Solomon.
2. When Mrs. B---- heard of her son's disgrace, she fainted away.
3. And--"This to me?" he said.
4. Assyria, Greece, Rome, Carthage--what are they?
5. I do not rise to supplicate you to be merciful toward the nation to
which I belong,--toward a nation which, though subject to England, yet
is distinct from it.
6. We know the uses--and sweet they are--of adversity.
7. His place business is 225--229 High street.
+Direction+.---_Use capital letters and the proper marks of punctuation in
these sentences, and give your reasons_:--
1. the human species is composed of two distinct races those who borrow and
those who lend
2. this bill this infamous bill the way it has been received by the house
the manner in which its opponents have been treated the personalities to
which they have been subjected all these things dissipate my doubts
3. the account of a _____'s shame fills pp 1 19
4. lord marmion turned well was his need and dashed the rowels in his steed
+Marks of Parenthesis+.--Marks of parenthesis may be used to inclose what
has no essential connection with the rest of the sentence.
+Apostrophe+.--Use the apostrophe (1) to mark the omission of letters, (2)
in the pluralizing of letters, figures, and characters, and (3) to
distinguish the possessive from other cases.
+Hyphen+.--Use the hyphen (-) (1) to join the parts of compound words, and
(2) between syllables when a word is divided.
+Quotation Marks+.--Use quotation marks to inclose a copied word or
passage. If the quotation contains a quotation, the latter is inclosed
within single marks. (See Lesson 74.)
+Brackets+.--Use brackets [ ] to inclose what, in quoting another's words,
you insert by way of explanation or correction.
+Direction+.--_Justify the marks of punctuation used in these sentences_:--
1. Luke says, Acts xxi. 15, "We took up our carriages [luggage], and went
up to Jerusalem."
2. The last sentence of the composition was, "I close in the words of
Patrick Henry, 'Give me liberty, or give me death.'"
3. _Red-hot_ is a compound adjective.
4. _Telegraph_ is divided thus: _tel_-_e_-_graph_.
5. The profound learning of Sir William Jones (he was master of
twenty-eight languages) was the wonder of his contemporaries.
6. By means of the apostrophe you know that _love_ in _mother's love_ is a
noun, and that i's isn't a verb.
+Direction+.---_Use capital letters and the proper marks of punctuation in
these sentences, and give your reasons_:--
1. next to a conscience void of offense without which by the bye life isnt
worth the living is the enjoyment of the social feelings
2. man the life boat
3. don't neglect in writing to dot your _is_ cross your _ts_ and make your
7_s_ unlike your 9_s_ and don't in speaking omit the _hs_ from such
words as _which_ _when_ and _why_ or insert _rs_ in _law_ _saw_ and
_raw_
4. the scriptures tell us take no thought anxiety for the morrow
5. The speaker said american oratory rose to its high water mark in that
great speech ending liberty and union now and forever one and
inseparable
* * * * *
LESSON 149.
CAPITAL LETTERS AND PUNCTUATION--REVIEW.
+Direction+.--_Give the reason for each capital letter and each mark of
punctuation in these sentences_:--
1. A bigot's mind is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour
upon it, the more it contracts.
2. This is the motto of the University of Oxford: "The Lord is my light."
3. The only fault ever found with him is, that he sometimes fights ahead of
his orders.
4. The land flowing with "milk and honey" (see Numbers xiv. 8) was a long,
narrow strip, lying along the eastern edge, or coast, of the
Mediterranean, and consisted of three divisions; namely, 1. On the
north, Galilee; 2. On the south, Judea; 3, In the middle, Samaria.
5. "What a lesson," Trench well says, "the word 'diligence' contains!"
6. An honest man, my neighbor,--there he stands--
Was struck--struck like a dog, by one who wore
The badge of Ursini.
7. Thou, too, sail on, 0 Ship of State;
Sail on, 0 Union, strong and great.
8. O'Connell asks, "The clause which does away with trial by jury--what,
in the name of H----n, is it, if it is not the establishment of a
revolutionary tribunal?"
9. There are only three departments of the mind--the intellect, the
feelings, and the will.
10. This--trial!
11. American nationality has made the desert to bud and blossom as the
rose; it has quickened to life the giant brood of useful arts; it has
whitened lake and ocean with the sails of a daring, new, and lawful
trade; it has extended to exiles, flying as clouds, the asylum of our
better liberty.
12. As I saw him [Weoster, the day before his great reply to Col. Hayne of
South Carolina] in the evening, (if I may borrow an illustration from
his favorite amusement) he was as unconcerned and as free of spirit as
some here present have seen him while floating in his fishing-boat
along a hazy shore, gently rocking on the tranquil tide, dropping his
line here and there, with the varying fortune of the sport. The next
morning he was like some mighty admiral, dark and terrible, casting the
long shadow of his frowning tiers far over the sea, that seemed to sink
beneath him; his broad pendant [pennant] streaming at the main, the
stars and the stripes at the fore, the mizzen, and the peak; and
bearing down like a tempest upon his antagonist, with all his canvas
strained to the wind, and all his thunders roaring from his broadsides.
13. The "beatitudes" are found in Matt. v. 3--11.
TO THE TEACHER.--If further work in punctuation is needed, require the
pupils to justify the punctuation of the sentences beginning page 314.
* * * * *
LESSON 150.
QUALITIES OF STYLE.
+Style+ is the manner in which one expresses himself. Styles differ as men
differ. But there are some cardinal qualities that all good style must
possess.
I. +Perspicuity.+--Perspicuity is opposed to obscurity of all kinds; it
means clearness of expression. It demands that the thought in the sentence
shall be plainly seen through the words of the sentence. Perspicuity is an
indispensable quality of style; if the thought is not understood, or it is
misunderstood, its expression might better have been left unattempted.
Perspicuity depends mainly upon these few things:--
1. +One's Clear Understanding of What One Attempts to Say.+--You cannot
express to others more than you thoroughly know, or make your thought
clearer to them than it is to yourself.
2. +The Unity of the Sentence.+--Many thoughts, or thoughts having no
natural and close connection with each other, should not be crowded into
one sentence.
3. +The Use of the Right Words.+--Use such words as convey your
thought--each word expressing exactly your idea, no more, no less, no
other. Use words in the senses recognized by the best authority. Do not
omit words when they are needed, and do not use a superfluity of them. Be
cautious in the use of _he_, _she_, _it_, and _they_. Use simple
words--words which those who are addressed can readily understand. Avoid
what are called bookish, inkhorn, terms; shun words that have passed out of
use, and those that have no footing in the language--foreign words, words
newly coined, and slang.
4. +A Happy Arrangement.+--The relations of single words to each other, of
phrases to the words they modify, and of clauses to one another should be
obvious at a glance. The sentence should not need rearrangement in order to
disclose the meaning. Sentences should stand in the paragraph so that the
beginning of each shall tally exactly in thought with the sentence that
precedes; and the ending of each, with the sentence that follows. Every
paragraph should be a unit in thought, distinct from other paragraphs,
holding to them the relation that its own sentences hold to one another,
the relation that the several parts of each sentence hold to one another.
II. +Energy+.--By energy we mean force, vigor, of expression. In ordinary
discourse, it is not often sought, and in no discourse is it constantly
sought. We use energy when we wish to convince the intellect, arouse the
feelings, and capture the will--lead one to do something. When energetic,
we select words and images for strength and not for beauty; choose
specific, and not general, terms; prefer the concrete to the abstract; use
few words and crowd these with meaning; place subordinate clauses before
the independent; and put the strongest word in the clause, the strongest
clause in the sentence, the strongest sentence in the paragraph, and the
strongest paragraph in the discourse, last. Energetic thought seeks variety
of expression, is usually charged with intense feeling, and requires
impassioned delivery.
III. +Imagery--Figures of Speech+.--Things stand in many relations to each
other. Some +things are (1) like each other+ in some particular; other
+things are (2) unlike each other+ in some particular; and still other
+things stand to each other (3)+ in some +other+ noteworthy +relation than+
that of +likeness+ or +unlikeness+. Things long seen and associated by us
in any of these relations come at last readily to suggest each other.
+Figures of Speech+ are those expressions in which, departing from our
ordinary manner in speaking of things, we assert or assume any of these
notable relations. The first and great service of imagery is to the
thought--it makes the thought clearer and stronger. Imagery adds beauty to
style--a diamond brooch may adorn as well as do duty to the dress.
A +Simile+, or +Comparison+, is a figure of speech in which we point out or
assert a likeness between things otherwise unlike; as, The gloom of
despondency _hung like a cloud_ over the land.
A +Metaphor+ is a figure of speech in which, assuming the likeness between
two things, we bring over and apply to one of them the term that denotes
the other; as, A stately _squadron of snowy_ geese were _riding_ in an
adjoining pond.
A +Personification+ is a figure of speech in which things are raised to a
plane of being above their own--to or toward that of persons. It +raises+
(1) +mere things to+ the plane of +animals+; as, The _sea licks_ your feet,
its huge _flanks purr_ pleasantly for you. It raises (2) +mere animals to+
the plane of +persons+; as, So _talked_ the spirited, sly _Snake_. It
+raises+ (3) +mere things to+ the plane of +persons+; as, _Earth_ fills her
_lap_ with pleasures of _her_ own.
An +Antithesis+ is a figure of speech in which things mutually opposed in
some particular are set over against each other; as, The _mountains give_
their lost children _berries_ and _water_; the _sea mocks_ their _thirst_
and _lets_ them _die_.
A +Metonymy+ is a figure of speech in which the name of one thing connected
to another by a relation other than likeness or unlikeness is brought over
and applied to that other. The most important of these relations are (1)
that of the +sign+ to the +thing signified+; (2) that of +cause+ to
+effect+; (3) that of +instrument+ to the +user+ of it; (4) that of
+container+ to the +thing contained+; (5) that of +material+ to the +thing
made out of it+; (6) that of +contiguity+; (7) that of the +abstract+ to
the +concrete+; and (8) that of +part+ to the +whole+ or of +whole+ to the
+part+.
This last relation has been thought so important that the metonymy based
upon it has received a distinct name--+Synecdoche+.
+IV. Variety+.--Variety is a quality of style opposed to monotonous
uniformity. Nothing in discourse pleases us more than light and shade. In
discourse properly varied, the same word does not appear with offensive
frequency; long words alternate with short; the usual order now and then
yields to the transposed; the verb in the assertive form frequently gives
way to the participle and the infinitive, which assume; figures of speech
sparkle here and there in a setting of plain language; the full method of
statement is followed by the contracted; impassioned language is succeeded
by the unemotional; long sentences stand side by side with short, and loose
sentences with periods; declarative sentences are relieved by interrogative
and exclamatory, and simple sentences by compound and complex; clauses have
no rigidly fixed position; and sentences heavy with meaning and moving
slowly are elbow to elbow with the light and tripping. In a word, no one
form or method or matter is continued so long as to weary, and the reader
is kept fresh and interested throughout. Variety is restful to the reader
or hearer and therefore adds greatly to the clearness and to the force of
what is addressed to him.
TO THE TEACHER.--Question the pupils upon every point taken up in this
Lesson and require them to give illustrations where it is possible for them
to do so.
* * * * *
LESSON 151.
PERSPICUITY--CRITICISM.
+General Direction+.--_In all your work in Composition attend carefully to
the punctuation_.
+Direction+.--_Point out the faults, and recast these sentences, making
them clear_:--
[Footnote: These four sentences and others in these Lessons, given just as
we found them, have been culled from school compositions.]
1. He was locked in and so he sat still till the guard came and let him
out, as soon as he stepped out on the ground, he saw the dead and dying
laying about everywhere.
2. They used to ring a large bell at six o'clock
in the morning for us to get up, then we had half an hour to dress in,
after which we would go to Chapel exercises, then breakfast, school would
commence at nine o'clock and closed at four in the afternoon allowing an
hour for dinner from one until two then we would resume our studies until
four in the afternoon.
3. Jewelry was worn in the time of King Pharaoh
which is many thousand years before Christ in the time when the Israelites
left they borrowed all the jewels of the Egyptians which were made of gold
and silver.
4. When it is made of gold they can not of pure gold but has to
be mixed with some other metal which is generally copper which turns it a
reddish hue in some countries they use silver which gives it a whitish hue
but in the United States and England they use both silver and copper but
the English coins are the finest.
+Direction+.--_Point out the faults, and recast these sentences, making
them clear_:--
(If any one of the sentences has several meanings, give these.)
1. James's son, Charles I., before the breath was out of his body was
proclaimed king in his stead.
2. He told the coachman that he would be the death of him, if he did not
take care what he was about, and mind what he said.
3. Richelieu said to the king that Mazarin would carry out his policy.
4. He was overjoyed to see him, and he sent for one of his workmen, and
told him to consider himself at his service.
5. Blake answered the Spanish priest that if he had sent in a complaint, he
would have punished the sailors severely; but he took it ill that he set
the Spaniards on to punish them.
+Direction+.--_So place these subordinate clauses that they will remove the
obscurity, and then see in how many ways each sentence can be arranged_:--
1. The moon cast a pale light on the graves that were scattered around, as
it peered above the horizon.
2. A large number of seats were occupied by pupils that had no backs.
3. Crusoe was surprised at seeing five canoes on the shore in which there
were savages.
4. This tendency will be headed off by approximations which will be made
from time to time of the written word to the spoken.
5. People had to travel on horseback and in wagons, which was a very slow
way, if they traveled at all.
6. How can brethren partake of their Father's blessing that curse each
other?
7. Two men will be tried for crimes in this town which are punishable with
death, if a full court should attend.
Direction.--_Each of these sentences may have two meanings, supply the two
ellipses in each sentence, and remove the ambiguity:_--
1. Let us trust no strength less than thine.
2. Study had more attraction for him than his friend.
3. He did not like the new teacher so well as his playmates.
4. He aimed at nothing less than the crown.
5. Lovest thou me more than these?
* * * * *
LESSON 152.
PERSPICUITY--CRITICISM.
Direction.--_So place these italicized phrases that they will remove the
obscurity, and then see in how many ways each sentence can be arranged:_--
1. These designs any man who is a Briton _in any situation_ ought to
disavow.
2. The chief priests, mocking, said among themselves _with the scribes_,
"He saved," etc.
3. Hay is given to horses _as well as corn_ to distend the stomach.
4. Boston has forty first class grammar-schools, _exclusive of Dorchester_.
5. He rode to town, and drove twelve cows _on horseback_.
6. He could not face an enraged father _in spite of his effrontery_.
7. Two owls sat upon a tree which grew near an old wall _out of a heap of
rubbish_.
8. I spent most _on the river and in the river_ of the time I stayed there.
9. He wanted to go to sea, although it was contrary to the wishes of his
parents, _at the age of eighteen_.
10. I have a wife and six children, and I have never seen _one of them._
+Direction.+--_So place the italicized words and phrases in each sentence
that they will help to convey what you think is the author's thought, and
then see in how many ways each sentence can be arranged:_--
1. In Paris, every lady _in full dress_ rides.
2. I saw my friend when I was in Boston _walking down Tremont street_.
3. The Prince of Wales was forbidden to become king _or any other man_.
4. What is his coming or going _to you_?
5. We do those things _frequently_ which we repent of afterwards.
6. I rushed out leaving the wretch with his tale half told,
_horror-stricken at his crime_.
7. Exclamation points are scattered up and down the page by compositors
_without any mercy._
8. I want to make a present to one who is fond of chickens _for a Christmas
gift_.
+Direction.+--_Make these sentences clear by using simpler words and
phrases:_--
1. _A devastating conflagration raged_.
2. He _conducted_ her to the _altar of Hymen_.
3. A donkey has an _abnormal elongation of auricular appendages_.
4. Are you _excavating a subterranean canal?_
5. He had no _capillary substance_ on the _summit_ of his head.
6. He made a sad _faux pas_.
7. A network is anything _reticulated or decussated, with interstices at
equal distances between the intersections_.
8. Diligence is the _sine qua non_ of success.
9. She has _donned the habiliments of woe_.
10. The _deceased_ was to-day _deposited in his last resting-place_.
11. The _inmates proceeded to the sanctuary_.
12. I have _partaken of my morning repast_.
13. He _took the initiative in inaugurating the ceremony_.
* * * * *
LESSON 153.
ENERGY--CRITICISM.
+Direction+.--_Expand these brief expressions into sentences full of long
words, and note the loss of energy_:--
1. To your tents, 0 Israel!
2. Up, boys, and at them!
3. Indeed!
4. Bah!
5. Don't give up the ship!
6. Murder will out.
7. Oh!
8. Silence there!
9. Hurrah!
10. Death or free speech!
11. Rascal!
12. No matter.
13. Least said, soonest mended.
14. Death to the tyrant!
15. I'll none of it.
16. Help, ho!
17. Shame on you!
18. First come, first served.
+Direction+.--_Condense each of these italicized expressions into one or
two words, and note the gain_:--
1. He _shuffled off this mortal coil_ yesterday.
2. The author surpassed all _those who were living at the same time with
him_.
3. To say that revelation is _a thing which there is no need of_ is to talk
wildly.
4. He _departed this life_.
5. Some say that ever _'gainst that season comes wherein our Saviour's
birth is celebrated_ this _bird of dawning_ singeth all night long.
+Direction+.--_Change these specific words to general terms, and note the
loss in energy_:---
1. Don't _fire_ till _you see the whites of their eyes_.
2. _Break down_ the _dikes_, give Holland back to _ocean_.
3. _Three hundred men_ held the hosts of _Xerxes_ at bay.
4. I _sat_ at her _cradle_, I _followed_ her _hearse_.
5. Their _daggers_ have _stabbed_ Caesar.
6. When I'm _mad_, I _weigh a ton_.
7. _Burn_ Moscow, _starve back_ the _invaders_.
8. There's no use in _crying over spilt milk_.
9. In proportion as men delight in _battles_ and _bull-fights_ will they
punish by _hanging, burning_, and the _rack_.
+Direction+.--_Change these general terms to specific words, and note the
gain in energy_:--
1. Anne Boleyn was _executed_.
2. It were better for him that a _heavy weight were fastened to him_ and
that he were _submerged_ in _the waste of waters_.
3. _The capital of the chosen people_ was _destroyed_ by _a Roman general_.
4. Consider the _flowers_ how they _increase in size_.
5. Caesar was _slain_ by _the conspirators_.
6. The _cities of the plain_ were _annihilated_.
+Direction+.--_Arrange these words, phrases, and clauses in the order of
their strength, placing the strongest last, and note the gain in energy_:--
1. The nations of the earth repelled, surrounded, pursued, and resisted
him.
2. He was no longer consul nor citizen nor general nor even an emperor, but
a prisoner and an exile.
3. I shall die an American; I live an American; I was born an American.
4. All that I am, all that I hope to be, and all that I have in this life,
I am now ready here to stake upon it.
5. I shall defend it without this House, in all places, and within this
House; at all times, in time of peace and in time of war.
6. We must fight if we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate
our rights, if we do not mean to abandon the struggle.
* * * * *
LESSON 154.
FIGURES OF SPEECH--CRITICISM.
+Direction+.--_Name the figures of speech, and then recast a few sentences,
using plain language, and note the loss of beauty and force_:--
1. Lend me your _ears_.
2. Please address the _chair_.
3. The robin knows when your grapes have _cooked_ long enough in the sun.
4. A day will come when _bullets_ and _bombs_ shall be replaced by
_ballots_.
5. _Genius creates; taste appreciates what is created_.
6. Caesar were no _lion_ were not Romans _hinds_.
7. The soul of Jonathan was _knit_ to that of David.
8. _Traffic_ has _lain down_ to rest.
9. Borrowing _dulls_ _the edge_ of husbandry.
10. He will bring down my _gray hairs_ with sorrow to the grave.
11. Have you _read Froude_ or _Freeman?_
12. The _pen_ is mightier than the _sword_.
13. If I can _catch him once upon the hip_, I will _feed fat_ the ancient
grudge I bear him.
14. The destinies of mankind were _trembling in the balance_, while _death
fell_ in showers.
15. The _threaded steel_ flies swiftly.
16. O Cassius, you are _yoked with a lamb_ that _carries anger as the flint
bears fire_.
17. I called the _New World_ into existence to redress the balance of the
Old_.
18. Nations shall _beat their swords into plowshares_, and _their spears
into pruning-hooks_.
19. The _Morn_ in _russet mantle clad walks o'er the dew_ of yon high
eastern hill.
20. _Homer_, like the _Nile_, pours out his riches with a _sudden overflow;
Virgil_, like a _river in its banks_, with a _constant stream_.
21. The air _bites_ shrewdly.
22. He doth _bestride_ the narrow world _like a Colossus_.
23. My _heart_ is in the coffin there with Caesar.
24. All _hands_ to the pumps!
25. The _gray-eyed Morn smiles_ on the _frowning Night_.
26. The good is often buried with men's _bones_.
27. Beware of the _bottle_.
28. All nations respect our _flag_.
29. The _marble_ speaks.
30. I have no _spur to prick the sides_ of my intent.
31. I _am as constant as the northern star_.
32. Then _burst_ his mighty _heart_.
33. The ice is covered with _health_ and _beauty_ on skates.
34. Lentulus returned with _victorious eagles_.
35. _Death_ hath _sucked_ the honey of thy breath.
36. Our _chains are forged_.
37. I have _bought golden_ opinions.
38. The _hearth blazed_ high.
39. His words _fell softer than snows on the brine_.
40. _Night's candles are burnt out_, and _jocund Day stands tiptoe_ on the
misty mountain top.
+Direction+.--_In the first four sentences, use similes; in the second
four, metaphors; in the third four, personifications; in the last eight,
metonymies:--_