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Harbard College Library
FROM THE FUND OF
CHARLES MINOT (Class of 1828).
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FEB 27 1901
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MAXWELL’S ENGLISH COURSE.
FIRST BOOK IN ENGLISH. For Use iti Elementary Grades.
INTRODUCTORY LESSONS IN ENGLISH GRAMMAR. For Use in Grammar Grades.
ADVANCED LESSONS IN ENGLISH GRAM- MAR. For Use in Higher Grammar Classes and in High Schools. WRITING IN ENGLISH. For Use in Higher Grammar Classes and in High Schools.
Copygient, 1900, BY W. H. MAXWELL. AND G. J. SMITH.
WRIT. IN ENG. Ww, P. 2
PREFACE
It would doubtless be presumptuous to imagine that this book, as a guide to the preéminently important school subject of learning to write English, avoids all the faults of its predecessors, or contains more than a portion of their merits. But unless a text-book is thought to possess some definite advantages over the others in its field, it has no excuse for being. Attention is therefore directed to the following prominent features of this elementary treatise on Writing in English : —
1. The general plan of the development of the subject is noteworthy, as proceeding from the study and produc- tion of entire compositions, in the first chapters, to the study of the next order of composition-units, well-made paragraphs, then to sentence-construction, and, at length, to the smallest units of composition, words. Since it would, however, be unwise to complete any one of these great divisions of the subject before attending at all to the others, this general order, while it is kept in view throughout, is modified as shown in the Table of Con- tents; to which, and to its prefatory note, attention is requested. This plan is justified not only by the estab- lished principle of teaching from the whole to the parts, but by the experience of all able instructors in English, that nothing is more certain to kill a pupil’s interest in composition than to compel him to begin the subject by laboring over the minutie of style and diction, as em-
bodied in rules of good usage and exemplified in uncon- 3
4 PREFACE
nected sentences. There should be composition, natural expression of connected ideas or observations, from the first. The study of the principles of sentence-construc- tion and of choice of words should be made secondary, because the pupil does not perceive the value of such study to him, until, through the willing production of compositions expressing his own conceptions of life and nature, he has learned to feel the need of improving him- self in the use of language. Interested observation and spontaneous thought require for their growth an atmos- phere of freedom. Therefore it is that, in the early study of composition, we should aim, not at a finical re- modeling of lay-figure sentences, but at copious and nat- ural expression ; and should defer a studied manipulation of sentences and of words until the student himself per- ceives the use of it. He must have something to say which he feels is worth saying and worth saying well. In this, as in other concerns, it is the spirit that giveth life, and it is the letter that killeth.
2. The method of studying models of good composition is prominent in this book. The number of extracts pre- sented from good authors is large, and the character of them is such as to give of itself an interest and a value to the book. These selections are used as models not only of style, but of composition, —that is, of the skill- fully ordered presentation of ideas. It is, in fact, as modelseof putting-together (composition) that they are first employed; the student’s attention is primarily di- rected to the arrangement of their parts. Distinct from this use and yet along with it goes the employment of the selections as models for direct imitation. The effective influence of imitation in the molding of a good style is something that has been profited by, in schools, far too little. In support of it may be urged not only Dr. John-
PREFACE 5
son’s advice, “to give days and nights to the study of Addison,” and the recorded indebtedness of writers no less admirable than Irving and Robert Louis Stevenson to their conscious imitation of models, but, in fact, every person’s unconscious response, in his own manner of writing, to the style of the authors he has read most and with most attention. The helpfulness of imitation is indeed one of the strongest bonds between the study of literature and the study of composition.
It may be well, before passing to the next heading, to direct attention also to the frequent employment, through- out the book, of the inductive method in the presentation of new points. It is strongly recommended that the teacher, by multiplying illustrations before calling for a principle, proceed in this method to a far greater extent than is possible in a text-book of strictly limited size.
8. Particular notice is directed to. the great number and the practical character of the exercises in this book. They have been planned with great care, and their con- tents looked after no less sedulously than the order of their progression. It may fairly be said that the exer- cises constitute the active and living element in the book, —they should become, in the schoolroom, the outward form, concealing and vitalizing the skeleton-structure of the study.
In conclusion, a few words may be said regarding the use of this book by the teacher. Conditions vary so much in the myriad schools of this country, especially, perhaps, with regard to the study of English, that work adapted in many schools to the upper grammar grades may in others be precisely what is needed in the first year of the high school. It is difficult to present the principles of English composition simply enough to meet the understanding of children of grammar grades; and in fact the cardinal
6 PREFACE
objection to nearly every composition text-book designed for high-school use is that it presents the subject in a manner too dry or too difficult for the average high-school pupil.
Since the sensible teacher always regards a text-book as a mere instrument, a means not an end, he will feel free to omit, in his use of any book, whatever portions seem either too difficult or otherwise ill adapted for his particular class of pupils. He will, further, in order to meet the needs of his pupils or to make the hard-and-fast plan of a book flexible in use, deviate from its order of exercises or even from its order of contents, as may seem to him wise and good. Thus it would undoubtedly be well to work at some of the chapters in this book two at a time. Work in the sentence-making chapters (Chap- ters VI, VIII, etc.) might very well go on concurrently with work in description, narration, or paragraphing. In fact, the book will probably yield the best results if used, to some extent, in this way. Nevertheless, the arrange- ment of the chapters and the progressive system of the exercises are strongly recommended as a guide, in a gen- eral way, to the natural development of the subject ; and they will, it is hoped, commend themselves, both in theory and in practice, to all who use the book.
CONTENTS
—_——soo-————
NorTE TO TEACHERS. — Attention is asked to the remarks in the Preface, regarding the plan of this book. It is to be noted that the subject of compo- sition is treated here under the following divisions : —
(a) Compositions, Chapters I, II, V, VII, XI, XIV. (ob) Paragraphing, Chapters III, IX. (c) Sentence work, Chapters IV, VI, VIII, X, XII, XIII.
PAGE PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 CHAPTER I. Kinps or CompositI0N . . . ‘ . 9 General Introduction (Exercises 1-4). Narration, Description, etc., explained (Exercises 5-8 and Lists of Subjects). II. Srupy or DescriPrion . . 17 The Four Requisites in Good Composition ‘(Exercises 9-12). Planning and Outlining of Descriptions (Exercises 13-16). PARAGRAPHING. . . . 387 Topics, Indention, Topic Sentences (Exercises 17-20). Paragraph Making in Description (Exercises 21-25). IV. Unity wn Sentences (Exercises 26-30) . . . - 68 V. More asour DEscrIPTIon . . . . . . 60 Points of View ; Use of Comparison. Statement of Effects and of Sense Impressions (Exercises 31-41). VI. SENTENCE Forms — . . . . . - 76 Kinds of Elements (Exercises 42, 43). Kinds of Sentences and Transformations (Exercises 44-50). VII. Narration . . . . . 90
Outlining a Narrative (Exercises 61-56). Construction of Narratives (Exercises 5i-05). 7
8 CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE VIII. Cuearness In WRITING . . . . . 1 Lack of Unity ; Omissions ; Misuse of Pronouns ; Misuse of ‘‘which”’’; Misplaced “Moditiers (Exercises 60-71).
IX. CoNnTENTS OF PARAGRAPHS . . . 121 Particulars ; Instances ; ; Comparisons ; Effects : Reasons (Exercises 72-85). X. Empnasis IN WRITING . . . . . . 148
Forms of Sentences (Exercises 86-90). Arrangement of Words (Exercises 91-97). Choice of Words (Exercises 98-105).
XI. Letrer Writine . : 162 Formal Notes, Informal Notes and Letters, Business Letters (Exercises 106-112).
XII. Figures or Speecnu (Exercises 118-121). . . - 177
XIII. Cnorcr or Worps . . 187 Correctness in Diction and Syntax (Exercises 122-198), Choice in Diction: Use of Synonyms and of Suggestive Words (Exercises 129-136).
XIV. ExposiTion AND ARGUMENT. . . . . . - 206 Exposition (Exercises 137-139). Argument (Exercises 140-146).
APPENDIX I. Marks ror USE IN CRITICISM OF COMPOSITIONS . . 217 II. Enouish Worps . . . . . . . . . 221 III, Ruves ror PunctuaTION, CAPITALIZATION, AND SPELLING (Exercises 147-149) . . . ; . . . 282 IV. Verses anD VERSE Maxine (Exercises 150-153) . . 244
V. Nores on AUTHORS REFERRED TO OR QUOTED IN THIS BooK 259
INDEX . . . . . . . . ° . . . 267
WRITING IN ENGLISH
CHAPTER I KINDS OF COMPOSITION
THERE 1s hardly anything to be learned in school that 1s more important to us, all our lives, than how to talk and write properly and skillfully. We can see one reason for this, when we think how con- stantly all of us use language; and another reason occurs to us, when we think why it is that we ever say anything at all. We talk and write to let other people know what we have seen or thought or done, or to tell them what we wish them to do; and it is highly important to us that we accomplish these — purposes. |
But suppose, as it often happens, that those to whom we express ourselves fail to understand exactly what we are trying to tell them, or that they are not interested in what we have said. Then, of course, we should better have said nothing. There is no use in our writing at all, unless what we write has these two characteristics: First, others must be made to understand our meaning, readily and accurately; second, what we say must be worth taking care to say well ; it must be interesting.
9
10 WRITING IN ENGLISH
Now, in order that other persons may understand exactly what we mean to say, we must study how to form our sentences in the best possible ways, and how to put together our compositions. A good many of the chapters in this book tell about these matters, which, though they must be studied carefully, should nevertheless be interesting. For it is always inter- esting to learn how to do a thing well, and we should learn to think of our language as a very fine and a very wonderful tool or instrument which we wish to use skillfully. It is certainly worth much trouble to learn that. For think how a carpenter tries to get skill in the use of a chisel, or how the musician prac- tices the playing of his violm. Language is an instru- ment both of use and of pleasure; we all of us employ it every day of our lives, and we may learn to get much enjoyment both from our own skillful use of it, and in appreciating the skillful use of it by others. Is it not really worth a great deal of study to learn to understand the masterly use of this instrument ?
Then, as for interesting others in what we say, we would give this rule: The best way for you to be sure of interesting others is to write about what really interests you. Every one sees things, hears about things, does things that interest himself. These are, for each one of us, the very things we talk about or think about; they are what we should write about.
Exercise 1. Lists of subjects.—(a) Make a list of the most interesting things you have ever seen, either near your home (as buildings, places, celebrations, etc.), or in
KINDS OF COMPOSITION li
school, or away from home. (6) Make a list of the most interesting things you now remember that ever happened to you or to any person you know very well (as journeys, excursions, outings, accidents, or the like). (c) Make a list of persons or objects you have heard of or read of and would like to learn more about. ;
Exercise 2. Written review. — Write a short statement of what has already been said in this chapter—why we make compositions, what we have to learn in studying composition, what we should write about, and why the study is important.
Exercise 3. Punctuation. — Look at all the punctuation marks so far used in this chapter, make a list of the different marks, and see if there are any places where a mark is used for no reason that you can see. If so, find out the reason from Appendix III, or from some person.
Exercise 4. Spelling. — Wake a list of the words used 80 far in this chapter that you have sometimes misspelled, or have known some one else to misspell.
Note concerning the exercises. — Each of the pupils should have a blank book and keep in it all the exercises which the teacher asks the class or the individual to write. The pages of the book should be numbered. In most cases the pupil should first write his answer or exercise on paper and correct it all he can before he copies it into the book. All the corrections made afterward should be made in red ink, so that the original writing can be easily seen by the pupil, the teachér, or any one else.
Do not be afraid that because of these corrections the book will not look neat. They show that you are learning something. Besides, if an exercise is much corrected, and if it is an impor- tant one, you can and should recopy it neatly in another part of the book, with all the improvements and corrections made. This should nearly always be done when the exercise is a
12 WRITING IN ENGLISII
composition that has been much corrected. Whenever you recopy an exercise, write at the end of the original the words, “Rewritten on page—.” Reserve a page or two at the begin- ning of the book for a table of contents.
Compositions may be either written or oral, but when we think about what sorts of ideas we express, we find that either written or oral composition may be of four kinds. We are now going to divide com- positions according to what we say in them.
The composition may be the story of what hap- pened to somebody, really or in imagination; then it is. called narration. Story books, histories, anec- dotes, biographies, are all narratives, because they tell in some regular order what occurred or was done during a certain time. How you spent your last holiday, would be a subject of this sort. In the letters we write we often narrate happenings or events. There is at the end of this chapter a short list of subjects for narration.
Or what you wish to do may be to tell what some person or object or scene looks like, or what sort of person or thing it is. This kind of composition is called description. It tells the appearance and quali- ties of persons or objects. You can select many sub- jects for this kind of composition in the very room where you are sitting, and you can find many when- ever you walk down the street or into the fields. Some subjects for description are given on page 1d.
Sometimes we wish to show that a statement is true, or that it is false; and then we write or talk .
KINDS OF COMPOSITION 18
argument. Of course, when we argue the subject must always be a sentence, for it needs a sentence to state a truth or an untruth. A few subjects for argument are given on page 16.
Then, again, we may wish to explain a subject that interests us — to tell all we know about it. For example, suppose we take “Pencils.” In writing upon a subject like this we should hardly describe pencils—there are too many kinds, and most of them would not be very interesting, for everybody knows what pencils look like; we should not have any happening to tell about, nor any statement to argue about; but if we knew, or could find out, how pencils are made, and where the lead comes from, and what different kinds of pencils there are, and so on, we might give some interesting informa- tion. Compositions of this sort, which explain and tell all about a subject, are called expositions. Most school books are expositions. A list of subjects for exposition is given on page 16.
Of course these four kinds of composition are not always kept separate. If you write about your last railway journey, you will probably tell what hap- pened and also describe what you saw, and in your writing you have narration and description mingled. Nearly every story combines these two kinds of com- position. In exposition and in argument, too, you will be very likely to have some description here and there, and perhaps some narration. But it is better to keep the four kinds of composition separate in your
14 WRITING IN ENGLISH
mind, so that at any rate you will know what you are doing. Besides, if we are to learn how to de- scribe, and how to narrate, and so on, it will be much easier if, at first, we take up these kinds of writing one by one. So we shall begin Chapter II with description. :
Exercise 5. Kinds of subjects. — For what kinds of composition are the following subjects suitable?
1. Flax. 2. A rain storm. 3. It is more agreeable to travel by steamboat than by railroad. 4. How paper is made. 5. Clouds. 6. The dandelion. 7. The story of the invention of the telegraph. 8. A morning walk. 9. Our school building. 10. The life of a butterfly.
Exercise 6. Kinds of subjects.— (a) Taking the sub- jects you mentioned in Exercise 1, tell for what kinds of composition they are suitable. (b) What kind of com- position was called.for in Exercise 2?
Exercise 7. Lists of subjects. — (a) Write three amus- ing or odd subjects for description. (b) Write three sub- jects for accurate, careful description. (c) Write three subjects you have heard argued. (d) Write three inter- estin$ subjects for exposition, suggested by objects seen at home or at school or in street windows. (e) Write three subjects for narration.
Exercise 8. Selections for copying or brief paraphras- ing. — (a) Find at home in a paper or magazine or book a good, brief description of a person or an object; bring ut or a copy of it to school. (b) Find and copy an amusing or an interesting brief narrative, as an anecdote. (ce) Tell the anecdote to the class at school. (d) Find and copy a brief piece of exposition or explanation. (e) Write a brief account of some argument you have heard or read, stating some of the reasons given as proofs.
KINDS OF COMPOSITION 15
Brier Lists oF SUBJECTS
Note. —It is not intended that compositions should be written on any of these subjects at present. They are given here merely for further illustration of the different kinds of compositions.
I. Description 1s the setting forth of the appear- ances and qualities of persons or objects.
1. My dog. 2. The way our grandfathers dressed. 3. A house fly under a magnifying glass. 4. An odd visitor. 5. Anold-time mansion. 6. Astrangeoldlady. 7. A portrait. 8. A scene in the country (a picture). 9. The Angelus (a picture). 10. Our schoolhouse (outside view). 11. My room at home. 12. A secondhand bookstore. 13. A striking show window. 14. The first railway train. 15. The fire last Thurs- day night. 16. An old piece of furniture. 17. A certain tree. 18. View in the park. 19. What I heard and saw in the woods. 20. A successful newsboy.
II. Narration is the setting forth in some intended order of real or imaginary connected happenings.
1. An incident observed in a street car. 2. Account of a ball game. 3. The events of a Saturday excursion. 4. My last railway journey. 5. The story of a poor boy. 6. How Ethel helped support her mother. 7. An amusing incident. 8. A trip by water. 9. A ghost story. 10. A theft, and how the thief was caught. 11. HowI spent my Christmas vacation. 12, An unpleasant evening. 13. A ramble down Broadway. 14. The adventures of a lucky boy. 15. The life of William Shakspere. 16. The story of coal. 17. The history of the adoption of our national flag. 18. The future histories of our classmates. 19. A hunting adventure. 20. A day on the farm. |
16 WRITING IN ENGLISH
III. Exposition, or explanatory composition, is the setting forth of the nature and relations of a substance, a class of objects, or an idea.
1. How food is digested. 2. Earthworms. 3. How base- ball is played. 4. Birds of prey. 5. Why spring comes. 6. The value of geography. 7. What is courage? 8. How a boat is sailed. 9. The making of a book. 10. An education for business life. 11. Timepieces. 12. Precious stones. 13. How paper is made. 14. How a knight was educated. 15. The circulation of the blood. ,
IV. Argument is the setting forth of proofs or dis- proofs of a proposition, and the overthrowing of proofs offered by one’s opponents.
1. Arithmetic is less useful than geography. 2. Should the law forbid the sale of intoxicating drinks? 3. The United States should not retain the Philippines. 4. Athletics in school should be encouraged. 5. Capital punishment should not be used. 6. Does higher education fit one for business life? 7. Should education be compulsory? 8. Is war ever right? 9. Lowell was a greater poet than Longfellow. 10. Itis some- times wise for workmen to strike.
CHAPTER II STUDY OF DESCRIPTION
Wuart is the object in writing descriptions? When we understand what people write descriptions for, we may learn in what respects we need skill, or what things we must see to when we write. Our aim in describing anything is to let others know how it impresses us — what it 1s, as we see it—and to cause others to see it in imagination, and to feel about it as we do. Now we cannot possibly tell all there is to be observed in even a small object. For instance, we could not clearly tell in words about all the spots and markings, the colors, and the exact shape in minutest detail, of a single apple. When we describe anything, therefore, we must select only those points that seem to us worth mentioning, the things that strike us and that we wish our readers to see and feel. We must also keep to the subject, so as to avoid confusing our readers; but, on the other hand, we must not leave out anything that ought to be mentioned. Finally, we must arrange the points of our description skillfully, so as to make what we say interesting, and so as to produce on our readers a clear impression.
_ WRIT. IN ENG. —2 17
18 WRITING IN ENGLISII
In good descriptions, therefore (and the same is true of all good compositions and, indeed, of all good works of art), will be found these four qualities: 1, skillful selection ; 2, unity; 3, completeness; 4, plan.
Selection implies that the writer has a purpose in view, and that he chooses, from all that he might mention, those particular points that are interesting and important for his purpose. This purpose may be merely to give full and accurate information (as in the description of the starfish on page 30); or it may be to entertain; or, more usually, it is to produce an emotional effect upon the reader, that is, to cause the reader to feel as the writer wishes him to feel.
Unity requires that the writer shall not wander from his subject; that is, that he shall not bring in anything which is foreign to the subject. If you were describing a house, and should break off in the midst of your description, to tell of some events that happened in the house, perhaps years before, you would be forgetting the principle of unity. Unity means oneness; each composition must be a well- made whole.
Completeness requires that nothing necessary or important be omitted. If you were describing a man’s face, and should say nothing of his eyes or of his expression, your description would lack com- pleteness,
The requirement of plan simply means that a writer must say what he has to say, in some well-thought- out order or arrangement of the parts. Plan is fully
STUDY OF DESCRIPTION 19
as important as selection, unity, or comple‘eness, and we shall have to study very carefully how to plan well all that we write.
Now let us read and consider the following descrip- tion of a scene in a court room. In London, the judge (called here the “ Lord Chancellor’) and the lawyers (called “gentlemen of the bar’’) wear gray wigs and silken gowns. This description was written by Charles Dickens : — |
The High Court of Chancery. (From Bleak House, by Charles Dickens, Ch. XXIV.) .
When we came to the Court, there was the Lord Chancellor sitting in great state and gravity, on the bench, with the mace and seals on a red table below him, and an immense flat nosegay, like a little garden, which scented the whole Court. Below the table, again, was a long row of solici- tors, with bundles of papers on the matting at their feet; and then there were the gentlemen of the bar in wigs and gowns — some awake and some asleep, and one talking and 3 no one paying much attention to what he said. The Lord
Chancellor leaned back in his very easy chair, with his elbow on the cushioned arm, and his forehead resting on his hand; some of those who were present dozed; some read the newspapers ; some walked about, or whispered in groups: all seemed perfectly at their ease, by no means in a hurry, very unconcerned, and extremely comfortable.
be
Now mark, in the first place, that Dickens by no means tells all that he might have told about this court scene. There were, no doubt, many details to be seen that he does not mention. You could not, from this description, form an entirely clear mental]
~
20 WRITING IN ENGLISH
picture of the place, or make a plan or map of the court room. He selects the points that suit his pur- pose. This purpose is to make you feel what an indif- ferent, unfeeling, machinelike thing the court was. The care and worry and sorrow of the persons whose affairs were disposed of there, seemed to be nothing to those drowsy and extremely comfortable officials.
In the second place, the description is a unit; not one thing is mentioned that has not to do with the scene described.
In the third place, this description, though brief, is complete enough to include all that helps out the purpose in view. There we see the persons present, how they are placed in the room, and what they are all domg; and we see the most striking objects in the room, the easy chair of the Chancellor, the table, the mace’ and the seals, the newspapers, the lawyers’ papers, and the bouquet.
Finally, the plan of the description is very clear
‘and excellent. Our attention is first directed to
the figure a visitor would naturally observe in the first glance, that of the presiding judge, the Lord Chancellor. The first sentence describes briefly the general appearance of the Chancellor, and tells of the objects near him. The other persons present are then mentioned, with their surroundings (sentence 2). Then the third sentence tells what the various per- sons present, from the Lord Chancellor down, are doing. The plan might be stated thus: —
1 Look up ‘‘mace’? in the dictionary.
STUDY OF DESCRIPTION 21
1. Situation of the persons and objects observed. 2. Occupations of the persons.
Exercise 9. Study of the qualities of descriptions. — (a) In a similar way study the following descriptions with regard to their selected details, their unity, their completeness, and their plan. (1) Ask yourself what the Seneral impression is that the writer wishes to produce, and note the points selected for the purpose; (2) note whether the writer keeps to the business in hand and avoids speaking of things that have no sufficient con- nection with the subject; (3) note whether each descrip- tion mentions everything we should naturally wish to know about the subject; and (4) note whether there is a well-defined plan. (b) Then write down the subjects of the parts of each description, in the order in which the parts appear.
The Kitchen of an English Inn. (From The Sketch Book, by Washington Irving; paper on The Stage Coach.)
As we drove into the great gateway of the inn, I saw on one side the light of a rousing kitchen fire beaming through a window. I entered and admired, for the hundredth time, that picture of convenience, neatness, and broad honest enjoyment, the kitchen of an English inn. It was of spacious dimensions, hung round with copper and tin vessels highly polished, and decorated here and there with a Christmas green. Hams, tongues, and flitches of bacon were suspended from the ceil- ing; a smokejack made its ceaseless clanking beside the fire- place, and a clock ticked in one corner. A well-scoured deal table extended along one side of the kitchen, with a cold round of beef and other hearty viands upon it, over which two foam- ing tankards of ale seemed mounting guard. Travelers of inferior order were preparing to attack this stout repast, while others sat smoking and gossiping over their ale on two high-
22 WRITING IN ENGLISH
backed oaken settles beside the fire. Trim housemaids were hurrying backward and forward under the directions of a fresh, bustling landlady; but still seizing an occasional moment to exchange a flippant word and have a rallying laugh with the group round the fire.
Holden’s House after the Rains. (From Without Benefit of Clergy, by Rudyard Kipling.)
He found that the rains had torn down the mud pillars of the gateway, and the heavy wooden gate that had guarded his life hung drunkenly from one hinge. There was grass three inches high in the courtyard; Pir Khan’s lodge was empty, and the sodden thatch sagged between the beams. A gray squirrel was in possession of the veranda, as if the house had been untenanted for thirty years instead of three days. Ameera’s mother had removed everything except some mil-
dewed matting. The tick-tick of the little scorpions as they —
~ hurried across the floor was the only sound in the house. Ameera’s room and that other one where Tota had lived were heavy with mildew; and the narrow staircase leading to the roof was streaked and stained with rain-borne mud. Holden saw all these things and came out again.
Jo. (From Little Women, by Miss L. M. Alcott, Ch. I. Little, Brown,and Company, by. permission.)
Fifteen-year old Jo was very tall, thin, and brown, and re- minded one of a colt; for she never seemed to know what to do with her long limbs, which were very much in her way. She had a decided mouth, a comical nose, and sharp, gray eyes, which appeared to see everything, and were by turns fierce, funny, or thoughtful. Her long, thick hair was her one beauty; but it was usually bundled into a net to be out of her way. Round shoulders had Jo, big hands and feet, a fly-away look to her clothes, and the uncomfortable appearance of a girl wha was rapidly shooting up into a.woman, and didn’t like it.
STUDY OF DESCRIPTION 23
Exercise 10. Reproductions. — (a) Read over again, carefully, twice, Irving’s description of the big kitchen of the inn; then take your list (see Exercise 9, b) of points mentioned in the several sentences, and write out from memory what Irving says.’ In doing this, try to keep very close to his way of writing, imitate his choice of words and his formation of sen‘ences. See how nearly like Irving you can write. (b) Give the same description orally.
Exercise 11. Imitation of model.— Wow select some similar subject for description, a scene in a restaurant, or a hotel, or a sitting room, with a number of people in it, variously occupied. Then, with Irving’s descrip- tion open before you, write your description, as nearly as possible in the manner of Irving.
1 Although the rules for the use of capitals and of punctuation marks are given in the appendix, a few of the most important are printed here, to serve as a reminder : —
Capitals should be used to mark — The first word of a sentence, or of.a line of poetry. The first word of a somewhat long quotation ; as, John replied, ‘* The man then, after,”’ etc. Proper names, titles, names of the Deity. ~ The pronoun I, and the interjections O, Oh.
Periods should be used to mark — The close of all sentences, except direct questions (?) or exclamator
sentences (1). Abbreviations ; as, 7. A. Kerley, M.D.; Mon., Aug. 7, etc.
Commas mark most of the natural pauses in sentences, and are used par- ticularly — After nouns of address ; as, John, come here. After words in a list or series, where ‘‘and”’ or ‘‘or’’ is omitted. Before and after explanatory-or thrown-in words, phrases, or clauses.
The pupil should avoid using slang words. If there is any doubt as toa word’s being good English, look it up in the dictionary.
24 WRITING IN ENGLISH
Exercise 12. Imitation of model. — Take for a subject some old ruined or deserted house, or a shanty; study carefully Mr. Kipling’s description of Holden’s house; note the plan; then write an imitation of his descrip- tion, but using your own swhject.
Now a further study of the descriptions already ' given will help us in learning how to plan our own compbdsitions.
We observe first that in beginning the description each of the writers quoted tells us what first catches the attention, gives us, as it were, the effect of a single glance. Then he goes on to mention the important details in some regular order. To have a regular order, he must group the details under well-marked divisions. Now, to see to these matters properly, we must think out our plan beforehand. To have a good plan in a description or in any other kind of composition 1s very important; there can be no excellent description without it. Most persons cannot make good plans for their composi- tions while they are writing; the plan should always be made beforehand. No builder would set to work on a house till the plan was decided upon; so no good writing can be done without a similar atten- tion to plan. Writing down the scheme or plan of a composition is called outlining. To make out- lines before writing not only leads us to form a good plan, but it helps us to secure both completeness and unity in the points selected for our composition.
The study of the descriptions already given may
STUDY OF DESCRIPTION 25
teach us the following points about the outlining of descriptions : —
1. We may or may not have an introduction to our description. In the selections given from Dickens and from Mr. Kipling the description begins at once. In the selection from Irving the first sentence may be called introductory; it is the second that takes us with the writer into the inn kitchen.
2. The description begins with a glance; what would be naturally noticed first of all 1s mentioned first and briefly, with a statement of the impression it makes.
Thus the glance view strikes, as it were, the key- note of the whole description.
3. In the detailed description which follows, and which makes up most of the body of the description, the writer proceeds according to some definite plan by means of dividing the subject into parts or fea- tures, arranging these in what seems the best order, and then giving such details or particulars under each division as aid in producing the effect desired.
This is illustrated in the following selection : — Description of Bleak House. (From Bleak House, by Charles
Dickens, Ch. VI.)
1 It was one of those delightfully irregular houses where you go up and down steps out of one room into another, and where you come upon more rooms when you think you have seen all there are, and where there is a bountiful provision of little halls and passages, and where you find still older cottage rooms in unexpected places, with lattice windows
2 and green growth pressing through them. Mine, which we entered first, was of this kind, with an up-and-down roof,
26
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10
WRITING IN ENGLISH
that had more corners in it than I ever counted afterward, and a chimney (there was a wood fire on the hearth), paved all around with pure white tiles, in every one of which a bright miniature,of the fire was blazing. Out of this room you went down two steps, into a charming little sitting room, looking down upon a flower garden. Out of this you went up three steps into Ada’s bedroom, which had a fine broad window, commanding a beautiful view. Out of this room, you passed into a little gallery with which the other best rooms (only two) communicated, and so, by a little stair- case of shallow steps, down into the hall. But if, instead of going out at Ada’s door, you came back into my room, and went out at the door by which you had entered it, and turned up a few crooked steps that turned off in an unexpected manner from the stairs, you lost yourself in passages, with mangles in them, and three-cornered tables, and a Native-Hindoo chair, which was also a sofa, a box, and a bedstead, and looked in every form something between a bamboo skeleton and a great bird cage, and had — been brought from India nobody knew by whom or when. From there you came on Richard’s room, which was part library, part sitting room, part bedroom, and seemed indeed a comfortable compound of many rooms. Out of that you went straight, with a little interval of passage, to the plain room where Mr. Jarndyce slept, all the year round, with his window open, his bedstead without any furniture stand- ing in the middle of the floor for more air, and his cold bath gaping for him in a smaller room adjoining. Out of that, you came into another passage where there were back stairs, and where you could hear the horses being rubbed down, outside the stable, and being told to Hold up, and Get over, as they slipped about very much on the uneven stones. Or you might, if you came out at another door (every room had at least two doors), go straight down to the hall again by half a dozen steps and a low archway, wondering how you ever got back, or had ever got out of it,
STUDY OF DESCRIPTION OF
The plan of this description may be expressed in the following outline : —
I. Glance — Delightful irregularity of Bleak House, illustrated in its arrangement of rooms and passages
II. Detailed description a. The first circuit to the hall
1. My room a. Its roof b. The fireplace
2. The sitting room, how you reached it, and what you saw from its window |
3, Ada’s bedroom
4. The gallery and stairway to the hall
6. The second circuit 1. The passages from the other side of my room | a. Mangles and tables b. The Indian chair 2. Richard’s room
3. Mr. Jarndyce’s bedroom a. Open window b. Bedstead c. Cold bath
4. Passage near the stable a. Stairs b. Stable sounds heard
5. Stairway to the hall
28 WRITING IN ENGLISH
Let us now take a description of a person, and outline it :—
Description of Mr. Hyde. (From Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by _ Robert Louis Stevenson, p. 58.)
I had never set eyes on him before, so much was certain. He was small, as I have said; I was struck besides with the shocking expression of his face, with his remarkable combina- tion of great muscular activity and great apparent debility of constitution.
This person (who had, from the first moment of his entrance, struck in me what I can only describe as a disgustful curiosity) was dressed in a fashion that would have made an ordinary person laughable; his clothes, that is to say, although they were of rich and sober fabric, were enormously too large for him in every measurement, —the trousers hanging on his legs and rolled up to keep them from the ground, the waist of the coat below his haunches, and the collar sprawling wide upon his shoulders. Strange to relate, this ludicrous accouterment was far from moving me to laughter. Rather, as there was some- thing abnormal and misbegotten in the very essence of the creature that now faced me — something seizing, surprising, and revolting —this fresh disparity seemed but to fit in with and to reinforce it; so that to my interest in the man’s nature and character there was added a curiosity as to his origin, his life, his fortune, and status in the world.
I. Glance
a. The man’s strangeness to me b. Stature
S
Expression of face
Bodily characteristics
STUDY OF DESCRIPTION 29
II. Detailed description
a. The man’s clothes 1. Quality of material 2. Size |
trousers coat
‘ 6. Impression made by the nan 1. Sense of surprise and revolt 2. Sense of curiosity
Exercise 13. .Outlining of description. — Jn a similar manner make written outlines of the following descrip- tions: —
Description of David Gamut. (From The Last of the Mo- hicans, by James Fenimore Cooper, Ch. I.)
The person of this individual was to the last degree un- gainly, without being in any particular manner deformed. He had all the bones and joints of other men, without any of their proportions. ... His head was large; his shoulders narrow; his arms long and dangling, while his hands were small, if not delicate. His legs and thighs were thin, nearly to emaciation, but of extraordinary length; and his knees would have been considered tremendous had they not been outdone by his feet. The ill-assorted and injudicious attire of the in- dividual only served to render his awkwardness more con- spicuous. A sky-blue coat, with short and broad skirts and low cape, exposed a long thin neck and longer and thinner legs. His nether garment was of yellow nankeen, closely fitted to the shape, and tied at his bunches of knees with large knots of white ribbon, a good deal sullied by use. Clouded -cotton stockings, and shoes, on one of the latter of which was
30 WRITING IN ENGLISH
a plated spur, completed the costume of the lower extremity of this figure. From beneath the flap of an enormous pocket of a soiled vest of embossed silk, heavily ornamented with tarnished silver lace, projected his musical instrument. A large civil cocked hat, like those worn by clergymen within the last thirty years, surmounted the whole, furnishing dignity to a good-natured and somewhat vacant countenance.
Description of the Starfish. (From Life on the Seashore, by
J. H. Emerton, p.-59.) ‘
The starfishes are among the most peculiar animals of the seashore, and belong to a class, the Echinoderms, others of which live on land or in fresh water. The common starfishes live near low water mark, coming above it occasionally, and in winter retreating to deep water. They live on mollusks, and are a great nuisance to the oyster growers. They fold them- selves around an oyster or mussel, turn their stomach out of their mouth and in between the shells of the bivalve and digest it without taking it inside théir bodies. The starfishes move by suckers in the fine grooves on the under side of their arms. To bring them into use they have to be filled with water from the water tubes, which receive their supply from the porous colored spot on the back of the starfish and carry it through all the arms, giving off a branch to each sucker.
The skin of the starfish is filled with little hard plates and from it project spines of various shapes. These spines have, around the base, clusters of little organs which have jaws that open and shut, for no apparent purpose unless to prevent dirt from sticking to the skin. At the end of each arm is an eye.
Description of a Street Pageant. (From Varia, by Agnes Rep- | plier, p. 114. Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, by permis- sion. )
Suddenly there came the sound of drums playing a gay and martial air, and in another minute, surrounded by a clamorous mob, the Sire de Gayant and his family moved slowly into sight.
STUDY OF DESCRIPTION 31
- Thirty feet high was the Sire de Gayant, and his nodding plumes overtopped the humble roofs by which he passed. His steel breastplate glittered in the evening sun; his mighty mace looked like a May-pole; his countenance was grave and stern. The human pygmies by his side betrayed their insignifi- cance at every step. They ran backward and forward, making all the foolish noises they could. ‘They rode on hobby-horses. They played ridiculous antics. They were but children, after all, gamboling irresponsibly at the feet of their own Titanic toy. Behind the Sire de Gayant came his wife, in brocaded gown, with imposing farthingale and stomacher. Pearls wreathed her hair and fell on her massive bosom. Earrings a handbreadth in size hung from her ears, and a fan as big as a fire screen was held lightly by a silver chain. Like Lady Corysande, “her approaching mien was full of majesty ;” yet she looked affable and condescending, too, as befitted a dame of parts and noble birth. Her children manifested in their bearing more of pride and less of dignity. There was even _ something theatrical in the velvet cap and swinging cloak of her only son; and Mademoiselle Gayant held her head erect in conscious complacency, while her long brown ringlets fluttered in the breeze.
Happily, however, there was still another member of this ancient family, more popular and more well beloved than all the rest, Mademoiselle Thérése, “1a petite Binbin,” who for two hundred years has been the friend and idol of every child in Douai. A sprightly and attractive little girl was Mademoiselle Thérése, barely eight feet high, and wearing a round cap and spotless pinafore. In her hand she carried a paper windmill. She ran hither and thither with uncertain footsteps, pausing now and then to curtsy prettily to some admiring friends in a doorway ; and whenever the pressure of the crowd stopped her progress, the little children clamored to be held up in their fathers’ arms to kiss her round, smooth cheeks. One by one they were lifted in the air, and one by one I saw them put their arms around la Binbin’s neck, and embrace her so
o S = > <q
tee ee
eile Sa
STUDY OF DESCRIPTION 33
heartily that I wondered how she kept herself clean and un- crumpled amid these manifold caresses.
Description of the Mansion of Tully-Veolan, from the inner courtyard. (From Scott’s Waverley, Ch. VIII.) :
The house, which seemed to consist of two or three high, narrow, and steep-roofed buildings, projecting from each ‘other at right angles, formed one side of the inclosure. It had been built at a period when castles were no longer necessary, and when the Scottish architects had not yet ac- quired the art of designing a domestic residence. The win- dows were numberless, but very small; the roof had some nondescript kind of projections, called bartizans, and displayed at each frequent angle a small turret, rather resembling a pepper box than a Gothic watchtower. Neither did the front indicate absolute security from danger. There were loopholes for musketry, and iron stanchions on the lower windows, prob-
ably to repel any roving band of gypsies.... Stables and other offices occupied another side of the square. The former were low vaults, with narrow slits instead of windows. ... Above
these dungeon-looking stables were granaries, called girnels, and other offices, to which there was access by outside stairs of heavy masonry. Two battlemented walls, one of which faced the avenue, and the other divided the court from the garden, completed the inclosure.
The Burning of Rome, a. v.64. (From The Early Days of Christianity, by Canon F. W. Farrar, Book I, Ch. IV.)
But the sense of permanent loss was overwhelmed at first by the immediate confusion and agony of the scene. Amid the sheets of flame that roared on every side under their dense canopy of smoke, the shrieks of terrified women and the wail of infants and children were heard above the crash of falling houses. The incendiary fires seemed to be bursting forth in so many directions, that men stood staring in stupefaction at the destruction of their property or rushed hither and thither in
WRIT. IN ENG.—3
34 WRITING IN ENGLISH
helpless amazement. The lanes and valleys were blocked up with the concourse of struggling fugitives. Many were suffo- cated by the smoke, or trampled down in the press. Many others were burnt to death in their own burning houses, some of whom purposely flung themselves into the flames in the depth of their despair. The density of the population that found shelter in the huge many-storied lodging houses in- creased the difficulty of escape; and when they had escaped - with bare life, a vast multitude of homeless, shivering, hungry human beings — many of them bereaved of their nearest and dearest relatives, many of them personally injured, and most of them deprived of their possessions, and destitute of the means of subsistence — found themselves huddled together in vacant places in one vast brotherhood of hopeless wretchedness.
Exercise 14. Description from picture.— Observe the picture of the Viking (page 32) carefully, make a brief but well-arranged list of the points in it that should be mentioned, then write the description after the manner of Cooper’s description of David Gamut.
Exercise 15. Description from picture. — 4/fter observ- ing carefully what is represented in the picture on page 35, prepare an outline for a description of it, then descrive it, orally or in writing, from your outline.
Exercise 16. Outline and original description. — (a) Bring into the class an outline for a description, by yourself, of some person seen on the street, or elsewhere. Select a more or less peculiar-looking person, whom you may see and observe before working up your description. De- scriptions from memory are apt to be vague and scanty, or else inaccurate.
(6) Write the description of the person, following the outline made. This outline should already be in the exercise book. When writing the composition, leave a margin of one inch at the lefe.
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QuEeEN ELIZABETH AND RALEIGH
36 WRITING IN ENGLISH
Note to teachers. — All the written exercises of the pupils should be inspected at intervals by the teacher, and a certain proportion of the original compositions should be carefully read and criticised by the teacher, who should note in the margin the points wherein the pupil is to correct or improve. There is a list of marks for criticism given in Appendix I. The teacher will at first have to use only such marks of criticism as the pupils are ready to profit by. As the study contin- ues, more and more of the marks may be employed. The compositions that have been criticised by the teacher should be corrected by the pupil in red ink, between the lines, and then shown again to the teacher. If the changes made are satisfactory, and the composition 1s an important one, it should be rewritten in the same book.
An important aim with the teacher, however, should be to teach each pupil to criticise and improve his own work. As the study advances, the pupil should become more and more able, by the help of the text-book and the instructions of the teacher, to criticise his own writing with certainty, correctness, and even pleasure. Of course the points in which the pupil is to criticise his work should at first be few and simple. They may progressively .increase in number and difficulty, but the teacher should always afford the pupils in this all possible guidance and assistance. Nor can the teacher’s own direct criticism of some proportion of the compositions ever be en- tirely dispensed with, though the ideal to be worked toward is the pupil’s well-instructed but independent and self-helping criticism.
CHAPTER III PARAGRAPHING
WHEN we write descriptions, or other compositions of considerable length, they are often or generally clearer and easier to read if in some way it is made plain where one part or division ends and the next begins. For this reason, compositions are almost always divided into parts or sections called para- graphs. The beginning of a paragraph is marked by placing the first word of it a little to the right of where the lines of writing or print regularly begin. This setting of a word to the right of the other first words of the lines is called sndention. The word “when” at the beginning of this paragraph is in- dented. If you turn to page 12 in this book, you will see the paragraphs all marked by indentions. The words “ The,” “ Or,” “ Sometimes,” “ Then,” and so on, are indented, because they begin new paragraphs.
Now, since each paragraph stands for a distinct part of the plan of a composition, it has a distinct subject of its own. This subject is called the topic of the paragraph.
In the following description there are, as the inden- tions show, five paragraphs. The topics of them may be stated and subdivided thus : —
37
38
WRITING IN ENGLISH
The scene in the garret (including “ introduc- tion” and “ glance’’)
a. Dimness of the place (introduction)
b. The white-haired shoemaker (glance view)
The old man’s voice
His appearance a. Tools, etc., about him b. His face white beard and hair hollow cheeks unnaturally bright eyes c. His clothmng shirt other garments
Special features of the man
a. Huis thin hands
b. His vacant gaze
c. His habit of wandering in attention
. His absent-mindedness
a. Unconscious movements 6. Difficulty of arousing him
The Shoemaker of the Bastille. (From A Tale of Two Cities,
by Charles Dickens, Ch. VI.) The garret, built to be a dry depository for firewood and the
like, was dim and dark. Such a scanty portion of light was admitted, that it was difficult, on first coming in, to see any-
thing.
Yet, with his back toward the door, and his face
toward the window, a white-haired man sat on a low bench, stooping forward and very busy, making shoes.
PARAGRAPHING 39
When he spoke the faintness of the voice was pitiable and dreadful. It was not the faintness of physical weakness, though confinement and hard fare no doubt had their part init. Its deplorable peculiarity was, that it was the faintness of solitude and disuse. It was like the last feeble echo of a sound made long and long ago.
The half-opened door was opened a little farther and secured at that angle for the time. A broad ray of light fell into the garret, and showed the workman, with an unfinished shoe upon his lap, pausing in his labor. His few common tools and vari- ous scraps of leather were at his feet on his bench. He hada white beard, raggedly cut, but not very long, a hollow face, and exceedingly bright eyes. The hollowness and thinness of his face would have caused them to look large, under his yet dark eyebrows and his confused white hair, though they had been really otherwise; but they were naturally large, and looked unnaturally so. His yellow rags of shirt lay open at the throat, and showed his body to be withered and worn. He, and his old canvas frock, and his loose stockings, and all his poor tat- ters of clothes, had, in a long seclusion from direct light and air, faded down to such a dull uniformity of parchment yellow, that it would have been hard to say which was which.
He had put up a hand between his eyes and the light, and the very bones of it seemed transparent. So he sat, with a steadfastly vacant gaze, pausing in his work. He never looked at the figure before him, without first looking down on this side of himself, then on that, as if he had lost the habit of associ- ating place with sound; he never spoke, without first wander- ing in this manner, and forgetting to speak.
Now that he had no work to hold, he laid the knuckles of the right hand in the hollow of the left, and then the knuckles of the left hand in the hollow of the right, and then passed a hand across his bearded chin, and so on, in regular changes, with- out a moment’s intermission. The task of recalling him from the vacancy into which he always sank when he had spoken, was like recalling some very weak person from a swoon, or
40 WRITING IN ENGLISH
endeavoring, in the hope of some disclosure, to stay the spirit of a fast-dying man. -
A study of these, or of any well-constructed para- graphs, will show that paragraphs, like whole compo- sitions, must have not only well-selected details, but also completeness, unity, and plan.
The planning of paragraphs we shall study later (Chapter VIII); but that a paragraph should be complete, and that it should be a unit, are points already clear, because each paragraph has its own subject or topic. The outline above given states the five topics in the last selection. If, in this selection, the writer had, in the second paragraph, which treats of the old man’s voice, described in part his clothing, this paragraph would have lacked the unity it now has. Every sentence in that paragraph relates to the voice which is being described. Or if, in the next paragraph, any important or striking detail, neces- sary to a clear and vivid picture of the old man’s ap- pearance, had been omitted, that paragraph would have lacked completeness. Unity and completeness, in compositions and in paragraphs, seem perhaps very simple and plain matters to be spoken of so much, but careless and uninstructed writers so often fail to think of these qualities and to secure them, that their importance must be insisted upon frequently.
A carefully written piece of composition may always be outlined, paragraph by paragraph, much as the selection just given was outlined; and all school compositions should be so outlined before being writ-
PARAGRAPHING 41
ten. The pupil by thus working out his plan or order of topics secures himself against omission of im- portant points, and against wandering from his topics while writing (secures for his composition complete- ness and unity). He will then write his composition with the outline before him, and his paragraphing will follow the topical outline. Whenever a writer finishes what he has to say on one topic of the outline, he should begin a new paragraph for the next topic, and mark the beginning by indention.
Thoughtless or ignorant writers, forgetting that each paragraph must have unity, often indent incor- rectly. In the following selections, as printed here, the indentions are irregular and misleading.
The Batile of the Blue Licks. (From The Choir Invisible, by James Lane Allen, p. 67. Copyright, 1897, by The Macmillan Company.)
Let the creek here be the Licking River. The Kentuckians, some on foot and some on horse, but all tired and disordered and hurrying along, had just reached the bank. Over on the other side — some distance back -—— the Indians were hiding in the woods and waiting. No one knew exactly where they were; every one knew they counted from seven hundred to a thousand. The Kentuckians were a hundred and eighty-two.
There was Boone with the famous Boonsborough men, the very name of whom was a terror; there was Trigg with men just as good from Harrodsburg; there was Todd, as good as either, with men from Lexington. More than a fourth of the whole were commissioned officers, and more fearless men never faced an enemy. There was but one among them whose cour- age had ever been doubted, and do you know what that man did? After the Kentuckians had crossed the river to attack,
42 WRITING IN ENGLISH
been overpowered, forced back to the river again, and were being shot down or cut down in the river like helpless cattle, that man—his name was Benjamin Netherland —did this: He was finely mounted. He had quickly recrossed the river and had before him the open buffalo trace leading back home. About twenty other men had crossed as quickly as he and ¥ were urging their horses foward this road.
But Netherland, having reached the other bank, wheeled his horse’s head toward the front of the battle, shouted and rallied the others, and sitting there in full view and easy reach of the Indian army across the narrow river, poured his volley into the foremost of the pursuers, who were cutting down the Kentuckians in the river. He covered their retreat.
He saved their lives. Yet when some twenty of the officers had come out before the ranks to hold a council of war, and the wisest and the oldest were urging caution or delay, one of them — McGary — suddenly waved his hand in the air, spurred his horse into the river, and shouted, “Let all who are not cow- ards follow me! ”
They all followed; and then followed also the shame of defeat, the awful massacre, the sorrow that lasts among us still, and the loss to Kentucky of many a gallant young life that had helped to shape her destiny in the nation.
(From The Man who Was, by Rudyard Kipling.)
The great beam-roofed mess room of the White Hussars was a sight to be remembered.
All the mess plate was on the long table,—the same table that had served up the bodies of five dead officers in a forgot- ten fight long and long ago,—the dingy, battered standards faced the door of entrance, clumps of winter roses lay between the silver candlesticks, the portraits of eminent officers looked down on their successors from between the heads of sambhur, nilghai, maikhor, and, pride of all the mess, two grinning snow leopards that had cost Basset-Holmer four months’ leave that he might have spent in England instead of on the road to Thi-
PARAGRAPHING | 43
bet, and the daily risk of his life on ledge, snowslide, and glassy grass slope. The servants, in spotless white muslin and the crest of their regiments on the brow of their turbans, waited behind their masters, who were clad in the scarlet and gold of the White Hussars and the cream and silver of the Lushkar Light Horse.
Dirkovitch’s dull green uniform was the only dark spot at the board, but his big onyx eyes made up for it.
Exercise 17. Indention. — Write the words that should be indented in the above selections, and be able to sive reasons for the indentions as you think they should be.
Exercise 18. Paragraph topics.— Write the topics of the paragraphs in the above selections, after the inden- tion has been corrected.
‘There is usually in a paragraph one sentence which states or suggests the topic of that paragraph. This is called the topic sentence. It usually appears at or near the beginning of the paragraph, but sometimes at the end. The purpose of the topic sentence 1s to tell clearly and simply what is the subject of the paragraph. Thus it shows the unity of the paragraph either by preparing the reader for what is to be said, or by summing up what has been said.
In the following paragraphs the topics are printed as titles, or headings, and the topic sentences are printed in italics.
. A Room and its Occupant. (From Bleak House, by Charles Dickens, Ch. X.)
The character of the room
The air of the room is almost bad enough to have extin- guished the candle. Jt is a small room, nearly black with soot,
44 WRITING IN ENGLISIL
and grease, and dirt. In the rusty skeleton of a grate, pinched at the middle as if Poverty had gripped it, a red coke fire burns low. In the corner, by the chimney, stand a deal table and a broken desk; a wilderness marked with a rain of ink. In another corner a ragged old portmanteau, on one of the two chairs, serves for cabinet or wardrobe: no larger one is needed, for it collapses like the cheeks of a starved man. The floor is bare; except that one old mat, trodden to shreds of rope yarn, lies perishing upon the hearth. No curtain veils the darkness of the night, but the discolored shutters are drawn together; and through the two gaunt holes pierced in them, famine might be staring in —the Banshee of the man upon the bed.
The occupant of the room
For, on a low bed opposite the fire, a confusion of dirty patchwork, lean-ribbed ticking, and coarse sacking, the visitor, hesitating just within the doorway, sees a man. He lies there, dressed in a shirt and trousers, with bare feet. He has a yel- low look in the spectral darkness of.a candle that has guttered down, until the whole length of its wick (still burning) had doubled over and left a tower of winding sheet above it. His hair was ragged, mingling with his whiskers and his beard — the latter, ragged too, and grown like the scum and mist around him, in neglect. Foul and filthy as the room is, foul and filthy as the air is, it is not easy to perceive what fumes those are which most oppress the senses in it; but through the general sickliness and faintness, and the odor of stale tobacco, there comes into the visitor’s mouth the bitter, vapid taste of opium.
Burns in Edinburgh. (From Familiar Studies of Men and Books, by Robert Louis Stevenson, p. 77.)
He was now, it must be remembered, twenty-seven years of age; he had fought since his childhood an obstinate battle against poor soil, bad seed, and inclement seasons, wading deep in Ayrshire mosses, guiding the plow in the furrow, wielding
PARAGRAPHING 45
“the thresher’s weary flingin’ tree”; and his education, his diet, and his pleasures had been those of a Scotch countryman. Now he stepped forth suddenly among the polite and learned. We can see him as he then was, in his boots and buckskins, his blue coat and waistcoat striped with buff and blue, like a farmer in his Sunday best; the heavy plowman’s figure firmly planted on its burly legs; his face full of sense and shrewdness, and with a somewhat melancholy air of thought, and his large dark eye “literally glowing” as he spoke. “I never saw such another eye in a human head,” says Walter Scott, “though I have seen the most distinguished men of my time.”
Exercise 19. Topics and topic sentences. — Bring to class, in writing, a statement of the “topics” in the following paragraphs, also the “topic sentences” copied out,
(From Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Steven- son, p. 8.)
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in the busy quarter of London. The street was small and what is called quiet, but. it drove a thriving trade on the week days. The inhabitants were all doing well, it seemed, and all emulously hoping to do better still, and lay- ing out the surplus of their gains in coquetry; so that the shop fronts stood along the thoroughfare with an air of invitation, like rows of smiling saleswomen. Even on Sunday, when it veiled its more florid charms and lay comparatively empty of passage, the street shone out in contrast to its dingy neighbor- hood, like a fire in a forest; and with its freshly painted shutters, well-polished brasses, and general cleanliness and _ gayety of note, instantly caught and pleased the eye of the passenger.
Two doors from one corner, on the left hand going east, the line was broken by the entry of a court; and just at that point @ certain sinister block of building thrust forward its gable
46 WRITING IN ENGLISH
on the street. It was two stories high; showed no window, nothing but a door on the lower story and a blind forehead of discolored wall on the upper, and bore in every feature the marks of prolonged and sordid negligence. The door, which was equipped with neither bell nor knocker, was blistered and distained. Tramps slouched into the recess, and struck matches on the panels; children kept shop upon the steps; the school- boy had tried his knife on the moldings; and for close on a generation no one had appeared to drive away these random visitors or to repair their ravages.
(Hamlin Garland, in the Ladies’ Home Journal, August, 1899. By permission.)
Koweechee was a most wonderful mountain. It sprang from the lowlands of dark green hills, covered with pines as with a robe, and it reached to a dazzling dome of snow two miles above the valley where the Angry River roared. ‘Every line was noble, sweeping, regal, and the summit burned under the noon sunlight with unearthly radiance, and glowed and lightened till it seemed as if the sky and snow were one. As the sun sank to the west, Koweechee amplified and glorified like some mighty orator stepping before a countless multitude of men. He loomed over the tall pines and intervening hills with inex- pressible grandeur —it would seem that nothing more remained of majesty to express — and when the sun went down and the stars came out behind his awful crown, then the lone traveler, crouching close beside his camp fire, lifted his eyes timidly and whispered, ‘ Lord, I adore!”
(From Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson,
p. 27.) :
It was by this about nine in the morning, and the first fog of . the season. A great chocolate-colored pall lowered over heaven, but the wind was continually changing and routing these em- battled vapors; so that as the cab crawled from street to street Mr. Utterson beheld a marvelous number of degrees and hues
PARAGRAPHING 47
of twilight; for here it would be dark, like the black end of evening; and there would be a glow of rich, lurid brown, like the light of some strange conflagration; and here, for a moment, the fog would be quite broken up, and a haggard shaft of daylight would glance in between the swirling wreaths. The dismal quarter of Soho seen under these changing glimpses, with its muddy ways, and slatternly passengers; and its lamps, which had never been extinguished or had been kindled afresh to combat this reinvasion of darkness, seemed like a district of some city in a nightmare.
(From The Sketch Book, by Washington Irving.)
Suddenly the notes of the deep-laboring organ burst upon the ear, falling with doubled and redoubled intensity, and rolling, as it were, huge billows of sound. How well do their volume and grandeur accord with this mighty building! With what pomp do they swell through its vast vaults, and breathe their awful harmony through these caves of death, and make the silent sepulcher vocal! And now they rise in triumph and acclamation, heaving higher and higher their accordant notes, and piling sound on sound. And now they pause, and the soft voices of the choir break out into sweet gushes of melody ; they séar aloft, and warble along the roof, and seem to play about these lofty vaults like the pure airs of heaven. Again the pealing organ heaves its thrilling thunders, compressing air into music, and rolling it forth upon the soul. What long- drawn cadences! What solemn, sweeping concords! It grows more and more dense and powerful —it fills the vast pile and seems to jar the very walls — the ear is stunned — the senses are overwhelmed. And now it is winding up in full jubilee — it is rising from earth to heaven—the very soul seems rapt away and floated upward on this swelling tide of harmony!
Exercise 20. Topics and topic sentences. — Write out the topics and topic sentences of such others of the para- graphs printed elsewhere as the teacher may select.
48 WRITING IN ENGLISH
Note to teachers. When completed, the following exer- cises, aS well as many of the others, might be placed upon the blackboard, read, and criticised during the recitation period.
Exercise 21. Arrangement of sentences in paragraphs. EXAMPLE OF SENTENCES MISARRANGED : —
The two halves of a huge white mustache encircled his mouth, like two parentheses. This man had on his head a piece of a cocked hat, without a cockade; his dilapidated face had a stony tint, that yellow tint which old monuments have in the sun- light. He was dressed in an old uniform. They saw in front of a vineyard gate a sort of soldier. Across one of the sleeves stretched an old and worn strip of gold lace.
THE SAME SENTENCES PROPERLY ARRANGED : — Topic — Description of an old soldier
They saw in front of a vineyard gate a sort of soldier. This man had on his head a piece of acocked hat, without a cockade ; his dilapidated face had a stony tint, that yellow tint which old monuments have in the sunlight. The two halves of a huge white mustache encircled his mouth, like two paren- theses. He was dressed in an old uniform. Across one of the sleeves stretched an old and worn strip of gold lace.
Study the following paragraphs of misarranged sen- tences, discover the topic of each paragraph and. write it as a heading ; then rewrite the sentences, arranged so as to connect smoothly and naturally.
(a) He had a very large nose, slightly brass-colored: his cheeks were very round and very red. His doublet was pro- longed behind into something like what is now termed a “‘ swallow tail,” but was much obscured by the swelling folds of an enormous black, glossy-looking cloak. It was the most extraordinary looking little gentleman Gluck had ever seen. His mustaches curled twice- round like a corkscrew on each
PARAGRAPHING 49
side of his mouth, and his hair, of a curious mixed pepper-and- salt color, descended far over his shoulders. He was about four feet six in height, and wore a conical pointed cap of nearly the same altitude, decorated with a black feather some three feet long.
(6) They thought their thick mats would defend them from a rifle ball as well as from a stone. Observing the flashes of the guns, they naturally concluded that water would counteract their effect. It was generally observed that at first the Indians showed great resolution in facing our firearms; but it was entirely owing to ignorance of their effect. Being soon convinced of their error, yet still at a loss to understand how so many among them were killed, they had recourse to the following plan. But finding this last resource to fail them, they soon dispersed, and left the beach entirely clear. They therefore, very sagaciously, dipped their mats or armor in the sea, just before coming on to face our soldiers.
. (c) Beneath the pulpit sat the deacons, and just before them were the deaf seats and benches for the old and feeble who owned no pews. In the left-hand gallery were the young men and boys. There, too, sat the tithingman. A narrow aisle crossed the broad one midway and joined the doors on either side. The young women filled the wall pews of the right-hand gallery. The main door opened on a broad aisle that led to the high pulpit, with its green cushions and its funnel-shaped sounding board. In the front gallery sat the singers. Spin- sters and elderly women were given the front row of seats. Close to the four walls was a row of pews separated by a con- tinuous aisle from the body of the church. The little girls had benches.
Exercise 22. Paragraph making. — Complete the para- Sraphs suggested by the followings topic sentences : —
(a) To-day I saw an old woman selling newspapers .. . (6) This old high-walled garden was a very interesting and delightful place... .
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50 WRITING IN) ENGLISH
(c) The tramp’s most notable peculiarity was his voice. . .
(d) In one of my recent walks I came upon the handsome new building of ...
(e) The house has a very interesting attic, now used as a storeroom ...
(f) To-day I saw a striking experiment performed in...
(g) The old mill is well worth a visit...
Note.—This exercise may be employed for oral or for written composition or for both, as the teacher may direct.
Exercise 23. Paragraph writing. — Write from each of the following suggestions a paragraph. Introduce a topic sentence in each case.
(a) Our school yard. Shape, size — position of building in it — parts of the yard — objects, trees, etc., in the yard — signs it bears of its use — scenes it has witnessed.
(6) The public square (or, a square or little park). Situa- tion, shape, size— plan or parts — objects in it — special features.
(c) A horseless carriage. First impression — difference in appearance from other vehicles — number of seats — where its mechanism is—the steering gear, etc.—the brake — appear- ance when at full speed.
(d) A domestic animal. Size — limbs — proportions — coat — movements.
(e) Our church. Parts and plan — material, colors — strik- ing features. .
(f) A balloon. Twenty feet high when filled — made of silk — brown — hanging basket (for passengers) — ropes form network over balloon — ropes hold up the basket.
(g) The cotton plant. Two or three feet high — white flow- ers, which fall off — seed pod ripens, opens of itself — cotton plucked with seeds in it —seeds must be removed by a machine.
(hk) The whale. Great size (sometimes sixty feet or more in length) — enormous mouth — tail flat, strong and heavy enough
PARAGRAPHING | 51
to break a small boat—blubber or fat beneath skin —in top of head, nostril through which the whale “spouts.”
(t) “The Dewey Arch.” Erected at time of welcome to Admiral Dewey — made of white staff, coated over a wooden framework — as high as a four-story building — two wagons may pass abreast through the arch—smaller side arches — sculpture groups on faces and top.
Exercise 24. Original description. — 4fterreading again Scott’s description of the mansion of Tully-Veolan (p. 32) outline and then write a complete description of some interesting building, paying special attention to para- graphing and to the use of topic sentences. See that the several paragraphs are smoothly connected.
Exercise 25. Description from picture.— Make an out- line for a description of the Capitol (p.52). Write the topic sentences for all the paragraphs you would write from this outline. Then write the description.
THe CapPITOL AT WASHINGTON
52
CHAPTER IV UNITY IN SENTENCES
WE have seen that each part or division of a com- position (each paragraph) has its own part to perform in the setting forth of the whole subject, and that it is the business of a paragraph to tell only what belongs to it. But 1t is important to bear in mind that each sentence, as well as each of the paragraphs and the whole composition, should have oneness or unity. Fora sentence is the expression of a thought; its one business 1s to express that thought, no more, no less. So a sentence is not even a correct one, unless it has this quality of unity. Every sentence, no matter how long it 1s, no matter how many modi- fying or subordinate ideas it has, no matter how many codrdinate verbs it has, can and must have unity. For so long as the less important or subordinate ideas are kept in their place, being used merely as modi- fiers, the sentence still has the unity that belongs to its principal idea or statement. And as for com- pound sentences, which state two or more ideas of equal rank or importance, such sentences also have properly a unity, because the parts or clauses must be closely connected in thought, or they are simply parts
68
D4 WRITING IN ENGLISIL of the same thought. If not, the sentence lacks unity, and is a bad sentence.
To see how several codrdinate statements may have unity, take the sentence: “ We shouted until we were hoarse, and Tom hoisted a pole with a handkerchief tied to it; my brother fired his revolver, and all of us waved our arms wildly—but we could not attract their attention.” Here the unity among the state- ments is in the idea of what was done to attract the desired attention.
To secure unity in sentences is extremely important, yet not always easy. Careless and uninstructed writ- ers and speakers are continually uttering sentences that fail of unity. Nothing shows the poor writer more than this. In fact, the greatest lesson we can learn about good sentence making is to give every one of our sentences unity. There is one sound rule to follow: Have for each sentence one main thought, and one only; express it, and then put the period. If at first all your sentences are short and simple, no matter. Have no ambition to write long sentences, until you are sure you can write them as clear units.
There are three or four very common causes of failure in sentence unity.
I. The “and” habit.
Careless writers and speakers seem almost to think there is no other conjunction in the English language than “and.” They string out idea after idea, using “and” to pin the statements together, until chance
UNITY IN SENTENCES 5d
or weariness suggests coming to a stop. This is one of the commonest and one of the very worst faults in sentence making. It shows thoughtlessness and slovenliness. In every sentence there should be a principal thought or statement, and details that are subordinate in importance should be expressed as grammatically subordinate. Vote the following faulty sentences ; —
1. There is a bird on that branch, and its nest is near by, and there are three eggs in the nest.
2. Mr. Beecham came to town the other day and bought his boy a bicycle and ordered it sent out to his farm, and it was not sent for a week and Mr. Beecham was very angry about it.
3. He was getting old, and he had to be out on the wharf a good deal, and it wasn’t convenient to be locking up his office, and he sent down to Machias for a school-teacher who was a sort of poor relation of his.
4. And so John saw his native village again, and it was a calm sunny day, and they descended into the green valley where the town lay, and knocked at Mr. Ericsson’s door, but the house was empty.
5. In many places the forest had been cut away, and this left open tracts, and here the sweet mountain grass grew thick and strong, and there were also harebells, foxgloves, and wild pinks.
6. Hans was walking backward and forward on the moun- tain side, and his eyes were fixed on the ground and he did not see me approach.
7. It was in summer and the flowers were all in blossom, and he was walking along after his sheep, and all at once he saw a wonderful sky-blue flower, and he had never seen one of the kind before in all his life.
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Exercise 26. Correction of abuse of ‘‘and.’’ — In each of the above sentences, select what you regard as the principal ideas, then cut each sentence up into two or more sentences having “unity,” expanding the one main thought when necessary, and using relative pro- nouns or other connectives. (See the table of conjunctions on page 85.) Some of the clauses made coordinate should be put as modifiers (phrases or clauses) if they are really subordinate in thought.
EXAMPLE OF CORRECTION (sentence 1): There is a bird on that branch. Its nest, containing three eggs, is near by. Or, On that branch there is a bird, whose nest is near by. The nest has in it three tiny eggs, of a pale blue color.
II. Needless change of subject.
Example: After the fire had been lighted, the boys re- treated to a shed which was some twenty feet from the house of Mr. Foote, whose family was absent from home. (This sentence employs four words as subjects: fire, boys, which, and family.) Changed so as to reduce the number of subjects: After lighting the fire the boys retreated to a shed near the home of Mr. Foote’s absent family.
1. When my uncle reached home, the members of his family were found to have gone out to a party.
2. Although the captain thought the fire was a serious one, it was concluded by him that prompt action might save the house.
3. He received us very pleasantly, and we were invited by him to take seats in the shady courtyard.
4, The climate of Khartoum is very unhealthful, and we learned that this unfortunate gentleman had long been a resident of the place, and that he was suffering greatly from fever.
5. There were indeed some persons, but the number of them was small, by whom a kind of hobbling march on the broken
UNITY IN SENTENCES 57
arches of the bridge was continued, but they fell through, one after another, as so long a walk had tired them.
Exercise 27. Avoiding change of subject. — Correct the above sentences, by reducing the number of the subjects, uf possible to only one, by placing some of the statements as modifiers, or by changing verbs in the passive voice to the active voice, or the reverse. (See the example of cor- rection given.) Sometimes it may be well to make two sentences tnstead of one.
III. Forgetting the verb.— One fault that is simply bad grammar, and can appear only in very careless writing, is to omit the verb. This occurs in rather long and complex sentences, which have confused the writer himself.
Exampues: 1. But Fletcher, who, after he had visited the mill, thinking he had now to cover his tracks, walked some distance in the brook.
2. But when we returned to the cottage at njghtfall with the horse which had been stolen, and which was now, as we ap- proached the house, so badly frightened that he broke away and ran into the woods.
3. The long facade, consisting only of balconied windows deeply recessed, standing erect on the summit of a con- siderable hill, which gives a fine plunging movement to its foundations.
4, But Frank, after he had tried again and again to break open the shutter, which was nailed at three or four places, a and found he could do nothing with it.
5. Looking very weak and weary, the boy, who had evidently -walked a great distance, for his face was pale and his steps were slow, coming timidly up the garden walk, and rapped at the door.
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Exercise 28. Correction of sentences. — Rewrite the above sentences so as to make them say something clearly and srammatically. If you prefer, make two sentences to take the place of any one.
EXAMPLE: The first above given may be corrected by omit- ting “who.” If this is done, “ walked ” becomes the principal verb, with the subject “ Fletcher.”
IV. Joining unconnected ideas.
Exampiers: 1. Soup is good to begin a meal with, and we were all hungry as could be.
2. Goldsmith, who had the smallpox in his youth, became a great writer before he was forty.
3. He came back on the night boat, looking much better after his two weeks’ vacation.
4. He had the air of a nobleman; at the time I saw him he had on a white waistcoat.
5. When the body was pulled into the boat it was found to be clothed in the same blue suit Martin had recently bought, but all efforts to restore life were in vain.
6. I next saw the town from the stern thwart of a little sail- ing vessel ; behind the settlement was a great gash in the hill- side where granite was quarried. ;
7. The name of the building was The Mentone, and it was completely destroyed by the fire.
Exercise 29. Sentence-unity. — Correct or expand the above sentences so as to secure unity; or write reasons for thinking them faulty.
EXAMPLE (1 above): When one is tired and cold, a bow! of soup is the best thing to begin a meal with. As for us, we were so hungry that anything would have tasted good. Or (make a connection between the two statements given): We
UNITY IN SENTENCES 59
were so hungry that the soup, poor as it was, seemed a delicious and satisfying thing to begin the meal with.
Exercise 30. Criticism.— Look over one of your own compositions, sentence by sentence, to make sure that each sentence has “unity” and contains no misuse of “ and.” Bring to class, copied out, the incorrect sentences, and opposite them write correct or improved ones, thus: —
The incorrect sentences. ‘The same corrected or improved.
CHAPTER V MORE ABOUT DESCRIPTION
In Chapter II we learned that all compositions should show skillful selection and have completeness, unity, and a well-thought-out plan. Descriptions, therefore, should be full enough of well-chosen details to be satisfactory, that is, there should be no omission or oversight of important parts of the subject; and descriptions should be free from sentences or para- graphs that have no close or useful connection with the subject. As for the requirement of plan, we saw that in good descriptions the writer usually begins with a glance at the subject of the description, men- tioning that which first or most prominently strikes the attention in it; and then that he uses the larger part or body of the description to set forth the details in full, arranged in some definite order, and grouped under certain divisions or heads.
In this chapter we are to consider a few ways of improving our descriptions, and we shall continue also our study of paragraphing.
I. Point of view. —In beginning a description, it is usually necessary, for the sake of clearness, to select a point from which to view the object or scene.
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MORE ABOUT DESCRIPTION 61
If your subject is a house, and your point of view is outside of it, you are not expected to describe any of the interior, except, perhaps, what you see from that outside position. Neither should you describe all the sides of the house, for all are not to be seen from one point of view. Sometimes, however, the observer may change his point of view during the description. He may, for instance, walk entirely round the house. Whenever the point of view is movable, the reader should be distinctly told so. Whether it is well to have a moving point of view, depends upon the nature of the subject. Of course, in describing the interior of a house of several rooms, the point of view must change from room to room. (See Dickens’s description of Bleak House, quoted in Chapter IT.) This is really a case, however, of several descriptions — in one.
A very important result of having a certain point of view is that the scale of the description depends upon the distance of the point of view. If a writer is describing a mountain as seen from a distance of several miles, of course he will see none of the details that engage the attention of a person climbing the same mountain. The latter would write of the rocks, the fallen trunks, the brushwood, the flowers, the dead leaves, and perhaps the occasional outlook from the slopes over the broad valleys. The distant observer would see the great outlines of the moun- tain, the play of light and shade, the overhanging clouds.
62 WRITING IN ENGLISH
All that can be said is, that a writer should decide carefully upon his point of view, just as a painter must select the place for his stool and canvas. Not to have clearly in mind a point of view, whether close or distant, oblique from the object or directly in front, above or below it, outside of it or inside, makes danger of vagueness and inaccuracy in the description.
Exercise 31. Points of view. — What are the points of view tn Irving’s description of an inn kitchen, page 21, Mr. Kipling’s description of Holden’s house, page 22, Stevenson’s description of Mr. Hyde, page 28, Miss Rep- plier’s description of a street pageant, page 30, Dickens’s description of the shoemaker, page 38, of a room and its occupant, page 43, Mr. Garland’s description of Mount _ Koweechee, page 46, Stevenson’s description of a London fog, page 46?
Exercise 32. Points of view. — (a) What were the points of view in three of the descriptions you have writ- ten? (b) What point of view woutd you adopt in writing a description of your room at home; of a house on fire; of a florist’s window ; of a snowstorm ; of a race?
II. Use of comparison. — Sometimes in describ- ing a complex or extensive subject or scene, it is very useful to compare it to something simple and familiar, for this helps our readers to understand all that we say. Thus in describing the battlefield of Waterloo, Victor Hugo asks his readers to imagine a great A. Then he goes on to explain that the lines are roads, and that the three-cornered space is occu- pied by a certain hill, and so on. This comparison
MORE ABOUT DESCRIPTION 63
of the place with an A makes the entire description much clearer and simpler than it might have been. In the same way Mr. Creasy, the author of The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World, makes clear his description of the battlefield of Marathon by comparing it to a crescent (the shape of the young moon). Sir Walter Scott, in describing the hall of Cedric the Saxon (in Ivanhoe, Ch. III), explains the arrangement of the tables by saying they formed a large T; the cross part, on a slightly raised platform, being the table at which sat Cedric and his immediate family.
The world is full of similarities, and if a writer chooses a comparison that will really explain and make distinct the thing or scene he is describing he will add much to his description. It will usually be wise for the writer of a description to pause and ask himself: “What is this hke? What can I compare my subject to?”
Note the comparisons in the following description of an army hospital : ;
(From The Wound Dresser, by Walt Whitman, p. 35. By per- mission.) |
As a specimen of almost any one of these hospitals, fancy to yourself a space of three to twenty acres of ground, on which are grouped ten or twelve very large wooden barracks, with, perhaps, a dozen or twenty, and sometimes more than that number, of small buildings, capable all together of accommo- dating from five hundred to a thousand or fifteen hundred persons. Sometimes these large wooden barracks, or wards, each of them, perhaps, from a hundred to a hundred and fifty
64 WRITING IN ENGLISH
feet long, are arranged in a straight row, evenly fronting the street; others are planned so as to form an immense V; and others again arranged around a hollow square. They make all together a huge cluster.
III. Statement of effects. — One of the strongest ways of describing anything is by telling its effect upon yourself or upon others. Instead of trying to describe the beauty of Helen, Homer tells us of the admiration and wonder the sight of her caused in the old men at the gate of Troy. So, in the descrip- tion of Mr. Hyde, quoted in Chapter IT of this book, the author makes us realize how horrible was the man’s appearance by telling how the very sight of his deformity made the observer feel.
Always try, in describing anything, to make your reader feel as you do. Bring yourself into your descriptions, not so much, perhaps, by telling as by suggesting what you think and feel in the presence of your subject, and thus causing your reader to have those thoughts and feelings too. This gives life to_ what you write. If you are telling about a wretched abandoned old house, your thoughts and feelings would not be the same as if you were in a great sunny field filled with flowers. Make the reader share your own impressions. In this way you make the description distinctly your own. Do not put down just bare cold facts, but write with love of your subject, write feelingly and personally, so that if anybody reads what you write he may think and feel as you did.
MORE ABOUT DESCRIPTION B05
IV. Giving of sense-impressions. — One particular form of giving your own feelings is to mention or indicate how the subject impresses your five senses. Of course, in most descriptions we are obliged to speak principally of sight-impressions; but very often there are odors and sounds to be mentioned and described, and occasionally there are impressions of touch and taste. It is extremely important to suggest sense-impressions, for, the more you mention, the more vivid and complete is the reader’s idea of - the thing or scene described.
First let us think how many different impressions we get only or chiefly through sight. When we look at an object we see: —
1. Its size,
2. Its shape and parts and position,
3. Its apparent texture or character,
4. Its movements, if any,
5. Its colors, and effects of light and shadow.
All these are valuable parts. of the description of any visible object or scene. The details regarding colors may be particularly delightful, and should always be given.
Add to the five sight-impressions these others : —
6. Impressions of one’s own bodily motions, 7. Of sounds, 8. Of touch, of pressure and weight, and of temperature, 9. Of odors, 10. Of taste,
WRIT, IN ENG, —§
66 WRITING IN ENGLISII
and we have a wide range of impressions, whether agreeable or disagreeable, which it 1s the describer’s business to convey or suggest, and which, when well communicated, impart to a description a large element of its merit and of its pleasure-giving qualities.
Exercise 33. Sense-impressions. — In the following de- scriptions, note (in writing) the sorts of impressions con- veyed by the words or phrases in ttalics : —
Description of a Landscape in France. (From Travels with a Donkey, by Robert Louis Stevenson, p. 48.)
Pradelles stands on a hillside, high above the Allier, sur- rounded by rich meadows. They were cutting aftermath on all sides, which gave the neighborhood, this gusty autumn morning, an untimely smell of hay. On the opposite bank of the Allier the land kept mounting for miles to the horizon; a tanned and sallow autumn landscape, with black blots of fir wood and white roads wandering through the hills. Over all this the clouds shed a uniform and purplish shadow . . . throwing into still higher relief the twisted ribbons of the highway. It wasa cheerless prospect, but one stimulating to a traveler.
Description of Amy Falconer. (From The Choir Invisible, by James Lane Allen, p. 3. Copyright, 1897, by The Macmillan Company.)
Her pink calico dress, newly starched and ironed, had looked so pretty to her when she had started from home, that she had not been able to bear the thought of wearing over it this lovely afternoon her faded, much-stained riding-skirt; and it was so short that it showed, resting against the saddle-skirt, her little feet loosely fitted into new bronze morocco shoes. On her hands she had drawn white half-hand mittens of home-knit ; and on her head she wore an enormous white scoop bonnet, lined with pink, and tied under her chin in a huge white muslin bow.
MORE ABOUT DESCRIPTION 67
Her face, hidden away under the pink-and-white shadow, showed such tints of pearl and rose that it seemed carved from the inner surface of a seashell. Her eyes were gray, almond- shaped, rather wide apart, with an expression changeful and playful, but withal rather shrewd and hard; her light brown hair, as jine as unspun silk, was parted over her brow and drawn simply back behind her ears; and the lips of her little mouth curved against each other, fresh, velvetlike, smiling.
On she rode down the avenue of the primeval woods; and Nature seemed arranged to salute her as some imperial pres- ence; with the waving of a hundred green boughs above and on each side; with a hundred floating odors ; with the flash and rush of bright wings; with the swift play of nimble forms up and down the boles of trees; and all the sweet confusion of innumerable melodies.
Willowby Heath. (From Green Pastures and Piccadilly, by William Black, Ch. II.)
This was Willowby Heath —a vast stretch of sandy ground covered by dark heather mostly, but showing here and there brilliant masses of gorse and broom, and here and there a small larch tree not over four feet in height, but gleaming with a glimmer of green over the dark common. A couple of miles away, on a knoll, stood a windmill, its great arms motionless. Beyond that again the heath darkened as it rose to the hovri- zon, and ended in a black line of firs.
Exercise 34. Comparisons in descriptions. — What com- parisons are stated or suggested in the three descriptions just quoted? Write out a list, containing at least five.
Exercise 35. Description from picture. — (a) Make an outline for.a description of the scene represented tn the picture on page 68. (6b) Write the description, convey- in§ a sense of reality, as far as you can, by suggesting comparisons and sense-impressions.
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MORE ABOUT DESCRIPTION 69
Exercise 36. Sense-impressions. — Vote, in a table or list, the words in the following descriptions that men- tion or suggest sense-impressions, and opposite each word write the sort of sense-impression conveyed.
A Youthful Pioneer. (From The Choir Invisible, by James Lane Allen, p. 14. Copyright, 1897, by The Macmillan Company.)
One among them, larger and handsomer than the others, had pleased his fancy by donning more nearly the Indian dress. His breechclout was of dappled fawn skin; his long thigh- boots of thin deerhide were open at the hips, leaving exposed the clear whiteness of his flesh; below the knees they were ornamented by a scarlet fringe tipped with the hoofs of fawns and the spurs of wild turkey; and in his cap he wore the in- tertwined wings of the hawk and the scarlet tanager.
A Scene in Southern California. (From A Summer in a Cajion, by Kate Douglas Wiggin, p. 20. Houghton, Mifflin, and -Company, by permission.)
The town is yet asleep, and in truth it is never apt to be fairly wide awake. The air is soft and balmy; the lovely Pacific, a quivering, sparkling sheet of blue and gray and green flecked with white foam, stretches far out until it is lost in the rosy sky; and the mountains, all purple and pink and faint crimson and gray, stand like sentinels along the shore. The scent of the roses, violets, and mignonette mingled with the cloying fra- grance of the datura is heavy in the still air. The bending, willowy pepper trees show myriad bunches of yellow blossoms, crimson seed berries, and fresh green leaves, whose surface, not rain-washed for months, is as full of color as ever. The palm trees rise without a branch, tall, slender, and graceful, from the warmly generous earth, and spread at last, as if tired of their straightness, into beautiful crowns of fans, which sway toward each other with every breath of air. Innumerable but- terflies and humming birds, in the hot, dazzling sunshine of
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noonday, will be hovering over the beds of sweet purple helio- trope and finding their way into the hearts of the passion Howers, but as yet not the faintest whir of wings can be heard. Looking eastward or westward, you see either brown foothills, or, a little later on, emerald slopes whose vines hang heavy with the half-ripened grapes.
The Circus Girl. (From Day Dreams, by Kenneth Gra- hame, p. 105.)
I found myself seated actually in the circus at last, and took in the first sniff of that intoxicating circus smell that will stay by me while this clay endures. The place was beset by a hum and a glitter and a mist; suspense brooded large o’er the blank, mysterious arena. Strung up to the highest pitch of expectation, we knew not from what quarter, in what divine shape, the first surprise would come.
A thud of unseen hoofs first set us a-quiver; then a crash of cymbals, a jangle of bells, a hoarse applauding roar, and Coralie was in the midst of us, whirling past ’twixt earth and sky, now erect, flushed, radiant, now crouched to the flowing mane; swung and tossed and molded by the maddening dance music of the band. The mighty whip of the count in the frock coat marked time with pistol shots; his war cry, whooping clear above the music, fired the blood with a passion for splendid deeds, as Coralie, laughing, exultant, crashed through the paper hoops. We gripped the red cloth in front of us, and our souls sped round and round with Coralie, leaping with her, prone with her, swung by mane or tail with her. It was not only the ravishment of her delirious feats, nor her cream-colored horse of fairy breed, long-tailed, roe-footed, an enchanted prince surely, if ever there was one! It was her more than mortal beauty that held us spellbound. What princess had arms so dazzlingly white, or went delicately clothed in such pink and spangles ?
But summers sicken, flowers fail and die, all beauty but rides round the ring and out at the portal; even so Coralie
MORE ABOUT DESCRIPTION 71
passed in her turn, poised sideways, panting, on her steed; lightly swayed as a tulip bloom, bowing on this side and on that as she disappeared.
Near Whales at Night. (From Two Years Before the Mast, by R. H. Dana, Jr., p. 30.)
It was on the night that we passed between the Falkland Islands and Staten Land. We had the watch from twelve to four, and, coming upon deck, found the little brig lying perfectly still, inclosed in a thick fog, and the sea as smooth as though oil had been poured upon it; yet now and then a long, low swell rolling under its surface, slightly lifting the vessel, but without breaking the glassy smoothness of the water. We were surrounded far and near by shoals of sluggish whales and grampuses, which the fog prevented our seeing, rising slowly to the surface, or perhaps lying out at length, heaving out those lazy, deep, and long-drawn breathings which give such an impression of supineness and strength. Some of the watch were asleep, and the others were quiet, so that there was nothing to break the illusion, and I stood leaning over the bul- warks, listening to the slow breathings of the mighty crea- tures, —now one breaking the water just alongside, whose black body I almost fancied that I could see through the fog; and again another, which I could just hear in the distance, — until the low and regular swell seemed like the heaving of the ocean’s mighty bosom to the sound of its own heavy and long- drawn respirations.
A Drive in Missouri. (From Green Pastures and Piccadilly, by William Black, Ch. XLIV.)
That drive up the bed of the Missouri we shall not soon for- get. There was no made road at all, but only a worn track through the dense vegetation of this swampy plain, while ever and anon this track was barred across by ravines of rich, deep, black, succulent mud. It was no unusual thing for us to see first one horse and then its companion almost disappear into 4
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hole, we looking down on them; then there would be a fierce struggle, a plunge on our part, and then we were looking up at the horses, pawing the bank above us. How the springs held out we could not understand. But occasionally, to avoid these ruts, we made long detours through the adjacent prairie land lying over the bluffs; and certainly this was much pleas- anter. We went through a wilderness of flowers, and the scent of the trampled Mayweed filled all the air around us. ... The sunflowers were higher than our animals’ heads; they could not possibly see where they were going; but, all the same, they slowly ploughed their way through the forest of crackling stems. ... The air was thick with insect life, and vast clouds of reedbirds rose, as we passed, from the sunflowers. There was a red fire all over the west as we finally drove into the valley of the Decatur.
Rubens’s Painting, Samson and Delilah. (From George Eliot’s Letters, in her Life, by J. W. Cross.) _
[I was] delighted afresh in the picture of “ Samson and Deli- lah,” both for the painting and the character of the figures. Delilah, a magnificent blonde, seated in a chair, with a trans- parent white garment slightly covering her body, and a rich red piece of drapery round her legs, leans forward, with one hand resting on her thigh, the other, holding the cunning shears, resting on the chair— a posture which shows to perfec- tion the full, round, living arms. She turns her head around to look with sly triumph at Samson —a tawny giant, his legs caught in the red drapery, shorn of his long locks, furious with the consciousness that the Philistines are upon him, and that this time he cannot shake them off. Above the group of malicious faces and grappling arms a hand holds a flaming torch. Behind Delilah, and grasping her arm, leans forward an old woman, with hard features full of exultation.
Exercise 37. Imitation of model.—(a) Write, in imita- tion of one of the descriptions given in Exercises 33 and
MORE ABOUT DESCRIPTION 73
36, a description of some place in the country that you remember very well, or of some scene in a park, or of a garden. (b) Give orally an imitation of another of the descriptions Sgiven in the same exercises.
Exercise 38. Topics and topic sentences. — Write the topics and the topic sentences of the paragraphs quoted in Exercises 33 and 36.
Exercise 39. Outlining of paragraphs. — Outline any three of the paragraphs in Exercise 36.
Exercise 40. Paragraphs from summaries. — (a) From the following suggestions write descriptive paragraphs, introducing sense-impressions. (See descriptions of simi- lar subjects quoted previously.) (6) Reproduce orally one of your own descriptions.
(a) The Pasha’s son. Age about eleven — tall for his age (form) — face, eyes (colors) — smile (impression made) — he made a graceful salutation, just as (comparison) — voice (im- pression made) — manners.
(6) The home of a Russian serf. Supper ready (odors) — in one corner a picture of Mary and Jesus, the figures covered with gilt (color) — except the hands —these blackened by smoke of a tiny lamp (colors) — fire burning (light and shadows) — boiled potatoes steaming in a big wooden bowl — salt, plate of melted fat, loaf of black bread —no plates, knives, or forks — rough wooden spoons (form) —all ate from the bowl (move- ment; comparison) —for drink, a thin and rather sour beer (taste; invent a comparison).
(c) The bay on a windy day. The water (color), furrowed (comparison) — the water flecked with foam (color, comparison) — bare, empty of vessels —all the sails now huddled at the wharves, like (comparison) —the wind from off the water (effect on sense of feeling; odor).
(d) At night among the pines. I wakened thirsty —drank a tin of cold water (feeling and effect) —stars clear (colors,
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comparison) — Milky Way (color, form)—all around me the firpoints (color) stood upright and. stock still— my donkey munching at the grass the only sound except that of the brook (describe this sound) — the colors in the sky.
Exercise 41. Original description. — (a) Prepare an out- line for a complete original description of a landscape, a street scene, a picture, an audience, or a classroom.
(6) Write the description, introducing all the direct sense-LMpresstons you can.
CHAPTER VI SENTENCE-FORMS
WHILE it is of the first importance in our writing that we shall have something to say, and shall know how to arrange and present our paragraphs and their contents, we should at no time lose sight of the great need all writers have for skill in the formation of sentences. In this chapter are to be studied the parts or elements of sentences, the kinds of sentences, and some of the transformations of which sentences are capable. Now we must, through the patient practice afforded by many exercisés, acquire skill in thus changing and manipulating sentences. Only in this way may we be able to make and select the sentence- form that is best suited to each case. Necessarily a good deal of what follows is in the nature of a review and application of English grammar.
I. Kinds of elements. —In the study of grammar’ we learn that a sentence consists of two principal parts, the subject (the word or words denoting that about which something is said), and the predicate (expressing what is said of the thing denoted by the subject). The subject may be a word, a phrase, or a clause; and it may be modified by a word, a phrase,
1 See Maxwell’s Advanced Lessons in English Grammar, Ch. V, p. 39. 75
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or a clause. The verb in the predicate may also be modified by one or more words, phrases, or clauses. (Remember that a clause always has in it a subject and a predicate.)
A noun (or a noun expression), whether it be a subject, an object, a predicate noun (sometimes called attribute), or the noun part of a prepositional phrase, may be modified by an adjective element. (For example, the word “element”’ in the last sentence belongs with the preposition “ by,” and 1s modified by “an” and “‘adjective.’’) A verb may be modified by one or more adverbial elements, and, if transitive, may have one or more olject elements. So we may form this table of elements : —
I. Principal elements a. Subject 1. Word (a noun or a pronoun) 2. Phrase (usually an infinitive verb) 3. Clause
b. Predicate, always a verb, with or without com- plements or modifiers
II. Subordinate elements
a. Predice‘e complement or attribute (of intran- sitive verb) 1. Word 2. Phrase (an infinitive verb, or else a prepo- sition with its object) 3. Clause
~ SENTENCE-FORMS 77
b. Object complement (object of transitive verb) 1. Word 2. Phrase (usually an infinitive verb) 3. Clause
c. Adjective element
1. Word (including adjectives, nouns in appo- sition, nouns or pronouns in the possess- Ive case)
2. Phrase (either an infinitive verb, or a prep- osition with its object)
3. Clause (always introduced by a relative pro- noun, or by a word like where, wherein, etc., used as the equivalent of a preposi- tion and a relative pronoun)
d. Adverbial element 1. Word 2. Phrase (infinitive or prepositional) 3. Clause (introduced by one of the subordi- nating conjunctions; see page 85)
Exercise 42. Kinds of elements. — In the above table there are five Sroups, each group containing three sub- divisions. There are, therefore, fifteen forms of elements to be known (not including the verb, which is found in all sentences). Write, in order, fifteen sentences, illus- trating the fifteen forms of elements enumerated in the table. Underline in each sentence the element you intend as the example.
Exercise 43. Transformation of elements. — In the follow- ing sentences change the italicized words to phrases, and the italicized phrases to words. In each case, after
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making the transformation, tell what kind of element you have made, and tell what it modifies (unless it ts @ principal element,—a subject).
EXAMPLES: (a) That maple CHaneeEp: That golden-leaved tree with the golden leaves may maple tree may be seen afar. be seen from a great distance.
(6) Seeing is believing. To see is to believe.
(c) He isa man of stern severity. He is a stern and severe man.
1. The laws of nature are just. 2. Windsor Castle has long been a residence of kings and queens. 3. He has done his work with thoroughness. 4. “ Happiness” is a stronger word than “felicity.” 5. The offer is certainly to be accepted. 6. Writing about a man’s life is not an easy form of literature. 7. Playing quoits is a game of small merit. 8. His object was to secure that money. 9. It is of no use to send him away. 10. What is of more bitterness than seeing one’s children ungrateful ?
II. Kinds of sentences. — We further learn in the study of grammar that sentences are simple, com- pound, or complex. A simple sentence is a sentence containing one subject and one predicate (but either the subject or the predicate, or both, may be composed of two or more parts of equal importance, as, two noun subjects or two verbs; there is then said to be a “compound subject’ or a “compound predicate ’’). A simple sentence may be lengthened by the addi- tion of modifiers; but so long as these modifiers are words or phrases, and not clauses, the sentences are still simple sentences.
Exercise 44. Formation of simple sentences. — J? we take apart a simple sentence like this:—
SENTENCE-FORMS 19
After a refreshing walk of about two miles we reached the corner of a high stone wall running parallel with the road,
we Set separate elements like these: —
We had a refreshing walk. It was a walk of about two miles. Then we reached the corner of a wall. It was a high wall. It was of stone. It ran parallel with the road.
Each of the followin§ groups of separate elements you are to combine into a good simple sentence. Be sure that you wse in each sentence but one subject-element and one verb-element (though the subject or the predicate may be compound).
Note. — Other exercises of this sort are found in Maxwell’s Advanced Lessons in English Grammar, p. 45.
1. He could scarcely sit still in the house. This was dur- ing the first few days. He could scarcely take part in the studies. Mr. Lorne had chosen these studies for him.
2. It was a great triumph for his mother. It was especially a triumph for his sister. His sister was now a bright, bloom- ing girl. She was sixteen years old.
3. He had a restless look. He had a rather unhappy look. This was very different from the bright eyes and the pleasant countenance of Otto. Otto was his best friend.
4, Old Gregor and his grandson were returning home. They were coming through the forest. They had bundles of wood. The old man was stooping low under the weight of the heavy sticks.
5. He set out in a direction opposite from home. He was armed with a club. He expected to find another bear.
A complex sentence is one that contains one or more dependent or subordinate clauses, but only one princi- pal clause. Any sentence that contains two or more
80 WRITING IN ENGLISH
principal clauses (no matter how many subordinate clauses) is a compound sentence.
Exercise 45. Formation of easy complex sentences. — Form complex sentences from the following sets of simple sentences, by using suitable connectives and making necessary contractions.
EXxAMPLEs: (a) I saw a boy start up and run after his cattle. The last one of the cattle was entering the forest.
I saw a boy start up and run after his cattle, the last one of which was entering the forest.
(6) The boy was singing. I came out of the thicket.
As I came out of the thicket, the boy was singing; or,
While the boy was singing, I came out of the thicket.
Note. — Similar exercises are to be found in Maxwell’s Ad- vanced Lessons in English Grammar, p. 48.
1. I seated myself in theshade. I wished to enjoy the view.
2. The first object attracting my attention was Otto. He was knitting beside his herd of cows. This was his usual occupation.
3. We stepped back a few paces. We sat down on the ground. We desired to bring the box between us and the blue sky. (Purpose.)
4, Other beescome. They quarrel with the first bees. (Use a time clause.)
5. It was a hemlock tree. It stood in a niche in a wall of rocks. These were hoary and moss-covered. They were thirty feet high.
Exercise 46. Formation of compound sentences. — Form compound sentences from the following sets of simple sentences, and tell which clauses are principal and which subordinate.
ExaMPLe: To*the southwest the soil is a tough clay. To the northeast the gardens consist of a warm crumbling mold, very fertile.
. SENTENCE-FORMS 81
_ To the southwest the soil is a tough clay, while to the north- east the gardens consist of a warm crumbling mold, very fertile.
Note. — Similar exercises are to be found in Maxwell’s _Ad- vanced Lessons in English Grammar, p. 50.
1. Our wells, at an average, run to about sixty-three feet. When sunk to that depth they seldom fail.
2. The north wind is blowing hard. It must be a cold day.
3. It was the first of May. Snow was falling.
4. His name was James. It may have been John.
5. He lay back in the steamer chair in his hall room. The shadows began to lengthen a little. The long day drew nearer to its end. .
6. He roused himself. The hand organs had both gone away. The child next door had ceased her piano practicing.
7. With an effort he raised himself. He saw a line of car- riages on the other side of the street. They were moving slowly toward the corner. |
8. He was thinking about himself. He wae thinking about his hopes. They had been as bright as the sunshine of spring. He was pondering over his bitter disappointment.
9. He saw the long shafts of level sunshine. They entered his window. He took heart again. He recalled the great things accomplished by one man.
10. The dogs were barking. Cattle bells were jangling in the wooded pastures. The youth passed farmhouses. Lights in the kitchen windows showed that the women were astir about breakfast. He heard the sounds of voices and curry- combs at the barn. The men were at their daily chores.
Most compound sentences may be changed into complex sentences, and many complex sentences may be changed into compound. But these changes make some difference in the meaning, and therefore one or the other sentence in every case is the better. Usually the complex sentence is better than the compound,
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because there is generally but one principal idea or statement in a sentence, and the other statements should be put in the form of subordinate clauses, participial modifiers, phrases, adjectives, or adverbs. No exercises will be given in the transformation of complex sentences into compound, but the opposite transformation it is very important to understand.
Exercise 47. Transformation of compound sentences into complex. — Put all but one of the clauses in each of the following sentences into the form of subordinate clauses, so as to inake complex sentences. Be very care- ful to keep for the principal clause the statement which - you think is the most important in the sentence.
EXAMPLES: (a) He did wrong, and his father punished him.
Changed: His father punished him because he had done wrong; or, As he had done wrong, his father punished him.
(b) You have only twenty marbles, and I have five more than you.
Changed: If you have only twenty marbles, I have five more than you.
1, The mercury dropped ‘suddenly, and I knew a storm was coming.
2. The horse felt the fly and shook himself at once.
3. He spoke always in a whisper, and this lent him an air of mystery.
4. I needed all the money I could save, and I came most of the way by canal boat.
5. He’ll teach him,” said Mr. Lightly, and he laughed and coughed.
6. They might open these letters, and I might be kept here many years longer.
7. I promised to deliver both letters with my own hands, and the man parted from me in more cheerful spirits.
SENTENCE-FORMS 838
8. You sign this paper, or I sue you for the money.
9. I found the Pasha’s house, but I was not admitted, be- cause the Egyptian women are not allowed to receive the visits of strangers.
10. I bring you this letter, and I promised your father I would deliver it into your own hands.
Exercise 48. Transformation into simple sentences. — (a) Change the above compound sentences, or the com- plex sentences into which you transform them, into simple sentences. Observe that an adjective or adverbial clause may in many instances be changed into a phrase or even into a word element. Since this change secures brevity and simplicity, it is often a good one to make. But the more expanded form may sometimes be easier to read and understand.
ExamMptes of this kind of change: —
a. The valleys which produce grass enough for the cattle are generally scattered widely apart.
Changed to a simple sentence: The valleys producing grass enough for the cattle are generally scattered widely apart.
b. In the front of the house, where the sun shone warmest, he had laid out a little garden.
In front of the house, in the place warmed most by the sun, he had laid out a little garden.
c. The farmer determined that he would not sell his corn.
The farmer determined not to sell his corn.
d. The storm did damage that could not be repaired.
The storm did irreparable damage.
(6) Change in similar ways the following to simple | sentences : —
1. He was a man whose character was above reproach.
2. As nature had done so much for Athens, it is fortunate that art did so much more.
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3. One day as I stood on a street corner in a great city, I saw above the trucks and the traffic a line of bees that were carrying off sweets from some grocery.
4. He leapt from bed as the sun was rising. |
5. After there had been some days of impatient expec- tation, the king landed at Margate, which was then an in- portant port.
6. It was a book that one could read with enjoyment.
7. When he saw the woman open the door, he dodged back again behind the fence.
8. However differently the thirteen colonies may have been founded or governed, they were all alike in some respects that were very important.
9. The tumult was such that it could not be described.
10. Others were governed by the original proprietors or by those who represented them.
11. Find single words for the following expressions: In a high degree, it is possible that, with earnestness, for that reason, a great amount of (unhappiness), through his whole life.
One of the most serious troubles writers have in making sentences is due to a failure to see what is the principal idea, of which the others must be modt- fiers. Nearly always when several sentences are connected by “ and,’ one of the statements should clearly be made the principal one. The others may be subordinated to it by a proper use of conjunctions.
Learn to use complex sentences instead of compound.
Now a skillful use of complex sentences is impos- sible without a knowledge of the kinds and meanings of the English conjunctions.
SENTENCE-FORMS 85
Conjunctions may be classified as follows: *— I. Coérdinating conjunctions
a. Copulative or additive—and, also, moreover, likewise, both . . . and,notonly . . . but also
6. Adversative — but, yet, still, however, while, whereas, though, and yet, though . . . yet
ce. Disjunctive —or, else, or else, otherwise, either . . or, neither ... nor
d. Illative or consequential — therefore, hence, so, and so, so that, consequently, then, so then, wherefore, accordingly
II. Subordinating conjunctions
e. Introductory — that, whether, if
f. Causal — because, since, as, for, inasmuch as, whereas
g. Purposive — that, in order that, so that, lest
h. Concessive — though, although, even if, inas- much as, notwithstanding
t. Conditional —if, provided, supposing that, un- less
j. Adverbial— when, how, where, as, why, whither, as if, while
k. Comparative — than, as
1Compare Maxwell’s Advanced Lessons in English Grammar, pp. 202, 203.
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To these, for the present purpose, may be added a class of words that serve both as pronouns and as connectives : —
1. Relative pronouns— which, who, that, as, what; whichever, whoso, etc. Certain conjunctive adverbs, as where, wherein, whereto, where-at, -on, -upon, -by, etc., are frequently used as equivalent to a prepo- sition and a relative pronoun, and intro- duce adjective clauses. |
The correct use of any of the subordinating con- junctions makes a complex sentence, while the codrdinating conjunctions, when used to connect clauses, form compound sentences. (See Maxwell’s Advanced Lessons in English Grammar, section 465.)
Exercise 49. Formation of complex and of compound sentences. — Combine each of the following Sroups of sim- ple sentences into (a) acompound sentence, (b) a complex sentence. (c) Whenever it is possible, change the result- ing sentence into a simple sentence.
Mark with a star which of the three sentences, (a), (6), or (c), you think to, be the best one, and be prepared to tell why.
In making change (b) the letter placed after each Sroup of simple sentences refers you to the table of con- junctions just given and suggests what relation between the clauses is to be expressed.
ExaMPLe: I came home at seven o’clock. My brother had already returned.
SENTENCE-FORMS 87
Changed (a) to a compound sentence: I came home at seven o’clock and my brother had already returned. (6) toa complex sentence: When I came home at seven o'clock my brother had already returned (time clause used). (c) to a simple sentence: By the hour of my coming home, seven o’clock, my brother had already returned. Here, of course, the complex sentence is best, since it ex- presses most clearly and briefly the true relation between the two statements given to be combined. The compound sentence (a) is a distinctly bad sentence.
1. The piece of quartz was pure white. My father gave it tome. (0)
2. Marion looked at his sister. He nodded. (j)
3. This has been one of the warmest days of the summer. Of that there can be no doubt. (e)
4, The winter was now coming on. I had to complete my house very rapidly. (/)
5. He determined to make the visit. He had to borrow money to pay his way. (h)
6. Goldsmith was not well supplied with money. Johnson had no more. (k) |
7. I stayed out under the tree a quarter of an hour longer. I knew I should get wet. (7)
8. They wrap the trunk and boughs in woolen cloth. The severity of the winter might kill the tree. (, d) a
9. They came at length to the very top of the hill. They had a fine prospect of the surrounding country. (J)
10. I made haste to scramble to my feet. I could see who
the newcomer was. (J, g, d)
Skill in making the various kinds of transforma- tions or substitutions that have now been spoken of, and skill in making and selecting the three kinds of sentences, will do something toward giving one’s writing ease and variety in form of expression. A
88 WRITING IN ENGLISH
good deal of practice in these substitutions and in sentence formation is necessary to the making of a good writer. The ignorant or unskillful writer writes tiresome and monotonous sentences, mostly com- pound, or else very short, simple sentences. Learn to say much in simple sentences by using modifiers ; and learn to write complex sentences easily. Study the table of conjunctions, and use the different kinds as they are required, so that you will not overwork the conjunction “and.” (See pages 54-56.)
Exercise 50. Combination of short statements into good paragraphs. EXAMPLE OF SHORT SENTENCES TO BE COMBINED : —
Washington was elected general of the army. THe was at this time forty-three years of age. In stature he a little ex- ceeded six feet. His limbs were sinewy and well proportioned. His chest was broad. His figure was stately. It had dignity of presence. It had ease of manner. His constitution was robust. It had been tried and invigorated by his early life in the wilder- ness. It had been tried and invigorated by his habit of oc- cupation out of doors. Also by his rigid temperance. In consequence of these facts few equaled him in strength of arm. Few equaled him in power of endurance. His com- plexion was florid. His hair was dark brown. His head was in its shape perfectly round. ... His eyes were dark blue. They were deeply set. They had an expression of resigna- tion. They had an earnestness that was almost sad.
EXAMPLE OF COMBINATION : — (Description of the appearance of George Washington.) When Washington was elected general of the army he was
forty-three years of age. In stature he a little exceeded six feet; his limbs were sinewy and well proportioned; his chest
SENTENCE-FORMS 89
broad, his figure stately, blending dignity of presence with ease of manner. His robust constitution had been tried and in- vigorated by his early life in the wilderness, his habit of occupation out of doors, and his rigid temperance; so that few equaled him in strength of arm or power of endurance. His complexion was florid, his hair dark brown, his head in its shape perfectly round. ... Huis dark blue eyes, which were deeply set, had an expression of resignation and earnestness that was almost sad.—GEorGE BANCROFT.
Combine the following sentences into well-written paragraphs, making the proper headings and under- scoring the topic sentences : —
(a) iI had my own little sled. It was filled with hay. It was covered with reindeer skins. These things were to keep me warm. So long as the weather was not too cold, it was very pleasant to speed along. I sped through the dark forests. I sped over the frozen rivers. Or I went past farm after farm in the sheltered valleys. I went up hill and down. I rode until long after the stars came out. It was very pleas- ant then to get a warm supper.
(b) When Sir Roger is diverting himself in the woods or the fields, I have a companion at the house. He is a venerable man. He is always at Sir Roger’s. He has lived at his house over thirty years. He is Sir Roger’s chaplain. This gentleman is a person of good sense. He is a man of some learning. He lives a very regular life. His conversation is obliging. He heartily loves Sir Roger. He knows he is very much in Sir Roger’s esteem.
(c) On the other side of the high town the houses stand closer. Yet they leave the same space fora little walk. This walk is shaded by sycamores. From it one looks down on the whole southern reach of the lake. The lake opens wide to the horizon. It is edged there like the sea. But in the summer sunshine it looks like a well of blue. This well of blue looks as if it was what the sunbeams drank to make the sky of.
CHAPTER VII NARRATION
OnE who writes an account of the real or imagi- nary events or happenings which a narrative con- tains, must have in mind two points:— _
First, these events or happenings’ must in some way be connected, that is, they must all be thought of either as having chiefly to do with some one per- son, or as having occurred at certain places, or as relating to some one idea or plan.
Second, these events or happenings must be told in some intended order, which should be definitely thought out beforehand by the writer.
Both these points (unity and plan) are what we must chiefly keep in view when we study the out- lining of a narrative. Let us bear in mind that out- lining always means grouping, that is, getting the minor points in a composition arranged under head- ings. We can grasp and carry in mind a small number of headings or main topics much better than we can a large number of codrdinate minor topics. In addition to the advantages of plan, unity, and completeness, this is another reason why it is helpful to make outlines. It is like putting twenty or thirty
90
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small packages into two or three baskets; in that way they are much more easily'carried. __
Now, how can we find headings under which to group the minor events of a narrative? Suppose there are thirty events or happenings to be told, how can they be grouped? There are three principal sorts of head topics under which the events of a story may be grouped :—
-1. Periods,
2. Places,
3. Chief events.
We may divide the whole narrative ito sections or periods of time. Thus the events of Longfellow’s life may be grouped under these headings: (a) Period of childhood and education, 1807-1825. (6b) Period of early travel in Europe, 1825-1829. (c) Period of professorship at Bowdoin, 1829-1835. (d) Period of professorship at Cambridge, 1835-1882. In out- lining a man’s life’ by periods, do not use common- place headings, which might be used for any man’s life, such as “boyhood,” “manhood,” “old age.” After the words “ period of’ put, in each case, words showing the character of the period in that particular narrative. To illustrate the method .of periods from a work of fiction, the events of the story of ELvan-
1In outlining the life of a man we may use (as one form of division by periods) the man’s successive occupations. Thus, to illustrate from Milton’s life we might use the headings: (a) Milton’s life as schoolboy and college youth, 1608-1632. (db) His earlier life as poet, 1632-1641. _ (c) His life as political writer and essayist, 1641-1660. (d) His life as writer of epic poems, 1660-1674.
‘
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geline may be grouped under: (a) Period of love. (b) Period of hope and search. (c) Period of despair. Or, the story of Rip Van Winkle may be divided into: (a) Period of idleness. (6) Period of sojourn in the mountains. (c) Period of renewed life in the village.
Exercise 51. Outlining by periods. — Read carefully the following summary of the life of Lincoln, then out- line it, using periods for main headings : ~
Abraham Lincolu—born in Hardin County, Kentucky, 1809 —when Lincoln was eight, his father moved to Indiana — region then a wilderness —schools very rare—boy grew up in pioneer life — learned to read, write, and cipher — at nine- teen Lincoln went on a flatboat to New Orleans as a hired hand —in 1830 family moved to Macon County, Illinois — Lincoln hired out as a hand and later as a clerk in a country store — borrowed a grammar and other books — volunteered in the Black Hawk Indian War—studied surveying — 1834 elected to state legislature — studied law — reélected several times — practiced law — married 1842 — elected one term to Congress 1846 — made many antislavery speeches from 1854 on — 1860 nominated and elected for the presidency — directed the movements of the war—issued Emancipation Proclama- tion 1863 — reélected as President — witnessed end of war — assassinated, 1865, by Wilkes Booth.
Exercise 52. Writing from outline. — Using your out- line of the above summary, (a) tell orally, in complete sentences, the life of Lincoln; (6) write a brief life of Lincoln, paragraphing with care, and introducing all the particulars given.
In outlining by places, which is not always pos- sible, we have to group merely according to the
NARRATION | 93
chief scenes of the events. Thus, in outlining the life of Longfellow, we might use these headings : —
(a) Life in Maine. (b) In Europe. (c) At Bow- doin College. (d) At Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The life of Shakspere is easily outlined by places: — - (a) Life in Stratford, 1564-1586. (b) In London, 1586-1611. (c) Last years at Stratford, 1611-1616.
Or, in outlining Shakspere’s play, The Merchant of Venice (see Lamb’s Zales from Shakspere for the story, which may well be used as a reading lesson), we might group the events under : —
(a) In Venice (the bond given; Jessica’s elope- ment). (6) At Belmont (the three suitors and the caskets; the news of Antonio’s losses). (c) In the Court of Justice, Venice (Shylock punished). (d) Closing scenes at Belmont.
Exercise 53. Outlining a narrative by places. — Group the minor incidents in the following story under head- ings that indicate places. After the outline is made, reproduce the story orally, following the outline.
JOHN GILPIN’S RIDE
John Gilpin was a citizen of credit and renown ;
A train-band captain eke was he of famous London town.
John Gilpin’s spouse said to her dear, “Though wedded we have been
These twice ten tedious years, yet we no holiday have seen.
“To-morrow is our wedding day, and we will then repair Unto the Bell at Edmonton, all in a chaise and pair.
My sister and my sister’s child, myself and children three, Will fill the chaise; so you must ride on horseback after we.”
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He soon replied, “I do admire of womankind but one, And you are she, my dearest dear, therefore it shall be done. I am a linen draper bold, as all the world doth know; And my good friend the calender will lend his horse to go.”
Quoth Mrs. Gilpin, “ That’s well said; and, for that wine is dear,
We will be furnished with our own, which is both bright and clear.”
John Gilpin kissed his loving wife; o’erjoyed was he to find
That, though on pleasure she was bent, she had a frugal mind.
The morning came, the chaise was brought, but yet was not allowed
To drive up to the door, lest all should say that she was proud.
So three doors off the chaise was stayed, where they did all get In;
Six precious souls, and all agog to dash through thick and thin. °
Smack went the whip, round went the wheels; were never folks so glad;
The stones did rattle underneath, as if Cheapside were mad.
John Gilpin at his horse’s side seized fast the flowing mane,
And up he got, in haste to ride, but soon came down again.
For saddle-tree scarce reached had he, his journey to begin,
When, turning round his head, he saw three customers come in.
So down he came; for loss of time, although it grieved him sore,
Yet loss of pence, full well he knew, would trouble him much more.
"T'was long before the customers were suited to their mind,
When Betty, screaming, came down stairs, “The wine is left behind!”
“Good lack!” quoth he; “yet bring it me, my leathern belt likewise,
In which I bear my trusty sword when I do exercise.”
NARRATION 95
Now Mrs. Gilpin (careful soul!) had two stone bottles found, To hold the liquor that she loved, and keep it safe and sound. Each bottle had a curling ear, through which the belt he drew, And hung a bottle on each side, to make his balance true.
Then over all, that he might be equipped from top to toe,
His long red cloak, well brushed and neat, he manfully did throw.
Now see him mounted once again upon his nimble steed,
Full slowly pacing o’er the stones with caution and good heed.
But finding soon a smoother road beneath his well-shod feet,
The snorting beast began to trot, which galled him in his seat.
So, “Fair and softly,” John he cried, but John he cried in Vain ;
The trot became a gallop soon, in spite of curb and rein.
So, stooping down, as needs he must, who cannot sit upright,
He grasped the mane with both his hands, and eke with all his might.
His horse, which never in that sort had handled been before,
What thing upon his back had got did wonder more and more.
Away went Gilpin, neck or naught; away went hat and wig;
He little dreamed when he set out of running such a rig.
The wind did blow, the cloak did fly like streamer long and Bay,
Till, loop and button failing both, at last it flew away.
Then might all people well discern the bottles he had slung;
‘A bottle swinging at each side, as hath been said or sung.
The dogs did bark, the children screamed, up flew the windows all,
And every soul cried out, “Well done!” as loud as he could bawl.
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Away went Gilpin, who but he! his fame soon spread around;
‘He carries weight! He rides a race! ’Tis for a thousand pound!”
And still, as fast as he drew near, ’twas wonderful to view
How in a trice the turnpike men their gates wide open threw.
And now, as he went bowing down his reeking head full low,
The bottles twain, behind his back, were shattered at a blow.
Down ran the wine into the road, most piteous to be seen,
Which made his horse’s flanks to smoke as they had basted been.
But still he seemed to carry weight, with leathern girdle braced, For all might see the bottle necks still dangling at his waist. Thus all through merry Islington these gambols he did play, And till he came unto the Wash of Edmonton so gay.
And there he threw the wash about on both sides of the way, . Just like unto a trundling mop, or a wild goose at play.
At Edmonton his loving wife from the balcony spied
Her tender husband, wondering much to see how he did ride.
“Stop, stop, John Gilpin! Here’s the house!” they all at once did cry ; |
“ The dinner waits, and we are tired!” Said Gilpin, “SoamI!”
But yet his horse was not a whit inclined to tarry there;
For why ? his owner had a house, full ten miles off, at Ware.
So like an arrow swift he flew, shot by an archer strong ;
So did he fly — which brings me to the middle of my song. Away went Gilpin, out of breath, and sore against his will, Till at his friend the calender’s his horse at last stood still.
The calender, amazed to see his neighbor in such trim,
Laid down his pipe, flew to the gate, and thus accosted him:
“What news? what news? your tidings tell; tell me you must and shall;
Say why bareheaded you are come, or why you come af all?”
NARRATION 97
Now Gilpin had a pleasant wit, and loved a timely joke;
And thus unto the calender in merry guise he spoke:
‘‘T came because your horse would come: and, if I well fore- bode, | '
My hat and wig will soon be here, they are upon the road.”
The calender, right glad to find his friend in merry pin,
Returned him not a single word, but to the house went in;
Whence straight he came with hat and wig — a wig that flowed behind,
A hat not much the worse for wear, each comely in its kind.
He held them up, and in his turn thus showed his ready wit,—
‘‘ My head is twice as big as yours; they therefore needs must fit. |
But let me scrape the dirt away that hangs upon your face;
And stop and eat, for well you may be in a hungry case.”
Said John, “It is my wedding day, and all the world would stare
If wife should dine at Edmonton and I should dine at Ware.”
So, turning to his horse he said, “I am in haste to dine:
’Twas for your pleasure you came here, you shall go back for mine.”
Ah, luckless speech and bootless boast! for which he paid full dear ;
For, while he spoke, a braying ass did sing most loud and clear ;
Whereat his horse did snort, as he had heard a lion roar,
And galloped off with all his might, as he had done before.
Away went Gilpin, and away went Gilpin’s hat and wig:
He lost them sooner than the first; for why ?— they were too big.
Now Mrs. Gilpin, when she saw her husband posting down
Into the country far away, she pulled out half a crown;
WRIT. IN ENG. —7
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And thus unto the youth she said, that drove them to the Bell,
“ This shall be yours, when you bring back my husband safe and well.”
The youth did ride, and soon did meet John coming back amain,
Whom in a trice he tried to stop, by catching at his rein;
But not performing what he meant, and gladly would have done,
The frightened steed he frightened more, and made him faster run.
Away went Gilpin, and away went postboy at his heels ;
The postboy’s horse right glad to miss the lumbering of the wheels.
Six gentlemen upon the road thus seeing Gilpin fly,
With postboy scampering in the rear, they raised the hue and cry:
“Stop thief! stop thief! a highwayman!’’—not one of them was mute,
And all and each that passed that way did join in the pursuit.
And now the turnpike gates again flew open in short space, The tollmen thinking as before that Gilpin rode a race.
And so he did, and won it too, for he got first to town,
Nor stopped till where he had got up he did again get down.
Now let us sing, “Long live the king,” and Gilpin, long live he, And when he next doth ride abroad may I be there to see.
WILLIAM COWPER.
Finally, in outlining by chief events, we select for headings those few turning points in the narrative, on which many minor events and details hinge or
NARRATION 99
depend. Thus, to outline the life of Franklin (1706- 1790), we might use the headings : —
(a) Franklin learns printing in Boston, 1718. (0) He goes to Philadelphia, 1723. (c) Publishes the first Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1732. (d) Goes to London as colonial representative, 1757. (e) Is chosen an American representative to Paris, 1776.
Or, to outline a narrative poem by chief events, we may take for illustration Paul Revere’s Ride (see Longfellow’s Zales of a Wayside Inn) : —
I. Introduction — the subject of the tale II. Body of the narrative
(a) Paul Revere arranges to be signaled from the church tower 1. Signals are agreed upon 2. Revere sets out 3. His friend learns of the intended march of the British
(6) The friend climbs the tower 1. Sees from there the British troops set- ting forth 2. Revere waits impatiently in Charlestown 3. The signal is given (c) The ride begins 1. He reaches Medford 2. He passes through Lexington 3. He arouses Concord
III. Conclusion —the results of that ride
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Caution must be taken, in using this last method, that each head topic is an event or occurrence. Do not fall into the error of mingling in one outline two or all of the three methods we are considering (periods, places, chief events). Keep the three entirely distinct. Decide which method you purpose using in an outline, and then keep to it strictly. Also in using any method state all your main topics in a similar form, whether that of brief sentences, or that of nouns with modifiers.
Exercise 54. Outlining of narrative poems. — (a) Out- line in a similar way at least two of the following poems either by “ chief events” or by “ periods”; (b) then tell or write the stories, using your outlines as Suides : —
King Robert of Sicily. ; H. W. Longfellow The Skeleton in Armor . ; H. W. Longfellow The Bell of Atri . . H. W. Longfellow The Ballad of Carmilhan ; H. W. Longfellow The Falcon of Ser Federigo . H. W. Longfellow The Vision of Sir Launfal J. R. Lowell
(For this purpose omit the preludes.) Hervé Riel . Robert Browning The Pied Piper of Hamelin ; Robert Browning Maud Muller . J. G. Whittier The Garrison of Cape Ann ; J. G. Whittier Horatius at the Bridge . ; T. B. Macaulay Alice Brand ; ; Sir Walter Scott Lady Clare ; . A. Tennyson The Passing of Arthur . . A. Tennyson Dora ; ; A. Tennyson Lord Ullin’s Daughter . . T. Campbell Bishop Hatto ; R. Southey
The Prisoner of Chillon . . Lord Byron
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Sir Patrick Spens . «Old ballad | Sir Hugh (Hugh of Lincoln) . Old ballad Bewick and Grahame . ; Old ballad
(See the title Ballads, in Appendix V.)
Exercise 55. — Outline some prose story you have read lately, by “periods” and then by “ chief events,” in each case putting in the minor events; then compare the two outlines and decide which is preferable for that story.
Using your outline as a guide, reproduce, orally or in writing, the story.
Stories suitable for use in this exercise may be found in such books as the following: — |
A Wonder Book . . Nath. Hawthorne Twice-Told Tales . . Nath. Hawthorne
The Age of Fable . . Thomas Bulfinch
Tales from Shakspere . . Charles and Mary Lamb Tales of a Traveler- ; . Washington Irving Christmas Stories . . Charles Dickens
In Ole Virginia . . Thomas N. Page
Main Traveled Roads . . Hamlin Garland
Van Bibber and Other Stories Richard H. Davis
Exercise 56. Outlining a biography. — Outline the life of some American by “places,” or by “chief events,” intro- ducing the more important details of his life as subtopics.
Construction of narratives. — When we write a nar- rative, there are four sorts of reasons why our readers may be interested: (a) The events themselves, and the order in which they are told, in other words, what we call the story or plot, may be a source of interest ; (b) The characters of the persons in the narrative may be interesting; (c) The scene or scenes of the
102 WRITING IN ENGLISH
events (what may be called the background or setting of the principal figures and events) may be interest- ing; and (d) In the works of able and excellent writers, the style of the writing, that is, the language used, and the personal qualities of the writer as shown in what he says, should be no small source of interest and pleasure. To repeat, then, good nar- ratives are enjoyed on account of : —
1. The style: —
The language used may be clear, smooth, and musical, equal to all demands upon it for the expres- sion and suggestion of emotions.
The writing may contain wit, humor, sympathy, pathos, wisdom, acuteness.
2. The scenes or setting : —
Which may be interesting because of familiarity, or of strangeness; of beauty, or of sadness and horror.
3. The characters, which may be interesting be- cause they are:—
Made to seem lifelike,
Shown as resourceful, heroic, and admirable,
Shown as contemptible, or unfortunate, or
Made comical or entertaining.
4. The plot or story, which may be interesting be- cause of : —
The strangeness or extraordinariness of the events,
The element of mystery,
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Our natural sympathy with characters placed in the particular situation described, in which they have difficulties to overcome and ends to accomplish, or,
The working out of some plan or idea.
As far as the plot alone is concerned, it may be said that the element of mystery is what chiefly in- terests us in ghost stories and in detective stories; the element of strangeness or remarkableness, in adventure stories, stories of travel, or comic stories; and the elements of natural sympathy and curiosity, in stories of difficulties overcome or of success achieved, as ‘in stories of undertakings, or of events that work out definite consequences.
In reading a work of fiction, we should think about all four of the sources of interest given in the table above. By so doing we not only shall get much more enjoyment out of what we read, but shall become able to form intelligent opinions of books and able to give reasons for liking them or disliking them, in whole or in part.
Exercise 57. Study of interest. — Using the above out- line, think carefully over some story you are familiar with, chosen by yourself or by the teacher, and write down the reasons for its being interesting to you. (1) Under the head of style, write whether the book or story has, in your opinion, any of the qualities named in the outline. (2) State what the setting or background of the events is, and for what reasons it is interesting. (3) State which of the characters are interesting, and why. (4) State for what reasons, given in the table above, the plot is interesting.
104 WRITING IN ENGLISH
Exercise 58. Study of interest.— Write a list of five narratives or stories (in prose or verse) which you have read, and under the name of each write the reason or reasons why the plot is interesting, why one of the char- acters is interesting, and why the setting or scene is interesting.
Exercise 59. Narration from picture.— Think out a story suggested by the picture on page 105, make an outline, and write the story, seeking to make tt inter- esting by reason of the scenes, the characters, and the events.
Brief narratives or anecdotes are usually interest- ing because of the nature of the events, or because of some point they illustrate, whether comical or serious. But even in these the interestingness of characters and of scenes should not be lost sight of.
Exercise 60. Anecdotes. — Bring to class two anecdotes, or interesting brief narratives, found by you in a news- paper or elsewhere. (a) Write down, referring to the out- line we have been studying, the reasons for the selection’s being interesting. (b) Tell the anecdotes orally.
Exercise 61. Anecdotes and historical sketches from summaries.
MODELS FOR STUDY
(a) The Sphinx. (From The Age of Fable, by Thomas Bulfinch.)
Shortly after this event, the city of Thebes was afflicted with a monster which infested the highroad. It was called the Sphinx. It had the body of a lion, and the upper part of a woman. It lay crouched on the top of a rock, and arrested all travelers who came that way, proposing to them a riddle,
106 WRITING IN ENGLISH
with the condition that those who could solve it should pass safe, but those who failed should be killed. Not one had yet succeeded in solving it, and all had been slain. (&dipus was not daunted by these alarming accounts, but boldly advanced to the trial. The Sphinx asked him, “ What animal is that which in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three?” (&dipus replied, “Man, who in childhood creeps on hands and knees, in manhood walks erect, and in old age with the aid of a staff.” The Sphinx was so mortified at the solving of her riddle that she cast herself down from the rock and perished.
(6) Perry’s Victory. (From Eggleston’s History of the United States.)
A little fleet was launched on Lake Erie in 1813, and its officers and men were anxious to rival the glory of the American ships at sea. In the battle of Lake Erie, fought this year, Commodore Perry hung up for his signal, “ Don’t give up the ship!’’ the dying words of Lawrence. When his flagship was riddled and disabled by the enemy, he got into a small boat and was rowed to another vessel, standing upright while the enemy was raining shot about him. Reaching the ship Niagara, he sailed down on the British line and broke it, and at length compelled the whole fleet to surrender. At the close of the battle, Perry wrote to General Harrison, “We have met the enemy, and they are ours.”
Write out or tell orally the stories suggested in these summaries, seeking to interest your readers, not only by the nature of the incidents, but also by the characters of the personages, and by the description of an attractive or unusual scene or setting : —
(a) Legend of William Tell. The Swiss ordered to toss their caps in the air at sight of Gessler, the Austrian — Tell refuses —is arrested —is found to be renowned as a skillful
NARRATION. 107
archer —is made by Gessler to shoot at an apple which is placed on the head of Tell’s son— the arrow pierces the apple — Tell is found to have concealed other arrows under his coat — “ To kill thee, tyrant, had I slain my boy!”
(6) The bundle of sticks. Quarreling brothers — father can- not make them friendly — has sons try to break bundle of sticks — both fail—-then bundle is undone —the separate sticks are easily broken — quarrelsome brothers are like sepa- rated sticks —in union there is strength.
(c) The hare and the tortoise. The hare makes fun of the tortoise’s slowness — the tortoise offers to race the hare — the tortoise starts off —the hare laughs at the idea of such an easy race — decides to take a nap — when he awakes the tor- toise has reached the goal.
(d) Aretort. Samuel Foote had a wooden leg—a person one day amused himself by remarking on this limb — Foote became annoyed —at last he said, “ Why do you attack me on my weakest part? I never said anything against your head!”
(e) The Pilgrims. They move from England to Holland — decide to come to America— prepare to depart—ship, the Mayflower — the voyage —landing in December — settlement at Plymouth — hardships of the winter — why we remember the Pilgrims.
(f) The battle of Trenton. Fifteen hundred hired Hessian soldiers stationed at Trenton—on Christmas night, 1776, Washington crossed the Delaware —it took all night to cross —river full of floating ice— Hessians stupefied from their drinking and reveling of the night before —they were sur- prised at light in the morning —a thousand taken prisoners.
(g) Discovery of gold in California. Existence of the gold long known to the Indians and Mexicans of that region — the discovery on the Sacramento in 1848 — the rush of gold seekers in 1849 — dangers of the long journey overland or by way of the Isthmus of Panama — hard and dangerous life in California — the result.
108 WRITING IN ENGLISH
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Exercise 62. Writing from picture. — Write a story sug- Sested by this picture.
In writing a story of your own, if it 1s a true story, it is not worth telling unless the occurrences are more or less interesting. If the characters or the places are also interesting, so much the better. A great deal depends upon the way the story is begun. It is usual to suggest in the first few sentences or in the first paragraph the setting of the narrative —the time, the scene, some of the characters. You may bring your own feelings or ideas somewhat into the composition, by explanations or remarks, humorous or otherwise. If the story is an invented one, see
NARRATION 109
to it that, for some of the reasons we have been studying, it is made interesting. Let the story have a center of interest, and let the incidents lead up to the situation of greatest interest.
Exercise 63. Developing original narratives. — Write
out the following suggested narratives, or write similar brief narratives from subjects chosen by yourself. In- dent carefully for the paragraphs, and mark in each paragraph the topic sentence. In writing do not forget the characters and the scenes or surroundings, as sources of interest. _ (a) The story of our camping out. How we came to think of it—who talked it over — where we decided to go— what we took — how we got to the place —the pitching of the tent —the cooking of meals— what we all did — incidents — the breaking up — the return.
(b) A country boy’s visit to the city. How he came to go — getting ready — catching the train — the railway journey — what he first saw in the city — incidents — places visited — the most remarkable sight of all — the return home.
(c) A picnic by the river. The company —the preparations — the weather — how the members of the party got to the river — what the boys did during the morning— what the girls did —the dinner — the fishing —the games played — the ride homeward.
Exercise 64. Reproductions. — (a) Select a poem men- tioned in the list in Exercise 54, one that you have not previously reproduced, and develop it into a carefully written story. Avoid the language of the poem; merely tell the story in your own words.
(6) Select a story told in one of the books named in Exercise 55, read it once or twice very carefully, then write from memory the story, imitating the language of the original as closely as you can.
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Exercise 65. Original narration. — The problem is to work up a true story, known to you, of an adventure. When you come to write it, you will have to describe the scene and the chief characters (not all at first), and to tell the events in an interesting way.
(a). First, prepare a careful outline of the entire com- posttion, using places or chief events or periods for the headings. )
(6) Write the story, introducing description wherever necessary, but holding to your outline and telling the story clearly and connectedly. Attend to the paragraph- ing. In this the outline will guide you.
CHAPTER VIII CLEARNESS IN WRITING
THERE is no use in writing at all unless you make clear what you have to say. It is not enough to write so that you may be understood; you ought to write so that you cannot be misunderstood. Language is for the communication of ideas. If your reader does not understand what you meant to say, there is no communication, and you may as well not have written. Therefore, whatever you write, write clearly.
Of course, no one can write clearly without think- ing clearly. You must know and understand com- pletely what you wish to say, or else it is useless for you to begin. The only way to do is to write about what you know and understand. Do not attempt subjects that are difficult, abstract, or unfamiliar. Take simple, easy, and above all near-at-hand topics at first, topics about which you can write of your own knowledge; and in writing upon these do not try to utter ideas or to talk about supposed facts that you do not comprehend. For instance, avoid all such subjects as The Ideal, Fortune, Virtue and Happiness, Miserliness, Generosity; better write about an insect, or a plant, or an old chair, or something you saw or did last week or yesterday, things upon which you
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can direct your five senses and actually learn and know something, than try to write on an object you have never seen or an idea nobody can ever see, a place you have never visited or a feeling you never experienced. Stuff written about vague, lofty, or far- off themes is usually lacking both in clearness and in interest. But when you have written from your own knowledge or experience, no matter how common and simple the subject, your writing is far more likely to be not only intelligible but readable.
But aside from understanding precisely what you want to say, there are some difficulties met with in the use of language itself; and to learn to avoid certain faults in sentence making will do much to secure clearness in all that you write.
I. Lack of unity.— In the first place, having unity in all your sentences will do a great deal toward making them clear. We have studied unity in Chap- ter IV, so we need say no more about it here than to notice that when two or more ideas, unconnected in thought, are put together in one sentence, the effect is confusing, and the sentence fails to express any idea with sufficient clearness. Or, when a number of ideas, connected in thought, but some of them impor- tant and some unimportant, are strung along in one sentence full of “ands,” the sentence is pretty certain to lack clearness, simply because it does not emphasize the really important idea, but offers a jumble of several ideas, most of which should be merely modi- fiers. |
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For examples of sentences thus lacking in unity and clearness, see those referred to in Exercise 26.
II. Omitting necessary words.— To omit words that are necessary to the sense is a much commoner fault than may be supposed.
(a) Sometimes it 1s merely a matter of good gram- mar, as in such sentences as the following (further illustrations are given in Exercise 28, and in Exercise
129): —
1. Such mistakes always have and always will happen.
(Good English requires the word “ happened” after “ have.”) . 2. He knows better than go there.
3. Look -up in the dictionary every word the spelling of which you are not certain. |
4. She is as old, if not older, than her brother.
5. I have for over a year, and I will still continue, to pay my rent promptly.
6. I do not think he is any taller, if as tall, as I am.
7. You are the man whom the letter is addressed.
_(b) Sometimes such words as other, else, or before are carelessly omitted. Examples: —
1. This has been a greater exposition than was ever at- tempted. |
(The word “before ” must be inserted after “ever”; other- wise the statement is untrue. )
2. Nobody ever knew so much about fishes as Agassiz did.
3. No period of ten years ever saw so much progress in science as the last ten years have seen.
4, She thinks nobody knows so much as she does.
5. I believe no one ever saw so beautiful a sunset as this.
6. I think no dog ever had so fine a coat as this one has.
7. New York is larger than any city in this country.
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(c) Sometimes a necessary verb, preposition, or other part of speech is omitted in statements of com- parisons, after than or as. Examples: —
1. He likes me more than you. (Insert “he does” after “than,” or “do” after “you,” according to which is meant.) 2. Marmosets are as much like men as some monkeys. . That dog looks more like a wolf than a bloodhound. . This meat belongs to this dog rather than that. . He wished for.it more than his brother. . . He wished for nothing more than a dog. . That stone resembles a dumpling more than anything else.
“1 Ot Bm Go
(d) Examples of other faulty omissions, including the omission of the article : —
1. If dead, his wife and children may apply.
2. This blacksmith can repair the machine when injured.
3. The wise and (the) good are all too few. (What differ- ence is made by the inserting of “the ” ?)
4, We know how likely the loss of all was, when we think how thick the fog was, and especially we remember how the wind blew.
5. Some persons cannot tell the difference between the use of a colon and A a semicolon.
6. The society elected a secretary and A treasurer, who were to hold office for one year.
7. I believed A. the man was honest and A he was accused falsely. .
8. He selected out of the herd all the white and A black horses.
9. I cannot remember (A one thing he said.
10. If he is not a scoundrel, he is very near A one.
1 See Maxwell’s Advanced Lessons in English Grammar, p. 188.
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11. For that crop of grass, though A green and fresh, the farmer got only five dollars a ton.
12. $5000 reward if you can set fire to anything after wash- ing in flamine.
Exercise 66. Supplying faulty omissions. — Correct all the sentences Siven in the four groups given above as ulustratings faulty omissions.
III. Faulty use of pronouns.—One of the com- monest faults of thoughtless writers is the use of a pronoun without a perfectly certain antecedent. Pro- nouns in themselves mean nothing; they merely stand for their antecedents. Hence it is foolish to put into a sentence a pronoun of whose antecedent the reader may not be certain.
EXAMPLES: (a) Mary asked her mother how old she was.
Mary said to her mother, “ How old are you?” (Or, “How old am I ?”’) (6) On the mountain, at one place, there was a stone face, which we had much trouble in reaching.
On the mountain, at a place which we had much trouble j in reaching, there was a stone face.
Exercise 67. Obscure pronouns. — Correct the following sentences, either by using direct quotation, by changing the arrangement of the words, or by making clear in some other way what is the antecedent of each pronoun that is doubtful in meaning.
1. He made that remark without leaving me a chance to make a reply, which I thought was very wrong.
2. The gentleman told his brother that the umbrella he had borrowed was worthless, and so he returned it.
1 See Maxwell’s Advanced Lessons in English Grammar, pp. 246-247.
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3. Henry called yesterday to see my father, for he had writ- ten to him to make the engagement to do so. 4, There are many pets of different characters, which are all good enough. 5. He says there is near here one dangerous place, and that is certainly worth knowing. 6. When the Indians stole his horses, he said they were worthless beasts that ought to be shot. 7. Among the new arrivals was Mr. Derby, now so loved by every one, who was to officiate on the occasion. 8. He said he had talked with the agent, and he would do all he could to prevent the injustice. This is just what I wanted. 9. The poor boy said his father used to beat him till he was out of breath. 10. He was surprised, he said, that he had not done as he was directed to do. 11. On the opposite sides of the bridge are walks for foot pas- sengers that are about three feet wide. 12. He was a man of great height, and that accounted for his being able to see. 13. They issued a circular concerning the horse thief, that offered a reward of ten dollars for his arrest.
IV. The “which” habit. — Sometimes a sentence is made very uncertain in meaning and very tiresome by the careless repeating of “which,” “who” or “that” with different antecedents. A familiar example is the tale in which we read, “This is the dog that worried the cat that caught the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.” It is needless to say that sentences like this are amusingly lacking in unity; yet we sometimes find examples like those below, written in all seriousness. One relative in a sentence is usually enough, unless the relatives refer
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to the same antecedent and the clauses are connected by codrdinating conjunctions.
EXAMPLE: These words, which were not meant as a joke, seemed funny to the audience, which had not expected a speech to be so serious, which Mark Twain delivered.
CorreEctep: Though these words were not meant as a joke, they seemed funny to an audience which had not expected a speech of Mark Twain’s to be so serious.
Exercise 68. The ‘‘ which ’’ habit. — Rewrite the follow- ing sentences, so as to give them clearness and unity. One Sood device is to write in place of a relative clause an adjective modifier, either a word or a phrase, or a noun tn apposition.
1. Burnes, whose father was a business man who had accu- mulated a tolerable fortune, grew up in idleness, which was very much to his taste.
2. The suit of clothes, which was much the worse for the wear and tear which it had received in the summer which its owner had spent in the mountains, had still to be of service.
3. The point in which he most excelled was the use of the tomahawk, which he could hurl with a skill which amazed us.
4, This story winds at first like a quiet brook, which leads here and there across green fields, which gradually give way to a stern and rocky region in which there are abrupt cataracts.
5. He had no books excepting an old copy of Paradise Lost, which he read in the intervals of his work, in which way he acquired some of the knowledge of good poetry which gave him pleasure all through his life.
V. Misplacing of modifiers — Words, phrases, and clause modifiers may all be misplaced, and frequently are. In fact, this misplacing is the most common of all the faults of sentence making. It is sometimes
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called “squinting construction.” When a modifier squints, or can be taken as belonging to one or the other of two words in the sentence, the statement may, of course, be taken in two ways, and is therefore not clear. One of the most frequently misplaced words is “only.” Be sure to place it where it can limit only what you intend it to limit.’
Note the different meanings of the following sentences : —
Only I saw three men. I saw only three men. I saw three men only. I only saw three men.
Another class of words often misplaced is parti- ciples. As a rule, when a sentence begins with a participle, the latter is understood to modify the subject of the sentence, as in the following ex- amples : —
Trusting to hear from you soon, I remain your friend, E. 8. 8. Brought to a halt in that direction, the animal faced about toward us.
It is very important also to remember this caution, that when two words are used correlatively (as both
. and, not only .. . . but (also), either .. . or, etc.), each member of the pair should come before the same part of speech. Thus in the sentence “ John not only had to walk the whole distance, but to carry his little brother a part of the way,” not
1 See Maxwell’s Advanced Lessons in English Grammar, pp. 260-268.
CLEARNESS IN WRITING 119
only should come after had, so that the correlatives may stand next to the codrdinate infinitives.
Exercise 69. Misplaced modifiers. — Correct the follow- ing sentences, by rearrangement or by substitution of equivalent expressions for the modifiers, so as to make the sentences mean clearly one thing and one thing only.
EXAMPLE: For rent, a well-furnished parlor, for a lady, thirty-five feet wide. ~ CorrecTeD: For rent, a well-furnished parlor, thirty-five feet wide, suitable for a lady.
1. For that crop of grass, though it was green and fresh, the farmer only got five dollars a ton. 2. Tell him, if he thinks so, he should stay at home. 3. Thinking this amusing, like a fool, he never suspected treachery. 4. I was almost allowed to do as I pleased. 5. That talk is only fit for the dullest of company. 6. He only receives four dollars a week, and has nearly spent all of it before the week is half gone. 7. He had only been there two days. 8. Rising upon tiptoe, the mere top of the gable could be seen from where he stood. 9. This rug was bought by a firm in Troy, costing over a hundred dollars. 10. Having removed the top of the jar, the mysterious con- tents were displayed to our sight. 11. Crowned by a tuft of poplar trees, we at last saw the hill that rose near our destination. 12. Trusting to hear from you favorably, believe me sincerely yours. . 13. The train had already rounded the curve, carrying over a hundred passengers, when the engineer saw the danger signal, and, reversing the lever, the train stopped.
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14. A dog that had long belonged to a man living during those years in Cairo, never having been ill a day, suddenly died.
15. I never remember to have heard a more convincing argument.
16. He not only looked at rugs but at carpets.
17. This is neither the time for idleness nor for play.
18. The teacher said we should not aim merely to memorize the lesson, but to understand it.
19. It is a country not more attractive to the farmer than to the soldier.
20. He spoke both like a manly fellow and a kindly one.
21. He did not wish to be president but still to remain in the position to which he was accustomed.
Exercise 70. Lack of clearness. — Examine one of your recently written compositions for examples of the mis- placing of modifiers, the improper wse of pronouns, faulty omissions of words, or for other causes of lack of clearness. On a sheet of paper write, opposite all your sentences lacking clearness, corrected or tmproved sen- tences of the same meaning.
Exercise 71. Composition. — (a) Prepare an outline for a description of a street scene that you have witnessed.
(6) Write the composition, mentioning impressions of colors, shadows, movement, form, odors, etc. (See - page 65.)
(c) After writing, look the composition over and cor- rect all sentences lacking, for any reason, in clearness.
(da) Copy the corrected composition into the exercise book.
CHAPTER IX CONTENTS OF PARAGRAPHS
Srnce all we say goes into our paragraphs, it is extremely important that we learn what to put into these developments of the topics on hand. Givena topic, what shall we say about it? What ways are there of treating it? We have already seen that since each well-made paragraph has its distinct topic, or deals with its own particular part of the whole composition, everything in the paragraph must have to do with this topic, otherwise there would be a lack of unity. Now for the question, how may we fill out, illustrate, or develop the topic, so as to make our handling of it interesting and adequate ?
First, a caution: no matter what we say in a para- graph, our sentences should be connected in thought ; they should follow one another easily and naturally throughout each paragraph. This is one reason why topic sentences are useful. When we read a topic sentence, we naturally expect the explanation of it, and thus the paragraph reads smoothly. An em- phatic word in one sentence suggests the beginning of the next remark, and thus we go on without effort from sentence to sentence.
What shall be written in paragraphs ?— There are several ways of developing paragraphs, and with all
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these ways we should be familiar. Which of them we should use in a given case depends, as we shall see, upon the kind of composition, the nature of the topic, and what we desire to say.
I. Details or particulars. — If the topic is a single object, scene, person, incident, or the like, the para- graph consists usually of details or particulars. For example, in the following paragraphs (descriptive), the topic is in one case an English farm, in the other a country church. In such a case the subject is a single scene, and the natural way to deal with it is to give particulars about it.
On one of these solitary houses, the afternoon sun, about to descend before very long behind the hills, was still lingering on this May afternoon we are describing, bringing the white- washed porch and the broad bands of white edging the win- dows, into relief against the gray stone of the main fabric, the gray roof overhanging it, and the group of sycamores and Scotch firs which protected it from the cold east and north. The western light struck full on a copper beech which made a welcome patch of warm color in front of a long gray line of outhouses standing level with the house, and touched the heckberry blossom which marked the upward course of the little lane connecting the old farm with the road; above it rose the green fell, broken here and there by jutting crags, and below it the ground sank rapidly through a piece of young hazel plantation, at this present moment a sheet of bluebells, toward the level of the river. There was a dainty and yet sober brightness about the whole picture.
— From Robert Elsmere, by Mrs. Humphry Ward, Ch. IL.
I am fond of loitering about country churches; and this was so delightfully situated, that it frequently attracted me.
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It stood on a knoll, around which a small stream made a beautiful bend, and then wound its way through a long reach of meadow scenery. The church was surrounded by yew trees, which seemed almost coeval with itself. Its tall Gothic spire shot up lightly from among them, with rooks and crows generally wheeling about it.
—From The Sketch Book, by Washington Irving.
The following paragraph shows how the method of particulars and details is used in narration : —
The history relates that Sancho Panza was conducted from the court of justice to a sumptuous palace, where, in a great hall, he found a magnificent entertainment prepared. He no sooner entered than his ears were saluted by the sound of instruments, and four pages served him with water to wash his hands. The music having ceased, Sancho now sat down to dinner in a chair of state, placed at the upper end of the table; for there was but one seat, and only one plate and napkin. A personage, who, as it afterward appeared, was a physician, took his stand at one side of his chair, with a whalebone rod in his hand. They then removed the beautiful white cloth, which covered a variety of fruits and other eatables. Grace was said by one in a student’s dress, and a laced bib was placed, by a page, under Sancho’s chin. Another, who per- formed the office of taster, now set a plate of fruit before him, but he had scarcely tasted it when, on being touched by the wand bearer, it was snatched away, and another containing meat supplied its place. Yet before Sancho could make a beginning, it vanished, like the former, on a signal of the wand. Sancho was surprised at this proceeding, and looking around him, asked if this dinner was only to show off their sleight of hand. “My lord,” said the wand bearer, “your lord- ship’s food must here be watched with the same care as is customary with the governors of other islands. It is my duty to see that the governor eats what is good and salutary, and
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prevent his touching whatever I imagine may be prejudicial to his health. It was for that reason, my lord,” continued he, “T ordered the dish of fruit to be taken away, as being too watery, and that other dish as being too hot, and overseasoned with spices, which are apt to provoke thirst.”
— From Don Quixote, by Cervantes.
The following anecdote of a walk with Sir Walter Scott, contaiming both description and narration, is an illustration of the use of the method of particulars in writing that intermingles these two kinds of composition :—
Everything that was beautiful and picturesque caught his attention in an instant. I remember walking out with him and a lady, who was staying in the house at the time, along the sunny banks of the Tweed, toward Selkirk. It was a bright morning, and two great and very beautiful staghounds accompanied us in the ramble. Sir Walter pointed out the beauties of the scene with great animation, stumping along the little narrow path we were following, supported by a stout stick. He had a plain Scotch bonnet on his head, and a gray shepherd’s maade or plaid round his broad shoulders, and, when not excited, he looked, with his somewhat heavy features, and white, overhanging eyebrows, like a good, stout, portly farmer. About half a mile from Abbotsford, however, a bright, sparkling stream crossed the path on its way toward the Tweed, forming a little still pool by the side of the road before it took another leap down the bank; and by the side of this pool one of the staghounds, which had run on before, stopped for some moments to contemplate his own image in the mirror, throwing himself into the most graceful attitude imaginable. The dog’s proceeding immediately caught the attention of the poet, and he turned to point it out to our fair companion with his face all sparkling with eager admiration. The gray eye lighted up, the heavy mouth beamed with a
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bright smile, and even the stalwart figure became more erect and stately. ‘Look at the vanity of the creature,” he cried, “did ever lady before her looking-glass show more admiration ~ of herself than that brute?” ~
—From The Bride of Landeck, by G. P. R. James, p. 48.
II. Instances or examples. — The second method of developing a paragraph is used when the topic is not a single object, but a general topic or statement, such as, Women are sometimes very brave, No person is faultless, “Time is money,’ The recent increase in the cost of living. Topics like these are naturally explained or developed by giving instances or exam- ples of what is being discussed. This method may be used in description as in the following paragraph. The topic is indicated in the first sentence; the other sentences give selected instances of the fog’s being everywhere : —
Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping, and the waterside pollu- tions of a great (and dirty) city. Fog in the Essex marshes, fog on the Kentish heights. Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats. Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem and bow] of the afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper, down in his close cabin; fog cruelly pinching the toes and fingers of his shivering little ’prentice boy on deck. Chance people on the bridges peeping over the parapets into the nether sky of fog, with fog all round them, as ‘if they were up in a balloon, and hanging in the misty clouds.
— From Bleak House, by Charles Dickens, Ch. I.
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The method of instances or examples is occasionally used in narration; very frequently in explanatory paragraphs (exposition); and a good deal used in argument, because instances of the truth of a proposi- tion are proofs of it. Sometimes a paragraph is made up of merely one important instance or example.
Further illustrations : —
At last I fell into some talk, at a distance, with this poor man. First I asked him how people did thereabouts. “Alas, sir,” says he, “almost desolate; all dead or sick. Here are very few families in this part or in that village” — pointing at Poplar — “ where half of them are dead already, and the rest sick.” Then he pointed to one house: “There they are all dead,” said he, “and the house stands open; nobody dares go into it. A poor thief,” says he, “ ventured to steal something, but he paid dear for his theft, for he was carried to the church- yard too, last night.” Then he pointed to several other houses, “There,” says he, “they are shut up; you see a watchman at the door; and so of other houses.”
—From A Journal of the Great Plague, by Daniel Defoe.
In some respects the animals excel us. The birds have a longer sight, besides the advantage by their wings of a higher observatory. A cow can bid her calf, by secret signal, prob- ably of the eye, to run away, or to lie down and hide itself. The jockeys say of certain horses, that “they look over the
whole ground.” — From R. W. Emerson, Essay on Manners.
His children, too, were as ragged and wild as if they belonged to nobody. His son Rip, an urchin begotten in his own likeness, pronfised to inherit the habits, with the old clothes, of his father. He was generally seen trooping like a colt at his mother’s heels, equipped in a pair of his father’s
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cast-off galligaskins, which he had much ado to hold up with one hand, as a fine lady does her train in bad weather.
— From Rip Van Winkle, by Washington Irving.
The structure of every organic being is related, in the most essential, but often hidden manner, to that of all the other or- ganic beings with which it comes into competition for food or residence, or from which it has to escape, or on which it preys. This is obvious in the structure of the teeth and talons of the tiger; and in that of the legs and claws of the parasite which clings to the hair on the tiger’s body. But in the beau- -tifully plumed seed of the dandelion, and in the flattened and fringed legs of the water beetle, the relation seems at first con- fined to the elements of air and water. Yet the advantage of plumed seeds, no doubt, stands in the closest relation to the land being already thickly clothed with other plants; so that the seeds may be widely distributed and fall on unoccupied ground. In the water beetle, the structure of its legs, so well adapted for diving, allows it to compete with other aquatic insects, to hunt for its own prey, and to escape serving as prey to other
animals. ; —From The Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin.
Exercise 72. Study of paragraphs.— Write out (a) the topic of each of the paragraphs so far quoted in this chapter, and (b) the first and the last words of the topic sentences.
(ce) Mention what things are siven as “instances” or “examples.”
(d) Write also the kind of composition found in each of the extracts (see Chapter I).
Exercise 73. Writing of paragraphs.— Develop the fol- lowing topics or topic sentences by Siving instances or examples : —
1. Many interesting games may be played in the sand. 2. America has already produced some excellent poets.
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3. Sometimes ludicrous mistakes are made through ignorance or carelessness.
4. Swimming birds.
5. Boys’ sports are not always without danger.
6. The best fruits grow in the temperate zone.
7. Damages caused by bad roads and rough streets.
III. Comparisons or contrasts. — A third method of working up a topic is by the use of comparisons or contrasts; that is, by explaining the resemblance of the topic to something else, or by showing how it is different from something else. In each case particu- lars and details are: given, but they are particulars about the resemblance or the contrast. In the fol- lowing paragraph the two parts of the valley which is being described are made more distinct to our minds by contrast.
During the greater part of its course the valley of Long Whindale is tame and featureless. The hills at the lower part are low and rounded, and the sheep and cattle pasture over slopes unbroken either by wood or rock. The fields are bare and close-shaven by the flocks which feed on thém; the walls run either perpendicularly up the fells or horizontally along them, so that, save for the wooded course of the tumbling river and the bush-grown hedges of the road, the whole valley looks like a green map divided by regular lines of grayish black. But as the walker penetrates further, beyond a certain bend which the stream makes halfway from the head of the dale, the hills grow steeper, the breadth between them con- tracts, the inclosure lines are broken and deflected by rocks and patches of plantation, and the few farms stand more boldly and conspicuously forward, each on its spur of land, looking up to or away from the great masses of frowning crag which
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close in the head of the valley, and which from the moment they come into sight give it dignity and a wild beauty.
— From Robert Elsmere, by Mrs. Humphry Ward, Ch. I.
In the following paragraph the idea of character is made more distinct by contrasting it with another idea : —
There is a difference between character and reputation. Character is what a man is; reputation is what he is thought to be. Men of good character are generally men of good repu- tation, but this is not always the case, as the motives and actions of the best of men are sometimes misunderstood and misrepresented. But it is important, above everything else, that we be right and do right, whether our motives and actions are properly understood and appreciated or not.
— Edmund Burke.
One form or variety of the method of contrasts is the telling of what a thing is not, or what it is not like. For example: —
The scene around was desolate; as far as the eye could reach it was desolate; the bare rocks faced each other, and left a long and wide interval of thin white sand. You might wander on and look round and round, and peep into the crevices of the rocks and discover nothing that acknowledged the influence of the seasons. There was no spring, no summer, no autumn; and the winter’s snow, that would have been lovely, fell not on these hot rocks and scorching sands. Never morning lark had poised himself over this desert; but the huge serpent often hissed there beneath the talons of the vulture, and the vulture screamed, his wings imprisoned within the coils of the
serpent. —From The Wanderings of Cain, by S. T. Coleridge.
WRIT. IN ENG, —9Q
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The use of comparison is illustrated in the follow- ing paragraphs : —
She is like some tender tree, the pride and beauty of the grove; graceful in its form, bright in its foliage, but with the worm preying at its heart. We find it suddenly withering, when it should be most fresh and luxuriant. We see it droop- ing its branches to the earth, and shedding leaf by leaf; until, wasted and perished away, it falls, even in the stillness of the forest; and as we muse over the beautiful ruin, we strive in vain to recollect the blast or thunderbolt that could have smit- ten it with decay.
— From The Broken Heart, by Washington Irving.
A principal fruit of friendship is the ease and discharge of the fullness and swellings of the heart, which passions of all kinds do cause and induce. We know diseases of stoppings and suffocations are the most dangerous in the body, and it is not otherwise in the mind; you may take sarza to open the liver, steel to open the spleen, flower of sulphur for the lungs, casto- reum for the brain; but no receipt openeth the heart but a true friend, to whom you may impart griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspicions, counsels, and whatsoever lieth upon the heart to oppress it, in a kind of civil shrift or confession.
— Francis Bacon, Essay on Friendship.
The method of comparisons and contrasts may be used in any kind of composition. Further illustra- tions : —
“Take thine eyes off the bridge,” said he, “and tell me if thou seest anything thou dost not comprehend.” Upon looking up, — ‘What mean,” said I, “those great flights of birds that are perpetually hovering about the bridge, and settling upon it from time to time? I see vultures, harpies, ravens, cormorants, and among many other feathered creatures, several
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little winged boys, that perch in great numbers upon the middle arches.” — “ These,” said the genius, “are envy, avarice, superstition, despair, love, with the like cares and passions
that infest human life.” — Joseph Addison.
Nothing strikes one more, in the race of life, than to see how many give out in the first half of the course. “Commence- ment day” always reminds me of the start for the “ Derby,” when the beautiful high-bred three-year-olds of the season are brought up for trial. That day is the start, and life is the race. ... This is the start, and here they are, — coats bright as silk, and manes as smooth as eaw lustrale can make them. Some of the best of the colts are pranced round, a few minutes each, to show their paces. What is that old gentleman crying about ? and the old lady by him, and the three girls, what are they all covering their eyes for? Oh, that is their colt which has just been trotted upon the stage. Do they really think those little thin legs can do anything in such a slashing sweep- stakes as is coming off in these next forty years?...
Fifty years. Race over. All that are on the course are coming in ata walk; no more running. Who is ahead ? Ahead? What! and the winning post a slab of white or gray stone standing out from that turf where there is no more jockeying or straining for victory! Well, the world marks their places in its betting-book ; but be sure that these matter very little, if they have run as well as they know how!
—From The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, by Oliver W. Holmes. Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, by permission.
I have been up to look at the dance and supper rooms, for the inauguration ball at the Patent Office; and I could not help thinking what a different scene they presented to my view awhile since, filled with a crowded mass of the worst wounded of the war, brought in from second Bull Run, Antie- tam, and Fredericksburg. To-night, beautiful women, per- fumes, the violins’ sweetness, the polka, and the waltz; then
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the amputation, the blue face, the groan, the glassy eye of the dying, the clotted rag, the odor of wounds and blood, and many a mother’s son amid strangers, passing away untended there (for the crowd of the badly hurt was great, and much for nurse