can you name any
writers whose humor or satire is coarse?
SUGGESTIONS FOB COMPOSITION WORK.
TO THE TEACHER.--See suggestions, pages 159, 160.
Exercises on the Composition of the Sentence and the Paragraph.
FROM BEECHER'S "LECTURES TO YOUNG MEN."
1. Indolence inclines a man to rely upon others and not upon himself, to
eat their bread and not his own. 2. His carelessness is somebody's loss;
his neglect is somebody's downfall. 3. If he borrows, the article remains
borrowed; if he begs and gets, it is as the letting out of waters--no one
knows where it will stop. 4. He spoils your work, disappoints your
expectations, exhausts your patience, eats up your substance, abuses your
confidence, and hangs a dead weight upon all your plans; and the very best
thing an honest man can do with a lazy man is to get rid of him.
1. Indolence promises without redeeming the pledge; a mist of forgetfulness
rises up and obscures the memory of vows and oaths. 2. The negligence of
laziness breeds more falsehoods than the cunning of the sharper. 3. As
poverty waits upon the steps of indolence, so upon such poverty brood
equivocations, subterfuges, lying denials. 4. Falsehood becomes the
instrument of every plan. 5. Negligence of truth, next occasional
falsehood, then wanton mendacity--these three strides traverse the whole
road of lies.
1. Indolence as surely runs to dishonesty as to lying. 2. Indeed, they are
but different parts of the same road, and not far apart. 3. In directing
the conduct of the Ephesian converts, Paul says, "Let him that stole steal
no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which
is good." 4. The men who were thieves were those who had ceased to work. 5.
Industry was the road back to honesty. 6. When stores are broken open, the
idle are first suspected.
* * * * *
+The Uses of Words and Groups of Words+.--Find in 1 two compound infinitive
phrases and tell their use. Supply the words omitted from the last part of
each compound. What shows that the parts of 2 are not closely connected?
Would a conjunction bring them more closely together? If a conjunction is
used, would you change the punctuation? A sentence that unites with another
to make one greater sentence we call a _clause_. Read the first part of 2
and change _somebody's_ first to a phrase and then to a clause used like an
adjective. What distinction can you make between the use of the semicolon
and the use of the comma in 3? The clause _if he borrows_ is joined like an
adverb to what verb? _If he begs and gets_? What pronoun more indefinite
than _your_ might take its place in 4? What noun? Explain the use of the
semicolon and the comma in 4. Supply _that_ after _thing_ and tell what
clause is here used like an adjective. Find the office of _that_ by placing
it after _do_. Find in 4 an infinitive phrase used as attribute complement.
Change the phrase in 1, paragraph 2, to a clause. Find in 2 the omitted
predicate of the clause introduced by _than_. Find a compound subject in 3.
Are _negligence_, _falsehood_, and _mendacity_, in 5, used as subjects?
Explain their use and punctuation. (See Remark, Lesson 45.)
In 3, paragraph 3, how are the words borrowed from Paul marked? Change the
quotation from Paul so as to give his thought but not his exact words. Are
the quotation marks now needed? In 3 and 4 find clauses introduced by
_that_, _which_, and _who_, and used like adjectives.
+The Grouping of Sentences into Paragraphs+.--You can easily learn the
sub-topic, or thought, each of these paragraphs develops. See whether you
can find it in the first sentence of each. Give the three sub-topics. Put
together the three thoughts established in these paragraphs and tell what
they prove. What they prove is that for which Mr. Beecher is contending; it
may be written at the head of the extract as the general topic. What merits
of the paragraph, already treated, are admirably illustrated in this
extract?
+The Style of the Author+.--This selection is neither descriptive nor
narrative; it is +Argumentative+. Mr. Beecher is trying to establish a
certain proposition, and in the three paragraphs is giving three reasons,
or arguments, to prove its truth. But the argument is not all thought, is
not purely intellectual. It is suffused with feeling, is impassioned. Mr.
Beecher's heart is in his work. This feeling warms and colors his style,
and stimulates his fancy. As a consequence, figures of speech abound.
Notice that in 1, paragraph 1, the thought is repeated by means of the
infinitive phrases. Read the words _Indolence inclines a man_ with each of
the four infinitive phrases that follow. You will see that the thought is
repeated. It is first expressed in a general way; by the aid of the second
phrase we see the same thought from the negative side; the third phrase
makes the statement more specific; the fourth puts the specific statement
negatively. The needless repetition of the same thought in different words
is one of the worst faults in writing. But Mr. Beecher's repetition is not
needless. By every repetition here, Mr. Beecher makes his thought clearer
and stronger. Examine the other sentences of this paragraph and see whether
they enforce the leading thought by illustration, example, or consequence.
In what sentence is the style made +energetic+ by the aid of short
predicates? How does the alternation of short sentences with long
throughout the extract affect you? The alternation of plain with figurative
sentences? Can you show that the author's style has +Variety+? Pick out the
metaphors in 1, 2, 3, and 5, paragraph 2; and in 1 and 2, paragraph 3. Pick
out the comparisons, or similes, in 3, paragraph 1, and in 3, paragraph 2.
Figures of speech should add clearness and force. If you think these do,
tell how. _Indolence_ in 1 and 3, paragraph 2, and _laziness_ in 2,
introduce us to another figure. Something belonging to the men, a quality,
is made to represent the men themselves. Such a figure is called
+Metonymy+.
SUGGESTIONS FOB COMPOSITION WORK.
TO THE TEACHER.--Exercises in argumentative writing may be continued by
making selections from the discussion of easy topics.
For original work we suggest debates on current topics. Compositions should
be short.
Exercises on the Composition of the Sentence and the Paragraph.
EXTRACT FROM DANIEL WEBSTER.
1. The assassin enters, through the window already prepared, into an
unoccupied apartment. 2. With noiseless foot he paces the lonely hall, half
lighted by the moon; he winds up the ascent of the stairs and reaches the
door of the chamber. 3. Of this he moves the lock, by soft and continued
pressure, till it turns on its hinges without noise; and he enters, and
beholds his victim before him.
1. The face of the innocent sleeper is turned from the murderer, and the
beams of the moon, resting on the gray locks of his aged temple, show him
where to strike. 2. The fatal blow is given! and the victim passes, without
a struggle or a motion, from the repose of sleep to the repose of death. 3.
It is the assassin's purpose to make sure work; and he plies the dagger,
though it is obvious that life has been destroyed by the blow of the
bludgeon. 4. He even raises the aged arm that he may not fail in his aim at
the heart, and places it again over the wounds of the poniard. 5. To finish
the picture, he explores the wrist for the pulse. 6. He feels for it, and
ascertains that it beats no longer. 7. It is accomplished. 8. The deed is
done.
1. He retreats, retraces his steps to the window, passes out through it as
he came in, and escapes. 2. He has done the murder. No eye has seen him, no
ear has heard him. 3. The secret is his own, and it is safe.
1. Ah! gentlemen, that was a dreadful mistake. 2. Such a secret can be safe
nowhere. 3. The whole creation of God has neither nook nor corner where the
guilty can bestow it, and say it is safe. 4. Not to speak of that eye which
pierces through all disguises and beholds everything as in the splendor of
noon, such secrets of guilt are never safe from detection even by men. 5.
True it is, generally speaking, that "Murder will out." 6. True it is that
Providence hath so ordained, and doth so govern things, that those who
break the great law of heaven by shedding man's blood seldom succeed in
avoiding discovery.
* * * * *
+The Uses of Words and Groups of Words+.--Do the phrases in 1, paragraph
1, stand in their usual order, or are they transposed? In what different
places may they stand? Does either phrase need to be transposed for
emphasis or for clearness? Explain the punctuation. Begin 2 with _the
lonely hall_, and notice that the sentence is thrown out of harmony with
the other sentences, and that the assassin is for the moment lost sight of.
Can you tell why? Notice that in the latter part of 2 the door is
mentioned, and that 3 begins with _of this_, referring to the door. Can you
find any other arrangement by which 3 will follow 2 so naturally? Can you
change 3 so as to make the reference of _it_ clearer? What is the office of
the _till_ clause? Does the clause following the semicolon modify anything?
Would you call such a clause _dependent_, or would you call it
_independent_? Explain the punctuation of 3.
Give the effect of changing _resting_ in 1, paragraph 2, to the assertive
form. Find in 1 a pronoun used adverbially and a phrase used as object
complement. Expand the phrase into a clause. Give the modifiers of _passes_
in 2. Read the first part of 3 and put the explanatory phrase in place of
_it_. What is the office of the _though_ clause? Find in this a clause
doing the work of a noun and tell its office. In 4 would _his_ in place of
_the_ before _aged_ and before _heart_ be ambiguous? If so, why? Find in
this paragraph an infinitive phrase used independently. Find the object
complement of _ascertains_ in 6. Are 7 and 8 identical in meaning?
Give the modifiers of _passes_ in paragraph 3. Explain the _as_ clause.
What does _that_ in 1, paragraph 4, stand for? What kind of clause is
introduced by _where_ in 3? By _which_ in 4? Expand the _as_ clause in 4
and tell its office. Find in 4 and 5 an infinitive phrase and a participle
phrase used independently. Tell the office of the _that_ clauses in 5 and
6, and of the _who_ clause in 6.
+The Grouping of Sentences into Paragraphs+.--Look (1) at the order of the
sentences in each paragraph, and (2) at the order of the paragraphs
themselves. Neither order could be changed without making the stream of
events run up hill, for each order is the order in which the events
happened. Look (3) at the unity of each paragraph, and (4) at the larger
unity of the four paragraphs--that of each paragraph determined by the
relation of each sentence to the sub-topic of the paragraph, and that of
the four paragraphs determined by their relation to the general topic of
the extract. We add that the obvious reference of the repeated _he_ to the
same person, and of _that_ and _secret_ in paragraph 4 demonstrates both
unities. Look (5), and lastly, at the fact that the sub-topic of each
paragraph is found in the first line of each paragraph. Could Webster have
done more to make his thought seen and felt?
+The Style of the Author.+--This selection is largely +Narrative.+ Its
leading facts were doubtless supplied by the testimony given in the case;
but much of the matter must have come from the imagination of Mr. Webster.
Everything is so skillfully and vividly put that the story, touched with
description, has all the effect of an argument. One quality of it is its
clearness, its perspicuity. It is noticeable also that very little imagery
is used, that the language is plain language. But it is impossible to read
these paragraphs without being most profoundly impressed with their energy,
their force.
The style is forcible because (1) the +subject-matter+ is +easily grasped+;
(2) because +simple words+ are +used+, words understood even by children;
because (3) these +words+ are +specific+ and +individual+, not generic;
because (4) of the grateful +variety of sentences+; (5) because of the
+prevalence of short sentences+; because (6) of the +repetition of the
thought+ in successive sentences; because (7), though the murder took place
some time before, Webster speaks as if it were +now taking place+ in our
very sight. Find proof of what we have just said--proof of (2), in
paragraphs 1 and 3; proof of (3), in sentences 3, 4, and 5, paragraph 2;
proof of (4), throughout; of (5) and (6), in paragraphs 3 and 4; and of
(7), in the first three paragraphs.
In paragraph 3, a remarkable sameness prevails. The sentences here are
framed largely on one plan. They are mostly of the same length. The order
of the words in them is the same; often the words are the same; and, even
when they are not, those in one clause or sentence seem to suggest those in
the next. This sameness is not accidental. The more real the murderer's
fancied security is made in this paragraph to appear, the more startling in
the next paragraph will be the revelation of his mistake. Hence no novelty
in the words or in their arrangement is allowed to distract our attention
from the dominant thought. The sentences are made to look and sound alike
and to be alike that their effect may be cumulative. The principle of
+Parallel Construction+, the principle that sentences similar in thought
should be similar in form, is here allowed free play.
TO THE TEACHER.--Do not be discouraged should your pupils fail to grasp at
first all that is here taught. They probably will not fully comprehend it
till they have returned to it several times. It will, however, be
impossible for them to study it without profit. The meaning will grow upon
them. In studying our questions and suggestions the pupils should have the
"Extract" before them, and should try to verify in it all that is taught
concerning it.
* * * * *
PARTS OF SPEECH SUBDIVIDED
LESSON 85.
CLASSES OF NOUNS AND PRONOUNS.
+Introductory Hints+.--You have now reached a point where it becomes
necessary to divide the eight great classes of words into subclasses.