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ENGLISH COMPOSITION

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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

NBW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA
MBLBOURNB

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.

TORONTO

ENGLISH COMPOSITION

CHESTER NOYES GREENOUGH, Ph.D.

PR0FES80B OP ENGLISH IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY
AND

FRANK WILSON CHEKEY HERSEY, A.M.

INSTRUCTOR IN ENGLISH IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Neto grnA

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1917

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Mn.^S?XT

COPTBIGHT, 1917,

By the MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Set up and electrotyped. Published June, 1917.
Reprinted August, 191 7.

Norinooli H^rtM

J. 8. Cashing Co. — Berwick «fe Smith Co.

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

PREFACE

One of the fundamental ideas on which this book is
planned is that a purpose, not a rule, should guide a
student to write well. He must not be made to feel that
success in English Composition comes from avoiding
something; he should not look forward to being praised
just because he doesn't do things. Consequently, we
have tried to emphasize a few large, positive, constructive
principles and to minimize rules, particularly of the
negative sort. Good sense in applying these principles
is the means by which the student may succeed in carry-
ing out his purpose. In order that he may not be obliged
to subordinate his enthusiasm, his special interest, his
intended effect to a rigorous technique, we have tried to
make him realize that technique may be molded and
modeled to suit his efiFect. Thus there is no abstract
treatment of unity, coherence, and emphasis, and no
abstract treatment of the whole composition. But there
is specific discussion of the way a particular kind of compo-
sition making a particular appeal, either expository,
argumentative, descriptive, or narrative, will utilize the
principles of Unity, Coherence, and Emphasis for its own
peculiar purpose. In the case of description and narra-
tion, which are sometimes thought to succeed by mere
vividness, the structural principles will be shown to
produce a notable gain in effectiveness . Moreover,
flexibility in paragraphs and sentences receives special
attention. Since the interest of style depends so largely

vi PREFACE

upon the weaving of words into sentences, we have treated
emphasis, variety, and rhythm with more than usual
fullness and explieitness.

The pictures accompanying the descriptive extracts by
Scott, Hawthorne, Ruskin, Blackmore, Stevenson, Henry
James, Thomas Hardy, Phillpotts, and others will, it is
hoped, prove stimulating. By comparing pictures of
actual scenes with descriptions of these scenes from the
same point of view, students gain a lively sense of method
and choice of words. Furthermore, in the treatment of
setting in narration, the illustrations emphasize the skill
with which authors have infused the atmosphere of place
and country into their stories.

The arrangement of the book follows the order in which
students do their work. First comes that part of the
process of writing which takes place before any words
are put on paper — namely, gathering and weighing of
material : here special attention is given to the various
preparatory steps — the use of books and periodicals for
expository and argumentative material, the weighing
and estimating of one authority against another, the use
of libraries, catalogues, indexes, and the making of notes
on books and lectures. Then follows the discussion of
the principles which come into play in the particular form
of composition which the writer decides to work in. The
succeeding parts deal in turn with the structure of para-
graphs and sentences, and the eflFective use of words.
Assignments of reading and exercises, however, may be
given in any order which suits a teacher's methods.

In the frequent references to College Readings in English
ProsCy edited by F. W. Scott and Jacob Zeitlin, that use-
ful work is cited as College Readings,

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Intboduction : Why It Is Worth While to Study English Com-
position 1

PART I
""^^ GATHERING AND WEIGHING MATERIAL

CHAPTER I

The Soubces of Material 7

The Use of Libraries 7

The Catalogue 8

Books of Reference 8

SnooESTioNS ON Reading 8

Weighing AuTHORiriEa 10

On Taking Notes 11

On Being Logical 13

On Being Specific 14

On Making Experiments Succeed 15

On Being Original 17

Wht You Must Not Copt without Acknowledgment . 17

On Alertness 18

Exercises 20

PART II

iQNDS OF COMPOSITION

Introduction 26

viii TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER n. EXPOSITION

PAGE

^ PuBE Exposition 28

'. Definition and Kinds 28

Choosing a Subject 28

Gathering Material 30

Considering the Reader 30

Outlining the Exposition 31

Unity 38

Coherence 38

Emphasis 39

♦ Writing the Exposition 39

The Introduction 40

Securing Clearness 41

Maintaining Interest .43

Style and Manner 45

Exercises .......... 46

Criticism .49

What Criticism Is 49

What to Write about 50

Considering the Reader 50

Subordinate Elements 51

The Author's Purpose . 51

The Author's Success 53

Conclusion 56

Exercises .... 57

jBlOGRAPHY 62

Definition and Kinds 62

Choosing a Subject 63

Sources of Information 65

Elements in Biography 66

Narrative 66

Descriptive 67

Analytical 67

Two Dangers to Avoid 72

Exercises . 74

TABLE OF CONTENTS ix

PAQE

Suggestions on Wmting Reports and Theses ... 75

Qualities of Style 75

Structure 76

Table of Contents 76

Paragraphs 76

Sentences 77

Technical Terms 77

Footnotes 77

CHAPTER III. ARGUMENT

Value of Argument 79

Conviction and Persuasion 80

Kinds of Argument 80

Evidence 81

Tests of Evidence 83

Argument from. Authority 83

Collecting Evidence 84

Inductive and Deductive Reasoning 85

Fallacies 89

Begging the Question 89

Hasty Generalization 90

False Analogy 90

Mistaken Causal Relation 91

Planning the Argument: Formal and Informal . . 92

Phrasing the Proposition 92

Analysis 93

The Brief 97

Rules for Briefing 98

Writing the Argument 101

Persuasion 102

Methods of Persuasion 104

Informal Argument 108

Exercises 109

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I CHAPTER IV. DESCRIPTION

PAOB

Definition, Kinds, and Pubposes 115

Material 116

Use All of Your Senses . . 117

Considering the Reader 118

Unitt 119

Point of View 119

Dominant Tone 121

Coherence 123

Emphasis 135

Style 135

Be Objective 135

Figures of Speech 138

Expressive Verbs 139

Description by Eflfect 140

Sound and Meaning 140

Combination of Details . . . . . '. . .140

Brevity 141

Description in the Service of Narration .... 142

Exercises 145

CHAPTER V. NARRATION

Definition 149

Simple Narrative 150

Comparison of Dime Novels and Good Narrative . . .150

Development of Situation 154

Motivation 155

Climax 156

Setting 156

Characters 157

Dialogue 157

Style 158

TABLE OF CONTENTS xi

PAOB

Material 158

Experience 159

Reading 159

Imagination 161

Notebook . . . 162

Plan 164

Limiting the Field 165

Narrative with Plot 166

Plot 166

Unity of Impression 167

The Fable 170

Point of View 170

Characters 174

Origin of Characters 174

Character Stories 177

Methods of Portraying Character 177

Choice of Names 177

Description 178

Exposition 180

Action 181

Dialogue 188

Dialect 186

Dialogue in Notebook . . . . . .187

Setting 188

Coherence 197

Movement 199

Emphasis 199

Beginnings 199

Endings . . 201

Climax 202

Surprise 202

Titles 203

Exercises 204

xii TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART III

STRUCTURE
CHAPTER VI. PARAGRAPHS

PAOB

Definition 209

Unity in Exposition and Argument 210

The Topic-Sentence 211

Unity in Description 215

Unity in Narration . . . 217

Coherence in Exposition and Argument .... 220

Order 221

Parallel Constructions 226

» Connectives 226

Transitions between Paragraphs 228

Coherence in Description 229

Coherence in Narration 229

Emphasis in Exposition and Argument 230

Emphasis in Description 232

Emphasis in Narration 233

Exercises 233

CHAPTER VH. SENTENCES

1 > Unity ' 238-

Unity of Thought 238

Unity of Expression 239

Unity in Description 240

Unity in Narration 241

^^-^ — I Coherence 242

Order 242

Grammatical Form 243

Dangling Modifiers 243

Reference 244

Parallel Constructions 244

TABLE OF CONTENTS xiii

PAGE

Connectives 249 '

Coherence in Description and Narration . . . . _ 25 /

Emphasis 251

Length 251

Repetition 252

Subordination 252

Position 255

Inversion 256

Periodic Sentences 256

Climax 258

Balance 259

Emphasis in Description and Narrative .... 260

Variety 260

Vary the Length of Sentences 261

Don't Repeat Words Aimlessly 261

Don't Use Compound Sentences Continually . . . 261

Mingle Loose and Periodic Sentences 262

Don't Harness an Adjective with Every Noun . . 262

Vary the Beginnings of Sentences 262

Rhythm 263

The Rhythm of Prose 263

Parallel Structure 265

Rise and Fall 267

Magic Number Three 267

Polysyllabic Words 269

Rhythm in Synge's Works 271

Exercises 272

PART IV

DICTION

^ CHAPTER VIII. CHOICE OF WORDS

Good Use 286

Present 286

xiv TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

National 287

Reputable 287

Cleabness 288

Force 288

Connotation 289

Vagueness 289

Exaggeration 290

Imitation Jewelry 291

Triteness .292

Figures of Speech 293

Elegance 295

CHAPTER IX. IMPROPRIETIES

Definition 298

A List of Common Improprieties 300

— -^ CHAPTER X. NUMBER OF WORDS
Rules and Suggestions for Making Style Concise . .313
Exercises (covering Chapters VIII, IX, and X) . . . . 317

PART V

MECHANICS

^^^^---^ CHAPTER XL GRAMMAR

Verbs: Their Subjects and Objects 321

Articles and Pronouns 323

The Possessive Case 324

Adjectives and Adverbs 325

Verbs 826

Confusion between Parts of Speech 330

TABLE OF CONTENTS xv
''""^ CHAPTER XII. PUNCTUATION

PAOB

General Considerations 3S1

The Colon 382

The Sebhcolon 383

The Comma 334

The Apostrophe ' 337

The Dash 338

The Hyphen 338

Interrogation Marks 339

Punctuation op Titles 339

Punctuation of Quotations and of Conversation . . 339

CHAPTER XIII. SPELLING

Classes of Words often Misspelled 341

Words often Misspelled 347

CHAPTER XIV. PRONUNCIATION

General Considerations 361

Mispronunciation Classified 354

List of Words often Mispronounced 369

CHAPTER XV. ABBREVIATIONS, CAPITALS,
FOOTNOTES. ETC.

Abbreviations 362

Capitals 363

Italics ^ . 364

Numbers 364

Footnotes and Bibliographies 365

Miscellaneous Directions 367

Exercises (covering Chapters XI-XV) 368

INDEX 375

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

rACINO PAOB

The Vale of Widecombe . 124

Chartres Cathedral 125

The Bay of Monterey 128

The Palace of Fine Arts 129

The Interior of Durham Cathedral 130

Edinburgh Castle 131

Egdon Heath 190

The Aged Highway across Egdon 191

The DTrberville Window and Tomb .... 192

Wool-Bridge House . 193

The Doone Valley 194

Heather-clad Hill on Egdon Heath 195

The picture of The Palace of Fine Arts is reproduced by per-
mission of Messrs. Paul Elder and Company of San Francisco.

WHY IT IS WORTH WHILE TO STUDY
ENGLISH COMPOSITION

In going from school to college we pass from a place
where mstruction is chiefly by recitation to a place where
instruction is largely by lectures. It is important not to
be misled by the liberty which this change brings with it.
Instead of supposing that at last we have found a place
where the professor does all the work, and rejoicing in
the sense of security which comes when we know that
we are not going to be forced to stand up and make a
ridiculous exhibition, we must learn not merely to keep
up our work without the daily spur of oral recitation,
but also to take really good notes on lectures. Mere
good intentions will not help us to do this. It is a knack,
at which college freshmen have hitherto had little if any
practice.

Again, when we leave school for college we go from a
place where there are relatively few books, where the whole
of a book is ordinarily used, and where books are, in a
way, guaranteed, to a place where there are immense
quantities of books, where parts of books rather than the
whole are read, and where the notion of guaranteed books
is quite at variance with the whole idea of the maturity
and responsibility of the college student.

These are important diflFerences, and they bring new
and valuable lessons.

2 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

First of all, they necessitate learning to find one*s
way about the college library, to use the catalogue of it,
and to go through the motions necessary to get books
from the shelves. The time to leam these things about the
library is the first month in college, for then it is no dis-
grace not to know things, and if they are learned then
the help to the student's other work will be the greater.

Then too the fact that in college parts of many books
are read instead of the whole of a few makes it necessary
to leam, without reading the book through, whether it
contains Important material. Particidarly for people
who are in a hurry, the preface, the table of contents,
and the index are of the utmost value. Practice in using
these will mean a gain in speed and accuracy which will
react helpfully in various directions.

But this is not the most difficult thing to be learned
about books at college. Heretofore there has been little
occasion to ask what to do when books disagree, and in
consequence one has come to suppose that " if the book
says so, it must be true." Instead of that notion one
must, before the wordp " higher education " can mean
anything in his particular case, learn to read " not to
believe and take for granted, but to weigh and con-
sider." To leam that is a task broader than any single
course. Yet the place of the course in English compo-
sition is a very important one in this regard, for in it
much can be done to teach how to weigh evidence, how
to decide in advance which of two books is probably the
more reliable, and how to judge between conflicting state-
ments. This information is a priceless possession, not
merely for a college undergraduate, but for a business
man, a voter, or a reader of newspaper editorials.

ENGLISH COMPOSITION 3

Again, the fact that college composition is greater in
amount and is on the whole done in larger units than
school composition, necessitates learning two more les-
sons, in which it is the special function of teachers of
English composition to help, though the benefits of those
lessons are not wholly or even chiefly to appear in the
work done for the Department of English. These two
lessons are, — first, learning not merely to write well,
but to write well rapidly; and, secondly, learning not
merely to write respectable short compositions in which
the sti*ucture is simple and obvious, but also to plan and
to sustain compositions of a hundred pages or more which
shall not only be satisfactory in point of knowledge, but
which shall be so carefully mapped out and so well sup-
plied with guide posts that the reader has no excuse for
losing his way.

Specifically applied to English composition, all this
means that the college student must work under a large
and sensible definition of that subject. Though few if
any would acknowledge that they suppose English com-
position to include only " that part of my written work
which I do in order to satisfy the Department of English,"
many seem to have quietly adopted this definition as a
working principle. Yet it is manifestly a luxury which
no one in search of a real education can possibly aflFord,
for it leaves out of account not only the larger number of
opportunities for practicing English composition, but
precisely those forms of composition by which we are
most likely to be judged both in college and afterwards.
For example, it leaves out of account all conversation,
all letters, and all written work in courses other than
English. If we regard some of our writing as English

4 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

composition and the rest as something else, we shall cer-
tainly injure both the naturalness of our work in English
composition and the correctness of our other writing and
our speech. Professor Palmer's words apply to every
one of us : "If he is slovenly in his ninety-nine cases of
talking, he can seldom pull himself up to strength and
exactitude in the hundredth case of writing." Even if
he does succeed in pulling himself up, the eflFort shows
and the style at best is stiffly correct.

A few years ago a certain professor of English read an
examination book in which the spelling and punctuation
were so bad that the grade had to be extremely low. The
result was a four-page letter from the writer of the exam-
ination book, protesting vigorously against the injustice
that had been done him. But unfortunately the letter
betrayed the same lapses in spelling and punctuation
that had characterized the examination book, and so the
professor felt obliged to reply that the letter helped to
prove the case against the writer. The student was sure
that he had been badly treated. His letter had been
judged, he said, as if it were a theme. It was not a theme ;
it was merely a personal letter. His ability to write, he
urged, was good, as had been proved in more than one
course in English composition. In estimating the letter
as he had done, the professor, he seemed to think, was
breaking all rules of civilized warfare by firing upon a
flag of truce. In every such case the reply is that if it is
worth while to write well at all it is worth while to write
well all the time.

What we have been saying really means that this word
" course " must not be allowed to hypnotize us. With
time parceled out as our days in college are, it is easy to

— - — .

ENGLISH COMPOSITION 6

forget the relation of courses to each other and to the sum
total of what we are trying to accomplish. From ten
until eleven perhaps on Monday, Wednesday, and Fri-
day we go into a certain room in order to study English
composition. It is easy to allow ourselves to think that
our duty to English composition is fulfilled if during those
three hours we attend to what is told us. But presently
the bell rings; we go across the hall to another room;
and soon find ourselves writing a paper in History or
Economics. What are those papers ? Surely not English
composition, because English composition ended several
moments ago. So we permit ourselves to spell and
pxmctuate in our own way, and in general to ignore what
has just been told us.

If this is a good way to master English composition, it
ought to be a good way to master other things. How
would it work in the case of a game like golf? Suppose
that a young man really wishes to learn to play golf.
He engages a professional, and for some time takes
lessons, let us say on three mornings of every week. In
return for the very considerable amoxmt of his money —
or his father's money — which he thus spends, the begin-
ner receives certain very valuable advice. Let us sup-
pose that, after attending to all of this teaching, our ap-
prentice at golf forms the habit of going each afternoon
to some distant golf course, and, safe from the eye of the
professional, breaking every rule that he has learned
during the morning. How many prizes would he win?

Part I
GATHERING AND WEIGHING MATERIAL

CHAPTER I

1. The Sotirces of Material. — The sources of what
we write about are many and various. We read books,
magazines, newspapers, and manuscript. We hear con-
versation, college lectures, public lectures, music, and all
the sounds, significant and insignificant, lovely and un-
lovely, which help to make the world both vivid and con-
fusing. We see people, nature, pictures, millions of things
— some fixed, some flashing past us — their meaning some-
times lost in their number. A9 all of these experiences
pass through our minds, many of them are forgotten and
others are modified by our reason and our imagination.
Thus we constantly make over our impressions, and wisely
forget many of them.

2. The Use of Libraries. — A great deal of this material
from without, however, is entitled to the most respectful
attention, because it proceeds from those who, though
they may now and then make mistakes, are on the whole
wiser than ourselves. Such are the authors of the better
books and other written materials which fill great libraries.
This means that we must learn our way about the one or

8 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

two large libraries upon which we individually happen to
depend. In these libraries we must learn to use

1. The Catalogue. — In all good libraries the catalogues
are now arranged on cards, and the cards, in trays, are
arranged alphabetically. Usually authors (like Holmes,
Macaulay, and O. Henry) are put into the same cata-
logue with subjects (like Drama, Civil Service, and Boy
Scouts).

2. Books of Reference, — No student can carry on the
work of the Freshman year — to say nothing of later
years — unless he can use indexes to periodicals, diction-
aries of words, encyclopedias, dictionaries of biography,
year books, atlases, special bibliographies, and other
kinds of reference books.^ He should learn the location
of each of theiSC groups of books in his own library, should
discover the way to use each, and should practice using
them to improve his speed and accuracy. For exercises
in the use of books of reference, see page 24.

3. Suggestions on Reading. — Selection, — In school
we read only a few books. We were told to read these,
and so we did. It was to be presumed — at least we did

^ Among these may be named : for dictionaries, Webster's New
International, Murray's New English (Oxford) Dictionary, and the
Century; for biography, the great English Dictionary of National Biog^
raphy. Appleton's Cyclopcedia of American Biography, the Century
Cyclopedia of Names, Who's Who (English), and Whos Who in America;
for encyclopedias, the eleventh edition of the Encyclopcedia Britannica;
for bibliographies of periodical literature, Poole's Index to Periodical
Literature (running from 1802 to 1902), the Readers* Guide to Periodical
Literature (1900 — ), and the Annual Magazine Subject Index (1907 — )
which since 1909 has included The Dramatic Index; for current facts,
the Statesman's Year Book, Whitaker*s Almanac, the quarterly Index
to the New York Times and the monthly New York Times Current History,

GATHERING AND WEIGHING MATERIAL 9

presume — that each was the best of its kind ; at any rate,
we read it and believed it all. In college, however, we
are immediately introduced to large libraries. We are
given alternatives. We select one book out of five, in
it we perhaps read only a few chapters, and from that
reading we try to remember only a few facts. This
responsibility of selecting is a new responsibility, which
we have acquired because we are no longer children in
school, but men and women in college.

Tasting Books. — In his famous essay on " Studies "
Lord Bacon observed that most books are not to be
chewed and digested, but merely to be tasted. In tasting
books remember to notice the sub-title, to read the preface
and ^he table of contents, to use the index and the side
headings and chapter analyses if there are any, to apply
the principle of emphasis to the chapters and paragraphs,
— that is, to glance at the points where the important
statements ought to be, and to note every tabulated series,
category, and the like.

In performing this highly important task of skimming
books, we should remember not to be influenced by the
annotations of previous readers. It is extremely hard to
ignore a pencil mark in the margin of a book, especially
if it is accompanied by a vivid comment from the hand of
some enthusiastic reader. Neither must we suppose that
the size of the book makes any diflPerence : big books are
not necessarily scholarly, nor small ones superficial.
Nor is beauty of type and illustration a conclusive argu-
ment, though it undoubtedly increases our pleasure in
the reading. Not even the author's style or the profuse-
ness of his footnotes are a sure indication of his quality
as a scholar.

10 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

4. Weighing Authorities. — What, then, does help us
to judge between books? Though it is impossible to
give numbered rules which will enable us infallibly to
judge between dependable and undependable books,
some help may be had by considering

1. The Date. — In science and other subjects in which
knowledge is increasing very fast, recent books are better
than the older ones. Remember, however, that what
matters is the date when the book was written or when it
was last revised by the author, rather than the date of the
latest reprinting. Remember also that in some subjects
the older book may be better than the newer one. If,
for example, we wish to find out all that we can about Sir
Walter Scott, we should certainly be making a mistake
to ignore the work of his son-in-law, Lockhart, whose
biography of Scott was published between 1836 and
1838.

2. The Author. — The date, after all, tells us com-
paratively little about the book ; we must try to find out
something about the author. What books has he pre-
viously written, and what have experts thought about
them? What training has he had? What degrees has
he received? What professional position does he hold,,
and to what learned societies does he belong ? ^ Has he
an internatiojial reputation ?

3. The Book Itself. — It is the book itself, however,
rather than anything that we can learn about the author
or infer from the date of publication, that ought to in-
fluence us. We must be alert to notice the purpose of the
book, as shown by the title-page and by the preface.

1 These questions Who's Who, Wkohs Who in America, and other
biographical dictionaries will help us to answer.

GATHEBING AND WEIGHING MATERIAL 11

Does it aim to silence an opponent or to seek the truth ?
Has the author written his book in a hurry or has he been
gathering his material and pondering it for many years ?
Has he read few books or many ? Is he generous in what
he says about those who have previously written on the
subject or does he give you the impression that now for
the first time an ignorant world is to be set right? Is
he cautious in his use of evidence ? Does he seem to be
devoted to the subject or is he somewhat too intent upon
the aim of making a personal reputation ? ^

These considerations amount to saying that every author
is a witness, and that therefore his value as a witness
depends upon his opportunity for observing the phenom-
ena that he is writing about, upon the general intelli-
gence and special knowledge which make him able or
unable to interpret what he has observed, and upon the
presence or absence of some motive or prejudice that would
injure the truth of his account. It should particularly
be remembered that expertness in one subject does not
qualify a person to pronounce an opinion on a diflPerent
subject. Indeed his expertness may positively injure
his value as a witness, for it may tempt him to apply
false analogies. For example, if he is a manufacturer
writing about sociology, he may be tempted to consider
men as if they were machines.

5. On Taking Notes. — Since note-taking is constantly
useful in almost all college courses, it should be early
mastered. Its principle is simple, — that, by attentive
listening or reading, the student can condense into small
space the gist of any lecture or book. The difficulty of

^ With these questions in mind, examine College Readings, pp. 248-^9
(E. L. Godkin, " Professor Huxley's Lectures")-

12 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

the work will, of course, vary as the speaker or writer is
or is not systematic. In any case, however, the student
will readily perceive what is important, while close atten-
tion will reveal to him the plan of any well-constructed
book or lecture. This plan, if he is making an abstract
from a book, he can write down at his leisure ; but if he is
taking notes from a lecture he must keep pace with the
speaker. His object should be to put on paper not only
the outline but as many of the details as are necessary
for complete understanding when read, say, some two or
three months later. If the notes can be made clear to
any reader, so much the better.

For the general practice of note-taking it is well to
bear in mind the following suggestions :

The Matter. — Listen or read attentively to distinguish
between essentials and non-essentials. Essentia ls are the
facts or theories of the m aster i^ hai^; !^ l^on-essentials
are introductory or transitional or illustrative passages,
with all that goes to make for mere interest. It is clear
that the essentials should be noted down, and that other
matters should generally be rejected. Illustrations, which
the beginner is inclined to write out in full, can usually be
recalled by a mere reference.

For essentials and non-essentials, then, the practice is
simple. But between the two lies a class of matter which
will be more or less valuable to the note-taker according
to his familiarity with the subject, or his ability to com-
prehend it at once. This class is explanatory matter,
which students will use in different proportions. Good
note-taking requires, nevertheless, that as much of this
be preserved as will show the sequence and make all essen-
tials clear.

GATHEBING AND WEIGHING MATERIAL 13

The Form. — For the sake of accuracy, it is well to
use as many as possible of the author's words, of course
condensing wherever there is opportunity. It is, however,
not always possible to use the author's phrasing, especiaUy
in taking notes from lectures, when there is need of haste.
Skillful paraphrasing is then quite satisfactory.

If possible (that is, whenever the book or lecture is
systematically planned) the notes should be put down in
topical form, with headings and sub-headings, for such
an arrangement aids in studying the subject. Further,
the notes should be widely spaced, to give opportunity
for corrections or additions. Notes will be the clearer
if they are well indented and if important words and
phrases are underlined.

Notes should convey complete statements, not neces-
sarily in finished sentences, but so nearly complete that
the meaning is plain. The beginner is too apt to suppose
that a word will convey a statement as well as it will
remind one of an illustration. The two are quite diflPer-
ent. Simple abbreviations, not only in sentences but also
in words, are recommended as making the work easier.
They should^ however, be clear to the instructor.

6. On Being Logical. — Apart from style, many of
the grounds on which we prefer one book to another are
nothing more than matters of logic. A traveler visits a
few American cities and writes his impressions of America.
An instructor reads the first two pages of a theme, finds
them very badly written, and says to himself, " This is
going to be a poor theme." Every one is subject to the
temptation of judging the whole by a part. Yet to yield
to this temptation is to commit one of the most serious of
offenses against logic.

14 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

A similar error is that which so frequently appears in
Macaulay's account of Johnson. Macaulay gives us the
impression that whenever Johnson dined out the air
was more or less fiUed with ladies' slippers and that
Johnson always asked the waiter to bring him a Newfound-
land dog instead of a napkin. Macaulay's error consists
in so exaggerating a statement of what happened in a single
case that it becomes the basis for the assertion that
Johnson habituaUy did that thing. It will elsewhere be
pointed out (see page 290) that the force of reserve is
greater than the force of exaggeration. Let this become
for you a matter not merely of the sparing use of adjectives
in the superlative degree, but of the cautious use of
evidence in all kinds of writing.

7. On Being Specific. — Most subjects as they occur
to inexperienced writers are large enough for volumes:
Capital and Labor, Immigration, College Athletics, Boys*
Clubs, and The High Cost of Living are not subjects for
six-page compositions, but for books. If they are to be
made the subjects for six-page compositions, they must
be strictly limited. Assume them to be titles for books,
ask yourself what would be the chapter headings for your
book, and then take one of those headings for your six-
page theme. Practice breaking up subjects into their
natural divisions. Take the history of the town in which
you were born, for example. To do it thoroughly would
require a volume. How would that volume be divided?
''The Settlement," of course, would be one chapter.
"RTaere did the people come from who settled it? Why?
Who were they? Then " The Early Days " would be a
natural topic : the first church, the first school, and the
other beginnings. So the story would come down, longer

GATHERING AND WEIGHING MATERIAL 15

or shorter according to the age of the town ; but in any
case too great a sweep of events to be spoiled by superficial
treatment in one short paper.

But, you say, I do not presume to compete with
mature scholars who write histories of towns or whole
volumes on any subject. Why should not I, a mere
beginner, take for my theme a subject for which an
experienced historian would require a volume? The
answer is that instead of being easier to write on a large
subject it is much harder. You have not the requisite
power to select and generalize. Do not try it : tell what
your town did in the Civil War, or what happened when
the railroad came through ; but do not attempt the whole
story.

8. On Making Experiments Succeed. — WTien I per-
form a series of experiments which seem to show that A
causes B, I must be careful to eliminate the possibility
that something other than A caused B, In the laboratory
this is relatively easy : I can maintain approximately con-
stant temperature, minimize disturbances from without,
practically eliminate the possibility of unreliable weights
and measures, and be pretty sure that the ten grains of
salt used in Experiment A are precisely the same kind of
stuflf as the five grains used in Experiment B. But when
I deal in human material the case is different. Suppose
that, observing that a certain boy did well at a large
college and that his brother did badly at a small college,
I conclude that large colleges are preferable to small ones.
Here I have virtually performed two experiments: in
Experiment A, Student C attends College D, with good
results ; in Experiment By Student E attends College f ,
with bad results. If, in these two experiments, all the

16 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

conditions except one had been exactly the same, I could
pretty safely conclude that this one diflFerence in the condi-
tions caused the diflPerence in results ; but if two conditions
are diflPerent, either may have caused the diflFerence in
results. This difliculty of eliminating all the variables
except one arises in nearly all human questions. The
difficulty can be met only by making the conditions of
experiment as favorable as possible, by taking a great
many cases into account, and by regarding the apparent
result not as absolute proof, but as a probability.^ Similar
difficulties meet us when we deal with probable future
occurrences. Should the United States own and operate
railways? Shall we spend our next summer vacation at
a certain lake in Maine? The scientific method would
be, of course, to try it and see. But in many human
questions failure would be so disastrous that we hardly
dare to try it. What approach to proof can we make in
such cases? We can seek for analogies. We can ask
what the United States has operated that are most like
railways, and perhaps find an analogy in the Post Office
Department. And we can ask what countries that are
most like the United States have operated railways. Or,
in the other question, we can ask what people whose tastes
approximate ours have successfully tried this lake in
Maine, or what places most like this one we have success-
fully tried. In each case our eflfort is to reduce to a mini-
mum the possibility of an error through unnoticed varia-
tions in the conditions of the experiment. If we do not
regard these details very carefully, we shall, no matter

^ To what extent does E. D. Durand observe these principles in his
argument on " Council Government vs. Mayor Government" (College
Headings, pp. 241 flf.)?

GATHERING AND WEIGHING MATERIAL 17

whether we are writing argument, biography, or exposi-
tion, fail to arrive at the truth.^

9. On Being Original. — To maintain one's originality
in the face of the rows of books that confront one in a
college library is a task that calls for real fortitude and
activity. The matter is as important as any that we
have to speak of in this book. Failure to read enough
exposes one to the charge of being ignorant. Undue
dependence upon the writing of others brings the still
graver charge of unoriginality, if not of plagiarism. What
is the proper course to take ?

1. Either quote your author exactly, — that is, put
quotation marks around what you have taken from him,
no matter whether it is three words or a whole paragraph,
and add a footnote explaining just what you have done, —
or else keep so far away from what he has said that if
his account and yours were arranged in parallel columns
you would not feel ashamed of your lack of original ideas
or words.

2. Do not try to remember words; try to remember
ideas. Your reading has done you no good unless you
can give the gist of it in your own words.

3. Unless you wish to copy, close all books before you
begin to write your own version, and do not open them
imtil you have finished. Then turn to them if you must
to verify a date or the spelling of a proper name, but not
for other suggestions.

10. Why You Must Not Copy Without Acknowledg-
ment. — 1. Because when you write your name on
the outside of the composition you thereby give your

^ What analogies are used by Sir William Anson ("A Defence of the
House of Lords, " College Readings, 271 flf .) ?
c

18 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

word that, except for acknowledgments expressed in it,
the work is all yours.

2. Because you cannot learn to write except by writing.
Copying is not writing.

3. Because to insert bits of another's work in your own
almost always makes a ridiculous hodge-podge. The
kind of student who copies another person's work is
usually an inferior student. The person whom he copies
is a mature writer. The result is that the reader,
though he may not recognize the source of the borrowing,
feels that the theme does not ring true. '

4. Because you have been told not to.

Unless, therefore, you feel that it would be sensible and
honorable to have another player impersonate you in an
athletic contest, do not allow any one to impersonate
you in a theme, or in any part of a theme.

11. Alertness toward Material Outside of Books.^ —
To be curious, intelligent, and imaginative through every
moment of every day is the secret of success, if one wishes
to write more than tolerably well. Our education comes,
of course, not merely from books, not merely from those
who are paid to teach us, but from every one who knows
something that we do not know and from every sight and
sound that is new to us in respect either to its appearance
or its significance. Dr. Richard Cabot, in his remarkable
book called What Men Live By, has this to say about the
jewels of daily life :

Perhaps I should here explain more concretely what I mean
by the jewels of daily life. Here are some : the flash of a moving
violin bow (as well as of the note it invokes), the shock of cool

1 Cf. College Readings, 165 flF.

GATHERING AND WEIGHING MATERIAL 19

water on your heated face, a thrush note at dawn, a cadenza
of swift laughter, the crash and foam of a breaking wave, the
silver needle of a fife note, the rocket flight of a piccolo flute,
all fireworks and brilliant lights in city streets, the light of speak-
ing or laughing eyes, the first glimpse of an hepatica in spring
with the white ends of its stamens shining against its deep pur-
ple cup like stars in a summer night, — all these briUiant points
of delight have this in common that, like an electric spark,
they set off trains of thought and action which of ourselves
we are powerless to ignite.

Dr. Cabot has contrived, you see, to extract imagina-
tive stimulus from experiences which are open to us aU,
but which our coarser senses and inferior interpreta-
tive powers have caused us to miss. By alert read-
ing and resolute practice, every one can see more
beauty and significance in his daily life; and he can
enjoy one of the keenest of all pleasures, if he will
insist upon going further and trying to fit words to
what he sees.

If writing is any fun at all, why should we do it only
when we are told to; and if it is not any fun at all, is
that not partly because we are not working hard enough
or intelligently enough at it? Whoever has had the
pleasure of seeing the studio of a painter or sculptor has
seen a room containing not merely finished pieces of work,
but also a great many studies which probably will never
be finished, — a head, a hand, a few lines set down be-
cause the artist could not rest until he had worked
out some small point which he was quite content to put
away by itself without asking whether it belonged in some
larger design. To enjoy his work the student of writing
. must do the same ; he must keep a notebook. He must

20 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

jot down in it suggestions for plots. The newspapers
are full of them, and the anecdotes that he hears — often
badly told — can be developed effectively. He must also
set down names that would be good for fictitious charac-
ters, curious bits of dialect, and telling descriptive phrases.
If he feels dubious about the good sense of this advice,
let him turn to the well-known passages in which Ben-
jamin Franklin and Robert Louis Stevenson tell how
they learned to write, or let him read Nathaniel Haw-
thorne's notebooks and observe there the rough notes out
of which so many admirable sketches and stories were
worked up. (See § 103.) The trouble is not that there
is nothing to write about, but that we are over-
whelmed by many experiences out of which we are too
lazy and unimaginative to disengage the few beauti-
ful and significant ones.

EXERCISES

1. Bring in a list of three dictionaries, three encyclopedias,
three dictionaries of biography, and three yearbooks. To
each add a short note of your own, indicating the scope and
value of the work.

2. Spend fifteen minutes in examining some book whict you
have not previously looked at, and then be prepared to discuss
its purpose, arrangement, thoroughness, and fairness.

3. Collect ten references (books or magazine articles) on
some subject suitable for a composition of a thousand words.
Arrange the references properly and add a sentence of conunent
on each.

4. Write a one-page theme in which the topic-sentence and
the conclusion shall be your own, but in which every statement
of fact shall rest upon the authority of some one else. Refer
specifically to each authority in a footnote.

GATHERING AND WEIGHING MATEBIAL 21

5. In connection with the following problems for research,
consider the necessary definitions, tests to be applied, sources
of information, and errors to be avoided :

a. A writer wishes to discover whether students whose
scholarship in college was high have or have not been more
successful in after life than those of inferior scholarship.

b* A writer wishes to discover whether registration in col-
lege does or does not fluctuate according to the success of the
college in athletics.

c. The person in charge of a large course in English com-
position wishes to learn whether his staff of assistants have or
have not the same standard in marking compositions.

6. After having read the preceding chapter, comment on the
following passages :

a. This book will fill an important blank in the history of
the outbreak of the American Revolution. . . . No servant
of the Crown ever received more slander, personal abuse, and
misrepresentation than Thomas Hutchinson in Massachusetts,
and yet his descendants have allowed a whole century to elapse
without making an effort to defend his character.

6. The following impressions of America were written hur-
riedly as I traveled about from place to place. Never having
more than two days in a city, I was obliged to make most of
my notes on trains, and I beg the reader's indulgence if the style
is at times hasty. I regret too that I have been able to visit
only New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Wash-
ington. I may say, however, that while in these places I took
every opportunity to make inquiries about the other parts of
the coimtry, and I hope the results will be foimd at least approxi-
mately truthful.

c. In preparing this volume I have carefully examined all
the literature contemporary and posthumous relating to Mr.
Webster. I have not gone beyond the printed material, of
which there is a vast mass, much of it of no value, but which
contains all and more than is needed to obtain a correct under-

/ .'

22 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

standing of the man and of his public and private life. No one
can pretend to write a life of Webster without following in large
measure the narrative of events as given in the elaborate, care-
ful, and scholarly biography which we owe to Mr. George H.
Curtis. In many of my conclusions I have differed widely
from those of Mr. Curtis, but I desire at the outset to acknowl-
edge fully my obligations to him. I have sought information
in all directions, and have obtained some fresh material, and, as
I believe, have thrown a new light upon certain points, but this
does not in the least diminish the debt which I owe to the ample
biography of Mr. Curtis in regard to the details as well as the
general outline of Mr. Webster's public and private life.

d. The names on the title-page stand as representative of
the two nations whose final contest for the control of North
America is the subject of the book.

A very large amoimt of unpublished material has been used
in its preparation, consisting for the most part of documents
copied from the archives and libraries of France and Eng-
land, especially from the Archives de la Marine et des Colonies,
the Archives de la Guerre, and the Archives Nationales at Paris,
and the Public Record Office and the British Museum at Lon-
don. The papers copied for the present work in France alone
exceed six thousand folio pages of manuscript, additional and
supplementary to the 'Paris Documents' procured for the State
of New York under the agency of Mr. Brodhead. The copies
made in England form ten volumes, besides many English docu-
ments consulted in the original manuscript. Great numbers
of autograph letters, diaries, and other writings of persons en-
gaged in the war have also been examined on this side of the
Atlantic.

I owe to the kindness of the present Marquis de Montcalm
the permission to copy all the letters written by his ancestor.
General Montcalm, when in America, to members of his family
in France. General Montcalm, from his first arrival in Canada
to a few days before his death, also carried on an active corre-

GATHERING AND WEIGHING MATERIAL 23

spondence with one of his chief officers, Bourlamaque, with '
whom he was on terms of intimacy. These autograph letters
are now preserved in a private collection. I have examined
them, and obtained copies of the whole. They form an interest-
ing complement to the official correspondence of the writer,
and throw the most curious side-lights on the persons and events
of the time.

Besides manuscripts, the printed matter in the form of
books, pamphlets, contemporary newspapers, and other publica-
tions relating to the American part of the Seven Years* War,
is varied and abundant; and I believe I may safely say that
nothing in it of much consequence has escaped me. The liber-
ality of some of the older States of the Union, especially New
York and Pennsylvania, in printing the voluminous records
of their colonial history, has saved me a deal of tedious labor.

The whole of this published and unpublished mass of evi-
dence has been read and collated with extreme care, and more
than common pains have been taken to secure . accuracy of
statement. The study of books and papers, however, could not
alone answer the purpose. The plan of the work was formed in
early youth; and though various causes have long delayed
its execution, it has always been kept in view. Meanwhile,
I have visited and examined every spot where events of any
importance in connection with the contest took place, and I
have observed with attention such scenes and persons as might
help to illustrate those I meant to describe. In short, the sub-
ject has been studied as much from life and in the open air as
at the library table.

7. Keep a Literary Diary for one week. Put down in it
a. Your reading and what you thought about it.

. h. Your lectures and what you thought about them.

c. Any topics (suggested by reading, conversation, or ob-
servation) that would work up well into compositions, long or
short, in verse or in prose.

d. Anything else that is to the point.

24 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

8. Exercises in the Use of Reference Books. — Answers
should be clear and precise. At the end of each answer
there should be a list of the books consulted. For the
form of references, see § 318.

1. "Bobs." His career and titles.
>- 2. What was the Ku-Klux-Klan ?

3. What are the real names of Moliere, Voltaire, and Anatole
^ France ?

4. How many dreadnaughts were in the navies of the world
in 1912 ? How many in 1915 ?

5. What events occurred in the War of the Nations on May
land May 7, 1915?

6. Who was the "Old Man Eloquent"? What important
offices did his father and his son hold ?

7. What astronomical societies are there in the world ?

^ 8. How many bales of cotton were produced in the United

States in 1839? In 1860?

9. What is the Lincoln Highway ? Where may four maga-
zine articles on it be found ?

10. Give the career of the present Governor of Illinois.

11. Give a brief account of the siege of Maf eking. What is
-— "mafficking"?

12. Give the career of Clyde Fitch. Name six plays by him.

13. Mention ten colleges in Ohio.

14. " God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb." Who wrote
A this ? Give the dates of his bi^th and death, and the names and

dates of all his works. \^-,.\// ;;-

15. What was Dr. Samuel Johnson's opinion of America?

16. "The pen is mightier than the sword." Where does
this occur? Give the name of the author. What is his rela-
tion to the author of LtLcUle f

17. Mention five war plays of 1915.

18. Who was Rob Roy? Where may the best accounts of
his adventures be found ?

GATHERING AND WEIGHING MATERIAL 25

19. The career of the present Emperor of Japan.

20. What are the real names of Mmes. Sembrich, Calv6, and
Gadski?

21. Name fifteen decisive battles of the world before 1816.

22. Where was Achilles vulnerable, and why? What killed
him?

23. Mention an authoritative biography of Lamb, Carlyle,
Lowell, and Hawthorne.

24. Who is the present Secretary of War? Give his career,
his party, his salary, and his state.

25. The farthest north reached by Nansen, Duke D'Abruzzi,
Baldwin, Kane, and Peary (on his next to the last trip).

26. The difference between a Saga and an Edda. Name two
of each, and their best translations.

27. Give the date of publication, period, scene, and prominent
historical character of Romola ? Who was the author ? Name
five other books by the same writer.

28. What was the Hejira, and what is its use in reckoning
time ?

29. What is a Passion Play, and why is it so called ? Where
is the most famous one given, and how often ?

Part II

KINDS OF COMPOSITION

12. Introduction. — A classification of all prose compo-
sition into four forms — Exposition, Argument, Descrip-
tion, and Narrative — is of course a rough division, as
would be a classification of gardens or anything else. Yet
it seems necessary, for each form has its separate tech-
nique, which the beginner must learn. For any one who
sits down to write almost certainly has as his main pur-
pose the wish to explain, argue, describe, or narrate.
Suppose, for example, that he is trying to write something
about baseball. He may wish merely to explain the
game, in which case he must not argue, describe, or nar-
rate, except incidentally. He may wish to argue that
the rules of baseball should be changed in certain re-
spects, in which case he must stick to that single aim.
Or he may desire to depict the appearance of a baseball
field on a certain afternoon in May, and if so he has still
another definite problem, quite different from the task
of explanation or argument. Or, finally, his purpose
may be to tell how his school team won the game in the
final inning. In this last case everything else must be
subordinate to narrative.

composition should not diminish for
* of books in which all these kinds

KINDS OF COMPOSITION 27

of composition are skillfully mingled. Nor need it lead
a beginner to assume that he cannot himself attempt a
composition in which, for example, the purpose is explan-
atory and the form narrative.

So we shall examine successively Exposition (including
Criticism and Biography), Argument, Description, and
Narrative.

CHAPTER II

EXPOSITION

PURE EXPOSITION

13. Definition and Kinds. — When we explain a
term (such as piracy) or a process (such as the manu-
facture of artificial ice) or any systematic thing (such as
baseball, or the feudal system, or the organization of a
city fire department) we are either speaking or writing
Exposition. Expos ition, then, i« simply ^^YplQUftflon
It is a very common and very useful form of writing and
it plays a considerable part in conversation, too. Sup-
pose, for instance, that on your way to an examination
you are asked the nearest way to a certain building.
Your answer is a short exposition. Suppose that in that
examination you are asked, " What were the causes of
the Civil War ? " Your answer is an exposition. Sup-
pose that after the examination you pick up a book called
How to Play Bridge, That entire book is an exposition.

14. Choosing a Subject.

1. Choose subjects for which the explanatory method

— not the argumentative, descriptive, or narrative method

— is the natural mode of development. There are many
subjects which might conceivably be expounded, but which
if allowed to take their natural course drift into some
other kind of writing. These are poor subjects for those
who need practice in pure exposition.

EXPOSITION 29

2. Since exposition is explanation, the one who ex-
plains must know a good deal about the subject. I Choose
subjects, therefore, on which your knowledge is as full as
possible. I A theme on " How to Travel in the Tropics "
by a person who had never been outside of northern Ver-
mont would probably be unsuccessful.

3. This does not mean that you must always avoid
bookish subjects in favor of games which you know how
to play or processes which you have actually watched. It
means that I when you take subjects which necessitate
dependence on books you should try by every possible
means to make them seem lively and important.!

4.1 Avoid subjects which every one knows about or
thiims he knows about^ an explanation of " How to Use
a Knife and Fork " would have to be very clever and very
tactful to escape failure, and hardly any one would begin a
magazine article entitled " How to Black Boots." A suc-
cessful subject must be one the technique of which is diflS-
cult enough to make the reader feel the need of instruction.

5. Avoid subjects that are too big . *' Fishing," even if
you know all about it, is too large. You will certainly
succeed better if you limit yourself to " Fly Fishing for
Trout," or " Fishing through the Ice for Pickerel," or
some other phase of the subject. Particularly is this
true if your knowledge has been gained from experience
rather than from reading. You have, perhaps, watched
the making of hay in New Hampshire. If so, write, not
on " Haymaking," but on " Haymaking in New Hamp-
shire," for haymaking in the Middle West may be quite
a different matter.

6.|Do not — except facetiously — write on subjects
in wHich expertness cannot possibly be attained by read-

30 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

ing a book of instructions! " How to be Popular " is an
art not to be learned from any book.

15. Gathering Material. — Far more important than
any rhetorical principle in Exposition is the matter of
truthfulness, correctness, reliability . Indeed, if it has
not a sound basis in fact, no amount of skill in style can
make an exposition important, or even safe. For ex-
ample, one of the briefest and commonest forms of
exposition is the recipe for preparing food or medicine.
Untruthfulness in such an exposition may result in dis-
comfort, illness, or — if wrong directions are given for han-
dling powerful drugs — even death. Similarly, if wrong
directions are given for making a canoe watertight, or
for avoiding fever in tropical countries, the consequences
may be very serious indeed.

Do not feel, however, that you can avoid all responsi-
bility for such consequences by writing on something
like " The Powers of an English Cabinet Minister " in
which errors are " not serious." All errors are serious.
Whatever your subject, you must feel, more deeply than
you feel the importance of any rhetorical principle, the
tug of conscience ths^t forces you to search the literature of
the subject, to cross-examine your own experience, to weigh,
to reject, to alter, to think hard and long, in order that your
work may, above everything else, be a truthful account. If
you have not this feeling, and cannot acquire it, you will
merely waste your own time and that of your instructor
by going through the motions of writing an exposition.

16. Considering the Reader.^ — In no kind of writing
is it more important than in exposition to have a certain
reader or a definite body of readers distinctly in mind.

^ Cf. CoUege Readings, 18 ff., and consider the usefulness of "Dick.**

EXPOSITION 31

Regard your teacher not as your reader, but as a coach
who tells you whether you are or are not reaching your
readers. You will certainly not reach them unless you
know (a) who they are, (b) how much they know about
the subject, (c) how much they care about it, (d) how much
they know about related subjects which can be used as
illustrations, and (e) what prejudices they have which
require to be overcome. If you examine text-books and
other published expositions, you will see that authors
often show by their titles or prefaces that they know pre-
cisely whom they are addressing: Freshman Rhetoric,
Chemistry for Beginners, The Amateur Gardener's Guide^
— these very titles are lessons in definiteness of purpose.
You have one advantage over an actual author, how-
ever: you can successfully address your exposition to a
single person (such as your younger brother) or a small
group of people (such as the pupils of your preparatory
school) whom you know ; whereas an actual author aims
at large bodies of people whom he does not know as in-
dividuals. Whether you address one person or many,
you must make such a strong and constant effort of the
imagination as will enable you to read your reader's mind:
it is as important as it is to read your opponent's inten-
tions in a game. Do not begin to write, therefore, until
you know for whom you are writing. Then you will be
likely to see — and include — whatever explanations are
needful, and equally clearly you will see — and omit —
whatever explanations are superfluous.

17. Planning the Exposition. — The planning of exposi-
tion according to the method here suggested is not a device
of the teacher to make the task more difficult : it is, on
the contrary, a trial balance, a " stitch in time," a form of

32 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

insurance against bad structure. It is habitually used by
experienced writers who, since they are trying to earn a
living rather than to please an instructor, cannot afford to
spend their time in going through unnecessary motions.

The reason that time spent on an outline is time saved
in the later stages of writing is just this: the more of
the theme we can see at once, the more distinct will be
our idea of the relation of the parts. If you wish to get
a clear idea of the relative position of the Southern
States, you do not merely read about the matter, nor do
you consult an atlas in which Georgia occupies one page
and South Carolina another. You look at a map on which,
although each state is reduced in size, all the states are
shown in their correct relative position. The same rea-
son that makes pictures, maps, and charts vastly more
effective than text for certain purposes makes an outline
plan the best test of the relative order and weight of the
material. For a plan is a kind of picture, and a very
vivid one so far as the order of points and the matter of
coordination and subordination are concerned. A com-
plete theme of a thousand words is a very difficult thing
to hold off at arm's length in order that one may ask:
Have I taken up these points in the most effective order ?
Are my proportions right ? Is that second point of equal
importance with the third, or is it a subordinate detail
under the first main heading ? And to move about whole
paragraphs is bothersome , in comparison with moving
about single sentences, especially if each sentence is
jotted down on a separate slip of paper. In other words,
during the early stages of a composition we are keeping
our minds open to various possibilities: a given bit of
material may turn out to be of prime importance, of

EXPOSITION 33

minor importance, or of no importance at all; it may
belong early in the theme, or in the middle, or toward the
end. While we are thus moving our material about, we
need to have it in light and movable form, and we need
to be able to make a chart of our entire theme in order
to see the proper relation of the parts. Therefore a
theme well planned is half written.

For rather short compositions, especially if the struc-
ture is fairly simple, an eflFective plan, so far as it goes,
can be made by reducing each of your proposed main
divisions to a topic-sentence, arranging the topic-sentences

— after trying different orders — in a single column,
numbering them, and giving them — so far as you can

— parallel form. Such a rough plan can be jotted down
under the most trying conditions — in an hour examina-
tion, for example ; and the result will certainly be a better
paper than if no time is spent in planning.

If the composition is long, however, and at all elaborate
in structure, a regular outline, with headings and sub-
headings to the third or fourth degree, will probably be
necessary. The following outline, prepared by an under-
graduate who wished to write an exposition of one thou-
sand words on " How Trails are Made," is a fairly good
illustration of the method :

HOW TRAILS ARE MADE
I. To have a general idea how traUs are made is useful,
in order

A. That the traveler may be better able to find his

way in the forest.

B. That one may be able to build a trail himself.

C. That one may better appreciate the hard work of

other trail builders.

34 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

II. Principle of building trails.

A. There are three main objects in view :

1. To reach destination as soon as possible.

St, To make the grade as gradual as possible if on a

mountain.
3. To have the trail pass as many points of interest

as possible.

B. These three objects are accomplished

1. By making the trail as direct and distinct as

possible.

2. By making the trail as free from obstacles as

possible.

3. By many other ways which will be explained in

the detailed process.

III. Detailed process of construction.

A. Implements used

1. By a working party of several persons.

2. By a single trail builder.

B, Methods of construction under different conditions :

1. Through the forest, using
a. Blazes.

h. Signs.

2. Crossing streams, using

a. Log bridges. #

h. Stepping stones.

3. On bare or rocky ground, using
a. Cairns of stone.

6. Splashes of paint,
c. Signs.

IV. (Conclusion) A short paragraph summarizing the com-

position.

18. General Rules for Making Plans. — In studying
such a plan you observe

EXPOSITION 35

1 . That to place headings in column means that they are
coordinate in value and that therefore they will as a rule
occupy something like the same amount of space in the
theme, and that they will be so introduced by connectives ^
that their equal rank will appear in the finished themfe.

2. That the main headings are designated by Roman
numerals (I, II), those in the next colunm by capitals
{Af By etc.), the next by arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.),
and the next by small letters (a, 6, c, etc.). If the plan
is carried out further, any figures or letters will serve if
they have not been already employed, and if they are
consistently used.

19. Special Rules for Making Plans.

jl. Ordinarily every subheading must be a real subdi-
vision, j Since it is obviously impossible to subdivide a
thing into less than two parts, a single subheading, un-
less it is an example, should ordinarily be either (a) com-
bined with the heading next above it or (6) supplemented
by other headings. The first of the following examples
illustrates (a) ; the second, (6) :

(«)

I. The Pleasures of Collecting.
A. Old China.

(h)

I. Agriculture in New England.
A. In Vermont.

2. Each group of headings, taken together, should
sufficiently cover the field designated in the heading next
above them in rank.' Thus, if I have a heading " The

1 Scte p. 226 on Coherence.

36 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Government of the United States," my subheadings
must include the various branches of that government.
That it failed to obey this rule was the trouble with the
second example (6). Difficult as it undoubtedly is to be
sure that we have covered the necessary ground when we
write about " The Causes of the French Revolution," or
" The Results of Darwin's Discoveries," or " The DiflFer-
ences between Napoleon and Washington," we shall per-
haps find help in these simple rules :

(a) Read widely about the subject.

(6) Analyze your headings carefully to see if they ap-
pear to make a complete set.

(c) If in doubt, show by your title that you are not
sure of having included everything. (For example, " The
Chief Causes of the French Revolution " or " A Few
Results of Darwin's Discoveries.")

3. The headings nmst be mutually exclusive ; that is,
they must not overlap. Sometimes it is very easy to
see that they overlap ; sometimes it is difficult. In the
the headings which follow

A. American History of the 19th Century

B. The Period of the Civil War

it is evident that A includes B,

Few writers would be guilty of that kind of overlap-
ping. But when the divisions are neither chronological
nor geographical, it is not so easy to follow the same prin-
ciple of subdivision throughout an entire set of headings.
Thus, if I subdivide the heading " Students of Yale Col-
lege " into " Students from the South," ** Sophomores,'*
" Students interested in Music," and " Members of the
Glee Club," I have utterly failed to apply the same

EXPOSITION 37

principle of division. It is, in fact, evident that a man
might belong to all of these four classes.

4. 1 The headings should be, as far as possible, parallel
in form. I The first subheading is pretty likely to read
right on, as it should, from the heading above it in rank.
But by the time we have reached our third or fourth sub-
heading, it is not so easy to remember the construction
with which we began. Did we commit ourselves to a
set of infinitive phrases? Or substantive clauses? Or
imperatives? Or participial phrases? We must keep
on as we began; in other words, each heading — not
merely the first — must read right on from the superior
heading.

5. /The plan should be one which (if figures and letters
are omitted) can be read aloud smoothly).

6. The subheadings should be carried out far enough
to insure, not merely the right order of paragraphs, but
also the best arrangement of material within each para-
graph. At the same time, it would be absurd to make
headings for all illustrative and other subordinate mate-
rial.

7. It is not always necessary, or desirable, to have a
formal introduction and a formal conclusion. The reader
should feel that the theme begins and ends satisfactorily,
not mechanically. The avoidance of too much formality
in the plan will help to secure this eflFect. To say that
every composition should have a beginning, a middle,
and an end is very far from saying that the actual words
" Introduction," " Body," and ** Conclusion " should be
used.

8. It is not practicable to work out all of the main
headings first and then to fill in with subheadings:

38 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

material turns up in a haphazard fashion, big and little
matters all together, and it must accordingly be sorted
out from the first.

9. This sorting wijl be most easily done if a separate
card or slip of paper is used for each point. The slips
can then be arranged on a desk or large table, and their
proper order and importance can be studied to great
advantage.

20. Unity. — The principle of iim'ty n>q uires that a
co mposition should express one central idea . The first
thing to do is to find out what your central idea is and to
rule out all material which is irrelevant to this idea.
You can accomplish this result by careful analysis of
your subject. The most practical device is the use of a
plan.^ In exposition the plan will show you just what
points belong to your subject and what ones should be
excluded. Furthermore, you should regard your subject
from a well-defined point of view, and hold to this point
of view consistently. This point of view should be
adapted to the ment^ background of your readers.*

21. Coherence. -4To make the structure of a composi-
tion coherent, you Should arrange the material so that
the relation of part to part shall be clear. 'You may
choose whatever arrangement best suits your material
and purpose. There are a number of modes of progres-
sion : (a) progression in time (as in explanations of pro-
cesses, in biography, history, etc.) ; (6) progression in
space (as in explanations of factories, etc.) ; (c) progression
from the familiar to the unfamiliar ; (d) progression from
one division to another; (e) progression from cause to

1 Cf . pages 31 flf .
« Cf. page 31.

EXPOSITION 39

effect; (J) progression in order of climax.^ When you
have chosen the best mode of development, you should
make the relation of the subdivisions to each other abso-
lutely clear by means of announcements of method, tran-
sitions, and summaries.^

22. Emphasis. — ITo make the structure of a composi-
tion emphatic, you should put the most important ideas
in the most important positions.! The end of a composi-
tion is more important than the beginning, since it leaves
the impression of completeness. In exposition the begin-
ning announces the subject and should arouse attention.
The ending sums up the whole. This position you should
utilize to the best of your ability, for it gives you a chance
to enforce your central idea.^

23. Writing the Exposition. — Expository material,
unlike narrative material, is all in sight from the begin-
ning. There is no dramatic climax, no mystery. If I
withhold certain explanations until toward the end of
my book, it is because my reader cannot comprehend
them at the beginning. Thus exposition deals, as it
were, with a group of objects spread out in full view;
whereas the course of narrative may be likened to a wind-
ing stream around the turns in which — except as he
looks back — the reader is not permitted to see. This
general likeness between expository material and material
spread out upon a plain surface will guide us in many
points of expository procedure.

1 Which of these methods are used in the articles beginning on pp.
18, 31, 47, 90, 99, and 130 of College Readings?

* Cf. in College Readings, the articles beginning on pp. 2, 34, 43, 47,
58, 85, 130, and 149.

3 Cf . in College Readings the selections beginning on pp. 14, 18, 27,
109, 137, and 173.

40 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

24. The Introduction. — In general, the introduction
of an exposition has three aims :

1. To arouse interes t. Those who feel that exposition
need not be interesting, who think of the instructor as
their only reader, and who take advantage of the fact
that he must read their work whether it is tiresome or
not, are making a very serious mistake. Let them try to
imitate the conditions in the real world of letters, where,
if the first paragraph is dull, most readers turn to another
article in the magazine.^

2. To explain the point of view when such an expla-
nation IS necessary. Note that in a book this explana-
tion is usually made in the preface rather than in the first
paragraph, and consider whether a more precise subtitle
or a footnote will not explain your purpose. If it will,
you are so much the freer in writing your introduc-
tion.

3. To show what is going to be done. It must always
be remembered tEat m exposition we are taking something
to pieces, explaining the nature and use of each of the
parts, and showing the relation of that part to its neigh-
bors. It is, accordingly, of great importance that the
reader should constantly know where he is with refer-
ence to the general outline. One means of helping him
to keep his bearings is to give him at the beginning a
bird's-eye view of the country through which he is to
travel. Accordingly, we find Lord Bryce at the begin-
ning of The American Commonwealth, an exposition which
extends to more than fifteen hundred pages, outlining
his plan in two pages, which are thus introduced :

^ Or let them study such an interesting exposition as that in College
Readings, 18 ff.

EXPOSITION 41

Even when limited by the exclusion of history and law, the
subject remains so vast and complex as to make necessary an
explanation of the conception I have formed of it, and of the
plan upon which the book has been constructed.^

It would be out of proportion to the whole if, in a com-
position of a thousand or fifteen hundred words, you took
more than a short paragraph to outline your plan. Not
to outline it briefly, however, would be to plunge the
reader into unmapped country .^

26. Securing Clearness. — To secure clearness it is
constantly necessary to think of the reader and to real-
ize correctly and vividly his outlook upon the subject,
particularly his state of knowledge about it. The only
matters 'that need to be explained are those which the
reader does not understand. In other words, the writer
is endeavoring not to show his own knowledge, but to
supply the gaps in the knowledge of the reader. It is
an equally serious mistake to leave an essential point
unexplained and to obtrude an explanation of that which
the reader already understands.

Even though he sees the importance of considering the
reader, however, the writer of exposition must also see
that what he is constantly attempting is definition. To
make a good definition we must say of the thing to be
defined that which is

I (a) true of that thing
(b) true of no other thing
j(c) clear in itself

^ James Bryce, The American Commonwealth, London, 1891, I, 5.
* Notice the first paragraph of Professor Palmer's essay on "Self-
Cultivation in English" (College Readings, 130).

42 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

For example, to say that a colonel is the inside of a nut
violates (a). To say that a colonel is an oflBcer violates
(&), for what is here said of a colonel is also true of an ad-
miral. To say that a colonel is a military officer is bet-
ter, but still (6) is violated, for generals and majors are
also military officers. To say that a colonel is a military
officer above a lieutenant-colonel and below a general offi-
cer in rank, although it violates neither (a) nor (6), does,
for many persons, violate (c), for not every one knows just
what a lieutenant-colonel or a general officer may be.
To say that a colonel is a military officer who commands
a regiment is a fair way to satisfy (a), (6), and (c). In
other words, our purpose in making a definition is to place
a thing in the general group to which it belongs*and also
to explain how it is to be distinguished from all the other
members of that group. This larger group is what logi-
cians call the genuSy and the characteristics which dis-
tinguish one member of that group from every other
member are known as the differentia. Thus " colonel "
is that particular member of the genus (" military officer ")
to which, and to which alone, the differentia (" who com-
mands a regiment ") can be correctly applied.^

Additional clearness may perhaps be secured if it is
remembered that exposition is generic in its nature. The
definiteness which is so helpful in description is in expo-
sition actually injurious. In describing a particular
game of baseball, we not only may, but should, emphasize
the particular color and arrangement of that special
scene. We are thankful for every spot of color in the
grandstand, and we do not fail to record the fact that the
second baseman has red hair. But in exposition we are
1 Cf . College Readings, 6 flf.

EXPOSITION 43

dealing not with a particular second baseman, tall or
short, light or dark, but with the second baseman in
general ; and we say of him only those things which are
true of the second baseman considered apart from any
particular person who occupies that position.

26. Illustrations. — Generalizations, however, need to
be supported by specific cases. Explanations of things
unknown need to be illuminated by comparison with
things known. Constant illustrations (by which is
meant not pictures or diagrams merely, useful though
these are, but anything which throws light on the subject)
should be employed. If you have a photograph of a
player making a certain stroke in tennis, paste it in the
margin of your theme ; if you can make a little sketch,
or better, a finished diagram, do so. If you can sum-
marize the increase or decrease of something by a rising
or a falling line, like a fever chart, use that illustration,
for it has the same value that your outline plan had : it
gives vividly and almost instantaneously an effect which
can hardly be produced by words.

27. Maintaining interest. — Although to give rules for
maintaining interest is a little like telling a person how
to be popular, some help may be got from the following
suggestions :

1. Many writers, having spent hours in making an
outline, and wishing to get the full return for their labor,
transfer bodily to the finished theme the material of the
outline with all its angularity of structure, so that their
plan sticks up through the finished text and makes it bony.
Do not do this. Remember that the plan was jor your
benefit. Your reader does not care to see much of it. He
would rather be made comfortable by an invisible courier

44 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

than constantly reminded that his trip has been methodi-
cally arranged for him in advance. Mak e the structure,
therefore, at once informal and unmistakable .

2. It is easy to forget that in exposition, as well as in
argument, t here are prejudices to be overcome , and that
the earlier they are overcome the better. If, for example,
you are writing about The Roman House, your reader may
tiu-n aside because he feels that this is merely an ancient
subject. To overcome that prejudice, you endeavor in
your introduction to show that it is of interest to a
modem reader. Again, you may be writing on a learned
subject in which you wish to interest the average reader.
You therefore try in your introduction to overcome his
prejudice that the topic is of importance to scholars
alone. The following introduction to Lord Bryce's
Holy Roman Empire is an admirable example of a begin-
ning which, in addition to other functions, perfectly
fulfills this requirement of removing a prejudice,. — in
this case, the notion that the Holy Roman Empire has no
connection with modern times.

Of those who, in August, 1806, read in the newspapers that
the Emperor Francis II had announced to the Germanic Diet
his resignation of the imperial crown there were probably few
who reflected that the oldest political institution in the world
had come to an end. Yet it was so. The Empire which a
note issued by a diplomatist on the banks of the Danube ex-
tinguished was the same which the crafty nephew of Julius
had won for himself, against the powers of the East, beneath
the cliffs of Actium ; and which had preserved almost unaltered,
through eighteen centuries of time, and through the greatest
changes in extent, in power, and in character, a title and pre-
tensions from which their ancient meaning had long since de-

EXPOSITION 45

parted. Nothing else so directly linked the old world to the
new — nothing else displayed so many strange contrasts of
the present and the past, and summed up in those contrasts
so much of European history. From the days of Constantine
till far down into the Middle Ages it was, conjointly with the
Papacy, the recognized centre and head of Christendom, exercis-
ing over the minds of men an influence such as its material
strength could never have commanded.

It is of this influence and of the causes that gave it power
rather than of the external history of the Empire that the fol-
lowing pages are designed to treat.^

28. Style and Manner.^

1. Let the exposition have individual quality . Make
the reader ask who wrote it. A person eager to learn
will, to be sure, wade through a pretty dull book of direc-
tions if he has to ; but dullness is a part of the unneces-
sary friction of life^ Let us try to diminish it.

2. T hink always of the reade r, not only as a help to
completeness, but as a help to fullness a n d interest, aa
well. Explanations which you may be tempted into
making if you do not consider any particular body of
readers, will instantly reveal themselves as dull or tire-
some if you imagine them read aloud to the class.

3. Although the main reason for your writing the expo-
sition is that you are supposed to know more about the
subject than your reader does, try to avoid fflviny the
impression of superio rity in J^he^unpleasant^sengaiiLttaJ
wor3!

* James Bryce, The Holy Roman Empire, revised edition, New York,
1904, p. 1.

2 Cf. College Readings, 137 ff. (William James, "The Social Value of
the CoUege-bred").

' 46 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

4. In your style s hun the cook-book imperativ e (" add
sugar; boil two hours ^'). A carelessly written exposi-
tion is full of these imperatives, which are bad because
(a) any type of sentence repeated over and over becomes
tiresome, (b) to be constantly told that he must do a thing
rubs the reader the wrong way, and (c) sentences beginning
with imperatives are staccato and disconnected in eflFect.

EXERCISES

1. Briefly define, without consulting a dictionary, the fol-
lowing terms: (a) piracy; (6) usury; (c) patronage; (d)
friendship; {e) envy; (/) prejudice; (g) freezing; j(A) com-
bustion; (i) neighbor; (j) champion; (k) surgeon; (Z) fleet
(noun) ; (m) lamp ; (n) candle ; (o) andirons ; (p) umbrella ;
(q) clock ; (r) fountain pen.

2. What rfre the differences between (a) a house and a
home ; (6) an invention and a discovery ; (c) a road, a street,
and a path ; {d) a fisherman and an anglier ; (e) a game and a
sport ; (/) a canoe and a boat ; (g) sl picture, a portrait, and a
photograph ; (A) a boot and a shoe ?

3. Would the following subjects be suitable for exposition in.
800 words? If you reject any, give your reasons. Some of
these subjects may seem to you possible, but dangerous. If so,
point out the dangers.

**a. Preparedness.

b. The Advantages of a Small College.

c. How we built our Bungalow.

^^ d. President Cleveland's Administration.

^ €. On a Cattle Steamer.

/. Getting Ready for a Shooting Trip.

^g. Lighthouses,

-v h. Working in a Bank.

t. On the Farm in June.

EXPOSITION 47

j. The Interurban Railway.

k. How Lumber is Cut. . '_, •
^ I. Clocks,
^m. Photography.

4. Break up into the necessary number of principal sub-
headings the following subjects: College Athletics, Winter
Sports, The United States Navy, The Government of England,
Student Government Undergraduate Publications, American
Colonial History, Recent Progress in Science, Some Famous
Inventions, Travel and Transportation in Early Days. (Note
that each of these subdivisions is large enough for a long com-
position.)

5, Correct the following classifications :

A. Black bass are found
i; In deep water
2. In rocky places

A. Literature in England
1. Before 16,00

A. The Army of the United States

1. Artillery-^^

2. Cavab-y^^

4.
A. Tackle

1. Rod

a. Reel
(1) Line

2. Landing Net

48 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

5.
A. Nineteenth Century American History

1. Fefwe 1850

2. Since the Civil War

3. Of New England

6.
A, Accuracy in Speech

1. Words should fit thoughts
a. Looseness
6. Precision

7.
A, Landing the fish

1. Use of landing-net

A. Structure of the paragraph^

1. Must be unified ^V*' ^

2. Coherence

3. Be emphatic

A, The means of attaining Coherence :

1. The use of transition paragraphs and summaries.

2. To enumerate at the outset the points that are to

be dwelt upon, and then — as each comes up
in turn — to refer to the first enumeration.

3. When possible use a chronological arrangement of

events.

6. Make a plan of some short exposition in one of your text- J
books.

7. Find in each of the following topics several subjects each
suitable for an exposition of about 1000 words : Automobiles,
Housekeeping, Camping, Travel, Vacations, Clubs.

EXPOSITION 49

8. Qualify each of the subjects into which you have broken
up the topics under (7) so that a precise point of view will be
indicated. For example, if in working out (7) you have broken
up "Camping" into such a topic — among others — as "Getting
into Good Physical Condition for a Fortnight's Camping Trip
in Maine," you might indicate one possible point of view by such
a title as "Advice to a City Boy on Getting mto Good Physical
Condition for a Fortnight's Camping Trip in Maine." ^

9. Write an introductory paragraph for an exposition, in
which you informaUy (a) secure interest, (6) tell what kind of
people you are addressing, and (c) tell what your main divisions

' ^ 10. Find four books (not text-books) which seem to you to be
expository in aim. Does the title, or anything in the preface,
show to what class of readers they are addressed ?

^^iVQv^AvM /f'^'^' •-- y^ CRITICISM

29. What CriticiOTMls. — " Have you read The Ad-
ventures of Christopher? "

** Yes, isn't it wonAevlvX ? "

" ImH it wonderful ! "

** Why, I was simply thrilled ! "

" So was I. Well, good-by."

" Good-by."

If for this amiable but uninstructive exchange of adjec-
tives we substitute the reasons and standards on which
such adjectives ought to be based, we have Criticism,
which is simply the detailed application to a certain
piece of work of such standards as the writer himself
seems to have tried, or should have tried, to keep in mind
while executing it. The very person who says that he

^It is not to be imagined that this would be a good actual title:
it is too clumsy. But it serves to indicate a definite expository problem.

50 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

cannot write criticism is probably making criticisms a
hundred times a day, but he is not giving his reasons or
following up his judgment by trying to subdivide good and
bad into their manifold degrees and kinds. One of the
reasons why he is not doing this is because he is lazy. He
says, " Of course I do not know anything about criti-
cism, but I know what I like."

30. What to Write About.

1. Choose something about which you have opinions of
your own. If the subject is prescribed for you, read in
the subject — not about it — until you acquire a decided
opinion. It is just as ineflFective to criticize something that
you do ilot care about as it is to argue the opposite side of
the question from that on which your real enthusiasm lies.

2. Choose something that you like with reservations
rather than something that you wholly like or wholly
dislike.

3. Subdivide large subjects, just as you would in expo-
sition, argument, or description; a short criticism of
Shakespeare would be as futile as a short description of
Switzerland or a one-page explanation of the organiza-
tion of the German army.

4. Cut down your subjects, not merely because short
criticisms on large subjects are theoretically impossible,
but because your actual reading necessitates limitation
of the field. You have read only a few of Shakespeare's
plays ; therefore, you cannot criticize them all.

31. Considering the Reader. — You may choose for
your reader an individual or a large group, a real person
or an imaginary person, a person in agreement with you
or one in disagreement, a person who has seen the work
that you are talking about or one who has not, an expert

EXPOSITION 51

or a beginner, a schoolboy or a college freshman or a
person of much greater general maturity and special
knowledge. But in any case be definite: choose some
one whom you can visualize clearly in your literary imag-
ination, and then consider him throughout the criticism.

32. Subordinate Elements in Criticism.

1. Remember that an account of the life of an author
or painter or musician is not a criticism of his work, al-
though it may be useful as a subordinate part of a criti-
cism upon his work.

2. Remember that a summary of the contents of a
book or a perfectly neutral account of the subject-matter
of a symphony or picture is not criticism, although it
may be useful in preparing the way for criticism,^ just as
the expository element in argument is a useful prelimi-
nary to the argument itself.

3. If these expository elements are needed, keep them
strictly subordinate, keep them strictly neutral, and as
a rule get them in early.

33. Consider What the Author ^ Has Tried to Do and
judge him with reference to his aim. For example, no
one supposes that a novel of incident — like a detective
story — and a novel of character — like Jane Austen's
Pride and Prejitdiee — • have the same aim. The former
makes a great deal of plot and very little of character;
the latter makes a great deal of character and requires
only enough plot to bring out all the latent possibilities
of the people in the story. To criticize Pride and Preju-

^ As is the case in College Readings, 196-199.

2 The word author as used in this chapter means not merely a person
who has written something, but a person who has created any work of
art, — book, picture, symphony, statue, or cathedral.

52 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

dice unfavorably, therefore, because it is less exciting
than The Hound of the BashervUles is much like saying
that you prefer bicycles to steam rollers because steam
rollers are so heavy. Remember that when we ask " Is
it a good book ? " we mean to ask if it is a good biography,
or a good book of essays, or a good tragedy in blank verse,
or a good collection of short stories. Excellence in each
of these types is a different kind of excellence. To de-
cide whether a book is good without knowing what are
the points of excellence in its special kind would be like
judging a dog without reference to its breed or a building
without regard to its purpose.

To consider what the author is trying to do is a matter
of finding out (1) what are the aims which all may be
presumed to follow who attempt that particular kind of
thing — lyric, caricature, symphony, concerto, short
story, or oration.^ We find out these aims by studying
the technique of various arts and by learning in each the
names of the principal terms, the history of that art, the
lives of its great masters, the names and characteristics
of their principal works, and the history of opinion about
them.2 (£) What special purpose the author had in the
work under consideration. This his biography may per-
haps tell, or the preface of his book, or perhaps we may
safely learn it by inference.

^ To see how this may be worked out, cf. College Readings, 201.

* It is impossible even to mention here the names of elementary books
on the different kinds of criticism. Perhaps the most useful single
volume for the beginner is Charles Mills Gayley and Fred Newton Scott's
Introduction to the Methods and Materials of Literary Criticism. For
criticism in the other arts, see the articles on those arts in the Encyclopaedia
Britannica and search the subject catalogue of the nearest large library.

EXPOSITION 53

34. Consider to What Extent the Author has Suc-
ceeded in His Aim, and Why He Has Succeeded. — As
we try to formulate our attack upon the causes of
our author's success, the greatest dangers will be our
tendency (1) to judge in the lump rather than point by
point, (2) to speak vaguely rather than specifically, and
(3) to forget that evidence is constantly needed unless the
reader may be assumed to possess this evidence. Let
us consider these three dangers separately.

36. On Methodical Subdivision. — The inexperienced
critic has no idea how much there is to say about a work
of art until he begins to draw up a list of points that
must be considered before one can decide its merit. He
tends to jump to the conclusion " It is good," or " It
is bad." That is too summary. It may, on the whole,
be good; but usually this means that it has a dozen or
fifteen or a score of perfectly distinct good qualities and
in all probability two or three or a half dozen clear de-
fects. What are these good qualities, and what are
these defects? What about the originality of the work,
its unity, consistency, learning, humor, and style? Any
one of these points is good for a paragraph at least, even
in the hands of a beginner. Take unity, for example.
What is the main point of the work? Is this point
steadily kept in view? Is it mechanically and tire-
somely reiterated? How is the unity secured? That is
to say, does the author formally announce his purpose or
does he make you feel that he has a purpose? Should
he have secured his unity by more formal or by less for-
mal means? Are there any digressions which injure
the unity ? Should they be omitted ? By the time you
have given specific answers to these questions, you have

54 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

said a good deal about unity. And so it is with the other
qualities. But remember not to parade your headings
formally : make the reader feel that every point is vital,
not that you are merely doing your duty as some text-
book said you must. Get from point to point informally.
If you find nothing worth saying on any particular point,
leave it out. Remember that nothing is worth saying
that seems foolish when it is put simply in a single sen-
tence. Therefore, if you find that you cannot get along
without a lot of critical jargon, the chances are that you
have no valid point to make.

36. On Being Specific. — Everyone recognizes the
futility of trying to write a vivid description by using
such words as largcy small, beatUifvl, and ugly. How
large? In what way beautiful? So in criticism we can
do nothing with such words as attractive, impressive,
interesting, dvU, unreadable. The first way to be specific
in criticism, then, as in other kinds of writing, is to use
words that fly straight to the mark. The second way is
to feel the reality of the qualities that you are talking
about. A book is a real thing, which makes a noise when
we drop it on the floor. But the unity of a book is an
abstraction : no one can taste it or see it or bounce it on
the sidewalk. In dealing with these physical unrealities,
which to a good critic are as actual as slates and pencils,
the critic makes every eflFort to choose his words so as to
enhance the reality of the qualities that he is discussing.
For example, he is criticizing a certain story, the plot of
which fails to hold the attention of the reader until the
end. How can he speak about that abstract quality in
a lively way ? He can say that the plot becomes " slug-
gish" toward the end, and thereby suggest a slow and

EXPOSITION 55

muddy stream ; or he can say that it " sags," and thereby
suggest a slack bell rope or a telephone wire which needs
tightening. Successful criticism is full of such metaphors
as these. One opens Professor Gates's essay on Matthew
Arnold/ and one finds him saying of Arnold's style that it
" has a falsetto note," that it " lacks resonance," that
there seems to be in it " an ill adjustment of overtones,"
that it has " conventional restraint," that it shows " a
quiet manner," that it has " an emotional throb," that it
is " severe," that it is " casual," that it has a " rasping
eflFect," that it is " rich in color." And it will be remem-
bered that Sir Walter Scott, comparing his stories with
Jane Austen's, spoke of his own work as the " big bow-
wow " kind of thing. An indispensable part of the critic's
equipment is this perception that every excellence and
every defect of style is like some person or some real object
and that by this likeness it can be explained.

37. Evidence in Criticism. — Generalizations about
an author's favorite subjects or his prevalent faults and
virtues, or assertions of the excellence or defects of any
given passage, must — like statements in argument —
be supported by evidence. This means

1. That the critic must know his author ;2 otherwise,
he cannot possibly make safe general statements. Sup-
pose that, after having read two or three novels by a man
who wrote a dozen or more, I write a criticism of him.
At the worst, I may have happened to read the very
novels which are least characteristic of the author, and
thus nearly all of my generalizations may be incorrect.

* Lewis E. Gates, Three Studies in Literature, New York, Macmillan,
1899, pages 124-211.

* Cf. College Readings, 201 ff. and 203 ff.

56 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

At best, I shall certainly fail to give the impression of
having considered the subject thoroughly.

2. That the critic must know his subject, which is a
larger matter than knowing his author. Thus, if I write
about Robert Louis Stevenson, my subject is not merely
Stevenson: it is to some degree "Nineteenth Century
Literature," it is " The Scottish Character," it is " The
History of Lighthouses," it is " The Novel : its History,
its Rules, and its Masters," "The Essay," "The Letter,"
and even " Criticism " itself. Let not this advice bring
discouragement, however : let it rather mean that a critical
paper on almost any significant subject is a good place
to concentrate whatever wisdom we have and a good
starting point for all the reading that we can make
time for.

3. That when you attempt criticism you must not for-
get to apply what you have been told about English com-
position : the right way for you to do a short story is the
right way for Hawthorne to do it. Judge him by the
doctrines of the text-books, but do not use the jargon
of the text-books. Do not say, " Having considered
Hawthorne's plots, let us now turn to his charac-
terization."

38. Conclusion. — Finally, remember that there is
no basis whatever in good criticism for the old jibe that
a critic is a disappointed author, whose aim is, by malicious
faultfinding, to get even with the world of letters to which
he has never been admitted. The criticism of a large-
minded and well-informed person is only a very little
below the highest creative literature.^ To succeed in
saying of a poet what others feel but cannot formulate,
1 Examine College Readings, 201 ff., 214 ff., and 203 ff.

EXPOSITION 57

or to perceive the excellence in a neglected novelist or
musician and to praise him years before he is recognized
by the many, — these are no slight achievements.

EXERCISES

1. Write a short composition — perhaps two paragraphs
— on two authors or books which have impressed you strongly
but differently.

• 2. Select some book, or other work of art, which you like
very much, but which you think many people are hkely to neglect
because they will misunderstand its purpose or quality. Point
out this purpose or quality as engagingly as you can.

3. Select some book, poem, picture, or piece of music which
you used to like, but no longer care for (or, if you prefer, which
you now like much better than you used to), and explain the
reasons for your change of opinion.

4. Criticize the following passage :

Prose is a form of language, which is not in verse. It
is usually divided under three heads: first, essays, second
novels, and third arguments. An essay, which is not as com-
mon as other forms of prose, is a short composition of descrip-
tion. It is written almost always on some literary point and
on this account is only undertaken by the most experienced
writers. But the novel is a very common form of prose, for it
is more pleasing for the public to read. Nevertheless, it must
have many great characteristics, such as Unity and a plot,
in order to be classed under that style. Because of its subject
and its chance for vivid description of exciting happenings,
it is chosen by the majority of people for pleasure reading only.
The third form of writing is the argument. This is used by
political men, who are either trying to persuade another party
to join them or to make their ideas clear. It takes skill to use
this form of writing well and on that account is not used by
many. But most all the writings of to-day are able to be classed
under one of these three heads.

ENGLISH COMPOSITION

5. To each of the four following passages apply as many of
the italicized adjectives as you think appropriate to characterize
its purpose, tone, style, etc.

hare

emotional

mystical

simple

bombastic

fancifvl

obscure

sonorous

dear

feeble

ornate

startling

cool

harsh

paradoxical

stem

cynical

involved

rhythmic

tranquil

dreamy

ironical

robust

vigorous

eloquent

morose

(a) Thou, therefore, that sittest in light and glory unap-
proachable, parent of angels and men! next, thee I implore,
omnipotent King, Redeemer of that lost remnant whose nature
thou didst assume, ineffable and everlasting Love! and thou,
the third subsistence of divine infinitude, illumining Spirit,
the joy and solace of created things ! one Tripersonal godhead !
look upon this thy poor and almost spent and expiring church,
leave her not thus a prey to these importunate wolves, that
wait and think long till they devour thy tender flock; these
wild boars that have broke into thy vineyard, and left the
print of their polluting hoofs on the souls of thy servants. O
let them not bring about their danmed designs, that stand now
at the entrance of the bottomless pit, expecting the watchword
to open and let oiit those dreadful locusts and scorpions, to
involve us in that pitchy cloud of infernal darkness, where we
shall never more see the sun of thy truth again, never hope
for the cheerful dawn, never more hear the bird of morning sing.
Be moved with pity at the afflicted state of this our shaken
monarchy, that now lies labouring under her throes, and strug-
gling against the grudges of more dreaded calamities.

(6) It is likewise proposed as a great advantage to the public,
that if we once discard the system of the Gospel, all religion will
of course be banished for ever; and consequently, along with
it, those grievous prejudices of education, which, under the

EXPOSITION 69

names of virtue, conscience, honour, justice, and the like, are so
apt to disturb the peace of human minds^ and the notions whereof
are so hard to be eradicated, by right reason, or free-thinking,
sometimes during the whole course of our lives.

(c) But the third Sister, who is also the youngest! —
Hush ! whisper while we talk ot her I Her kingdom is not
large, or else no flesh should live ; but within that kingdom all
power is hers. Her head, turreted like that of Cybele, rises
almost beyond the reach of sight. She drops not ; and her eyes,
rising so high, might be hidden by distance. But, being what
they are, they cannot be hidden : through the treble veil of
crape which she wears the fierce light of a blazing misery, that
rests not for matins or (ot vespers, for noon of day or noon of
night, for ebbing or for flowing tide, may be read from the very
ground. She is the defier of God. She also is the mother of
lunacies, and the suggestress of suicides. Deep lie the roots
of her power; but narrow is the nation that she rules. For
she can approach only those in whom a profound nature has
been upheaved by central convulsions; in whom the heart
trembles and the brain rocks under conspiracies of tempest
from without and tempest from within. Madonna moves
with uncertain steps, fast or slow, but still with tragic grace.
Our Lady of Sighs creeps timidly and stealthily. But this our
youngest Sister moves with incalculable motions; bounding
and with tiger's leaps. She carries no key; for, though com-
ing rarely amongst men, she storms all doors at which she is
permitted to enter at all. And her name is Mater Tenebrarum,
— Our Lady of Darkness.

(<£) There is, however, another good work that is done by
detective stories. While it is the constant tendency of the
Old Adam to rebel against so universal and automatic a thing
as civilization, to preach departure and rebellion, the romance
of police activity keeps in some sense before the mind the fact
that civilization itself is the most sensational of departures
and the most romantic of rebellions. By dealing with the

60 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

unsleeping sentinels who guard the outposts of society, it
tends to remind us that we live in an armed camp, making war
with a chaotic world, and that the criminals, the children of
chaos, are nothing but the traitors within our gates. When
the detective in a police romance stands alone, and somewhat
fatuously fearless amid the knives and fists of a thieves' kitchen,
it does certainly serve to make us remember that it is the agent
of social justice who is the original and poetic figure, while the
burglars and footpads are merely placid old cosmic conserva-
tives, happy in the immemorial respectability of apes and wolves.
The romance of the police force is thus the whole romance of
man. It is based on the fact that morality is the most dark
and daring of conspiracies. It reminds us that the whole noise-
less and unnoticeable police management by which we are ruled
and protected is only a successful knight-errantry.

A Series of Tests which may be Useful in Formulating
Short Criticisms

I. The work considered by itself.
A. Structure.

1. Central Thought.

a. Is the central thought contained in one pas-
sage ? If so, indicate the passage.
h. Express this thought in your own words.

c. Is this idea anywhere departed from ?

d. Is this departure a blemish ?

e. Is the idea expressed or is it concealed ?

2. Method of Development,
a. Beginning:

(1) Is the plan of the work announced at the

beginning ?

(2) Should it have been ? Why ?

6. Development: By which of the following
methods does the author make the work
progress ?

EXPOSITION 61

(1) A series of fictitious events.

(2) A series of actual events.

(3) A series, formal or informal, of points.

(4) A series of strokes which together make a

picture,
c. Ending :

(1) Is the ending a mere termination or a

summary ?

(2) Should it have been?

(3) Is it formal or informal ?

(4) Should it have been ?

(5) Should the author have ended when he

did or sooner or later ?

(6) Why?

(7) Did you foresee the ending? If so,

when?

(8) Should the author have let you know the

ending when he did or sooner or later ?
B. Style and Tone.

1. Is the main purpose to give
a. pleasure

6. instruction
c. both ?

2. Does the author succeed in this purpose ?

3. Is the style

scholarly or popular

lofty or colloquial -

emotional or rational

imaginative or literal

simple or elaborate?

4. Is the tone
pessimistic or optimistic
cjoiical or kindly?

5. Is the author's vocabulary
large or small

62 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

scholarly or popular
pedantic or humanistic
used exactly or used loosely ?
6. Is the work

moral, immoral, or unmoral ?

n. The work considered in relation to the author's life and
other work. Is it similar to the author's other work
i^

A. Central thought

B. Development

C. Style and tone ?

m. The work considered in relation to similar works by
other authors. What other author does this closely
resemble in

A. Central thought

B. Style and tone ?

BIOGRAPHY

39. Definition and Kinds. — Biography, as every one
knows, is the record of a person's life, or, as a form of
composition, it is the art of making such a record. Biog-
raphies diflFer greatly in length, of course, and they also
diflFer considerably in purpose. For example, there is a
life of Benjamin Franklin in the American Statesmen
series, and also one in the American Men of Letters series :
the first naturally emphasizes Franklin's public services;
the second, his writings. Again, the Honorable Henry
Cabot Lodge, writing a sketch of Francis Parkman for
a book called Hero Tales from American History,^ natu-
rally emphasizes Parkman's heroic struggle against ill
health. A person writing a chapter on Parkman for a

I See CoUege Readings, pp. 145-148.

EXPOSITION 63

history of American literature would consider him as
a man of letters.

The brevity of undergraduate composition virtually for-
bids real biography: the shortest fully developed biog-
raphy is as long as all the themes of the Freshman year ;
yet at least four kinds of biography can be practiced :

1. The short analysis of a real character, minimizing
dates and externals, and emphasizing the explanatory or
critical element.

2. The narrative of a single incident in the life of an
actual person. (This will be taken up later in more
detail as a form of Narrative.)

3. The description of a person intended to bring out
character. (This will later be reconsidered as a phase of
Description and also of Narration.)

4. The miniature of a fully developed biography in
which some attention is paid to each of the three preceding
matters, and also some to dates and externals. This fourth
type is very difficult to do successfully in a brief space.

40. Choosing a Subject.

1. Try to find for your biography a subject who,
though great enough, is not too great. The writer to
whom a thousand words seem an enormous amount often
makes the mistake of thinking that the bigger the sub-
ject the easier it will be to find things to say. So he
turns to Caesar, Napoleon, and Washington. Not only
are they too big for his purpose ; they are so remote and
so thoroughly established that only a very skillful biog-
rapher can see a fresh, true image of them through the
haze of the past. On the other hand, do not, in your
desire to avoid such great men, try to make a hero of
your fellow townsman if he is not a hero.

64 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

2. Choose some one who is notable for character, —
for quality as well as quantity of achievement. Presi-
dent Eliot's Jokn GiUey ^ is an admirable example of what
a remarkable judge of men can do with a life of " normal
human development through mingled joy and sorrow,
labor and rest, adversity and success, and through the
tender loves of childhood, maturity, and age."

3. Let your subject be one who arouses your enthu-
siasm, though not your indiscriminate devotion. The
feeling of the great biographers toward their subjects
— Boswell's toward Johnson, Lockhart's toward Scott,
Trevelyan's toward Macaulay — has usually been one
of profound regard.

4. Select a person who represents a kind of greatness
which appeals to you, and which you think will appeal
to your reader. We are naturally interested in the lives
of those persons who have got well on toward the top of
that particular hill that we happen to be climbing. But
the great hill that we are all climbing is life itself, and
a sufficiently skillful biographer can make his work ap-
peal to all classes of readers.

5. Choose a person, if possible, who is in some way con-
nected with you, — a relative, a friend, a " man from
home," a person to whom you feel in some way akin.
Such a connection, if it does not give you some knowledge
of your subject besides that in books, will at least increase
your interest in reading the books, and will be likely to
creep into your composition. If you really bestir your-
self, you may be fortunate enough to find some old diary
or a trunkful of letters which will form the nucleus of a

1 Charles WUliam Eliot, John GiUey, Boston, The Beacon Press.
[Copyright, 1899.]

EXPOSITION 65

biography that will intensely interest you and, therefore,
others.

41. Sources of Information. — The easiest sources to
get at — dictionaries of biography — are unfortunately
the least useful, except for matters of fact. They tell us
when Thoreau was born, and what books he read ; but
they do not explain why his friends valued him, or why
he achieved success in his chosen field. You must get
closer to your subject th^ you ever can by reading the
mere externals of his life.' Use, therefore,

Books

(a) The works of the person about whom you are
writing.

(&) Letters to and from him.

(d) Books, diaries, or letters of those associated with
him.

(e) Other biographies of him. (Very likely you may
have to begin here instead of doing much with the four
preceding classes of material; if so, choose full, fair
accounts, and if possible read not only more than one
account, but more than one side.)

(/) The histories of his town, county, or state ; books
on his period or profession. Try to find out what the
members of his own calling thought of him.

Periodicals

(a) Magazine articles.
(&) Newspapers (if you have time) .
In using periodicals you will have to expect more haste
and prejudice than are ordinarily found in books.

66 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Pictures and Relics

A portrait will sometimes tell us more than a book.
What did the man look like when he was a boy ? Have
you seen his handwriting? Perhaps the house that he
lived in is within a few miles of you. If so, visit it.

Tradition
Talk with old people about the past before it is too late.

42. Elements in Biography. — Although the three
following elements are blended in good biography, the
beginner ought to study them separately ; and in a short
biography, especially, he ought to be well content if he
can make eflFective use of one of them, even at some cost
to the others.

43. The Narrative Element. — It will be remembered
that Margaret Ogilvie, in the delightful book of that
name, so far overcame her prejudice against Robert
Louis Stevenson that when absorbed in Treasure Island
she refused to go to bed until she had seen " how that
laddie got out of the barrel." In good biography there
should often be this kind of interest, the kind that comes
when the story of a life is told, not with attention to the
mere dry fact or the descriptive setting, but with emphasis
upon the point that here for the moment we have a little
plot which, above everything else, makes us wonder what
is coming next. This kind of interest attaches to Presi-
dent Eliot's account of the burning of John Gilley's
smokehouse, and still more to the account of his death.^
A masterly example of this element in biography is Bos-

1 C. W. Eliot, John GiUey, pp. 55-58, 67-71. Other examples are to
be found in College Readings, 437 ff. and 442 ff.

EXPOSITION 67

well's famous account of the meeting between Dr. John-
son and Wilkes : how Boswell craftily persuaded the Doc-
tor to accept the invitation; how Mrs. Williams nearly
spoiled everything by her unwillingness to let the Doctor
go; how Johnson was at first embarrassed and surly
when he found that Mr. Wilkes was one of the company ;
how Mr. Wilkes " gained upon him insensibly " by ply-
ing the Doctor with some delicious brown veal and gravy ;
and how, before the evening was over, Wilkes and the
Doctor were making fun of Boswell, — all this is a great
piece not so much of analysis or description as of narrative.

44. The Descriptive Element. — Thomas Carlyle, a
great historian and a great biographer, is a notable ex-
ample of a writer who when puzzled by other evidence
would earnestly study from the best portrait he could
find the face of the person that he was writing about.
Therein, he thought, he could find the answer to many of
his doubts. A skillful biographer — and of this also
Carlyle is an example — will try to do for his readers as
much as he can of what those portraits have done for
him. Thus Carlyle, writing about Luther in Heroes and
Hero Worship, says : " Luther's face is to me expressive
of him : in Kranach's best portraits I find the true Luther."
Carlyle then goes on to represent in words the eflFect upon
him of Kranach's portrait as follows : " A rude plebeian
face; with its huge crag-like brows and bones, the em-
blem of rugged energy ; at first, almost a repulsive face.
Yet in the eyes especially there is a wild silent sorrow ; an
unnameable melancholy, the element of all gentle and fine
affections ; giving to the rest the true stamp of nobleness."

46. The Analytical Element. — To say that there
must be an analytical element in biography sounds like

68 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

making much more difficult a kind of writing which
might otherwise be rather pleasantly compounded out
of narrative and description. In reality, however, the
task of the writer of biography, and particulariy of short
biography, is immensely simplified when he perceives
the importance of this analytical element. For cleariy
any one who in a thousand words attempts to give an
impression of the career of a notable man or woman must
reject or merely summarize by far the greater part of the
material available ; and yet he must not do this without
some principle in mind. How can he be sure that the
relatively small number of dates or any other kind of
biographical facts which he sets down are important?
He must decide this by asking what his subject really
represents, what is the thing, above all others, which
that person accomplished in the world, or tried to accom-
plish, what is the dominant passion within him, or, per-
haps, what two contradictory passions struggled in him
for the mastery. Having answered these questions, the
writer of biography has a unifying principle. He no
longer includes a bit of material merely because it amuses
him, or rejects something else because it does not interest
him. He sees, perhaps, that the great contribution of a
certain person was in improving the condition of inmates
of English prisons. Therefore, being obliged to leave out
many things, he leaves out most of what does not bear
upon this one point, and emphasizes that point through-
out his biography. In consequence, he gives a unified
impression of that career. The analytical element assists
the biographer, therefore, in that it gives him a test
whereby he rejects or subordinates that which does not
particularly aid him in unifying his subject.

EXPOSITION 69

To show how careful, successful portraits of people
are drawn with this idea of unity in mind, let us turn to
an essay published by Bishop Hall in 1608. He is writing
" Of a Valiant Man " : not any individual valiant man,
but this class of human beings in general. Of the typical
valiant man he says : r He undertakes without rashness,
and performs without fear ; he seeks not for dangers, but,
when they find him, he bears them over with courage,
with success. He hath ofttimes looked death in the face,
and passed by it with a Siile ; j and when he sees he must
yield, doth at once welcome -and contemn it." And so
on, for more than a page, with other details which char-
acterize the valiant man as a type. In other words,
Bishop Hall finds that some valiant men are tall, some
short, some fat, some thin, some rich, some poor, and so
on; but he ignores these things in order that he may
bring out emphatically the points wherein all valiant
men differ from those who are not valiant.

Turn now to Dr. Johnson, and notice what he says
about that worthy but dull old gentleman, Polonius, in
Hamlet:

Polonius is a man bred in courts, exercised in business,
stored with observation, confident of his knowledge, proud of
his eloquence, and declining to dotage. His mode of oratory
is truly represented as designed to ridicule the practice of those
times, of prefaces that made no introduction, and of method
that embarrassed rather than explained. This part of his
character is accidental, the rest is natural. Such a man is
positive and confident, because he knows that his mind was
once strong, and knows not that it has become weak. Such
a man excels in general principles, but fails in the particular
application. He is knowing in retrospect, and ignorant in fore-

70 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

sight. While he depends upon his memory, and can draw from
his repositories of knowledge, he utters weighty sentences, and
gives useful counsel; but as the mind in its enfeebled state
cannot be kept long busy and intent, the old man is subject to
sudden dereliction of his faculties, he loses the order of his ideas,
and entangles himself in his own thoughts, till he recovers the
leading principle, and falls again into his former train. Tke
idea of dotage encroaching upon wisdom, vriU solve aU the phe-
nomena of the character of Polonius.

Notice that this final sentence is as utterly a topic-sentence
for the paragraph as any in the most strictly unified ex-
pository paragraph ever written. We get unity in biog-
raphy, therefore, not by limiting ourselves to one man's
career and by seeing that his friends are incidentally
mentioned rather than allowed to loom up as principal
figures, but by seeing a ruling ambition or quality in the
career of that person, and by directing the attention of the
reader to the fact that it predominates in what would
without it be an almost meaningless succession of events.
One of the best recent examples of the analytical biog-
raphy is Bryce's Studies in Contemporary Biography, Let
us analyze one of his sketches, — |:hat of Archbishop Tait.
Instead of beginning with the statement that Tait was born
at a certain place, in a certain year, Bryce begins with
two paragraphs on the increased power and influence of
a bishop in the English church in Tait's time. He next
goes on to show that what is true of a bishop is truer still of
an archbishop. Then, with only the slightest emphasis
upon dates and external events, he carries Tait through the
early period of his life before he becomes bishop. He points
out that Tait was not, while he was a master at Rugby,
considered a very great man. Then he goes on to ask

K*:*

EXPOSITION 71

why it is that Tait has become a kind of pattern of what
an archbishop ought to be, and he answers his own ques-
tion by saying that Tait's greatness was due " to the
statesmanlike quality of his mind." This generalization
he supports by the following analysis :

aHe had not merely moderation, but what, though often con-
Aunded with moderation, is something rarer and better, a
steady balance of Dund. He was carried about by no winds of
doctrine. He seldom yielded to impulses, and was never so
seduced by any one theory as to lose sight of other views and
conditions which had to be regarded^ He was, I think, the first
man of Scottish birth who ever rose to be Primate of England,
and he had the cautious self-restraint which is deemed char-
acteristic of his nation./ile knew how to be dignified without
assumption, firm without vehemence, prudent without timidityf/^
judicious without coldness. He was, above all things, a singu-
larly just man, who recognised every one's rights, and did not
seek to overbear them by an exercise of authority. He was
as ready to listen to his opponents as to his friends. Indeed,
he so held himself as to appear to have no opponents, but to be
rather a judge before whom different advocates were stating their
respective cases, than a leader seeking to make his own views
or his own party prevail. Genial he could hardly be called, for
there was little warmth, little display of emotion, in his manner ;
and the clergy noted, at least in his earlier episcopal days, a
touch of the headmaster in his way of receiving them. But he
was simple and kindly, capable of seeing the humorous side of
things, desiring to believe the good rather than the evil, and to
lead people instead of driving them. /AVith all his caution he
was direct and straightforward, saying no more than was neces-
sary, but saying nothing he had occasion to be ashamed of^
Y^He sometimes made mistakes, but they were not mistakes of
the heart, and, being free from vanity or self-conceit, he was
willing in his quiet way to admit them and to alter his course

72 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

accordingly. So his character by degrees gained upon the
nation, and so even ecclesiastical partisanship, proverbially
more bitter than political, because it springs from deeper wells
of feeling, grew to respect ^nd spare him.

Similarly Mr. A. C. Benson,^ writing on " The Late
Master of Trinity " (Dr. W. H. Thompson, Master of
Trinity College, Cambridge, England) says:

In a life where events are rare . . . there can be little to
record, unless there has been some definite line taken throughout,
some marked attitude which a nature has consistently main-
tained towards the outer world.

In the case of the late Master of Trinity we can lay our
finger at once upon the characteristic which made him what he
was. ... He stood to the action and thought of the present
day in the character of a judge.

Clearly this is not narrative or description; yet it gives
us — as neither narrative without comment or description
without comment could possibly do — the clue to a
career. Whatever experience you may have to slight,
y 1 therefore, do not, especially in a short biography, ignore
' the importance of telling us not merely what the person
looked like and what he did, but what his greatest point
of strength or weakness was, what he chiefly tried to do,
V what qualities his friends principally valued in him, what

permanent eflfect he made by his life.

46. Two Dangers to Avoid. — Biography may so
easily be injured by prejudice and by misinterpretation
that a word of warning against them is necessary at this
point.

Prejudice, — Prejudice may easily take the form of
eulogy, as it does in the obituary notice of the country
1 Essays, New York, Macmillan, 1896, p. 239.

EXPOSITION 73

newspaper, or in the oration of the well-meaning but
uncritical admirer. We all know that in such a notice
a perfectly commonplace local character is bespattered
with such eulogy as rightfully belongs to only two or three
persons in a century. Big words are used for small things,
and either ignorance or wilful exaggeration confuses mod-
erate ability with genius. Words cease to mean anything
when they are tossed about with such carelessness.

Equally objectionable, and probably more harmful,
is hostile prejudice. When Macaulay, an ardent Whig,
reviews an edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson by John
Wilson Croker, a Tory, and finds it " ill-compiled, ill-
arranged, ill-expressed, and ill-printed," he gives the book
punishment which it did not deserve, and would not have
received if Croker and Macaulay had belonged to the same
political party. Prejudices of religion, race, or nation
often have the same effect. In undergraduate composi-
tion the danger is not so much to the reputation of the
person written about as to the temperament of the writer :
to lose one's sense of justice, or even to get into the habit
of frequently suspending it in order to make a telling hit,
is a fault more serious than any merely rhetorical blunder.

Misinterpretation. — A subtler danger, perhaps, is
that of reading in something which is really not in the
text, of criticizing some one for not doing that which he
never tried to do and could not be expected to do, of
judging him by our time rather than by his own. Sup-
pose, for instance, that I am writing a life of Cotton
Mather, a Boston minister almost contemporary with
Daniel Defoe. I find that he believed in the guilt of the
so-called " Salem witches." Shall I, therefore, pronounce
him ignorant and cruel ? Before I do so, I ought to ask

74 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

whether educated persons of Cotton Mather's time gen-
erally believed in witches. Upon looking up the matter,
I find that they did. Therefore, my^ judgment, though
it may take other matters into account, must in part be
based upon the standard of Cotton Mather's day.

To be reminded that beliefs and customs unlike those
of ourselves, our neighborhood, our church, our party,
our country, or our cent\iry, are not necessarily wicked or
even amusing is one of the purposes for which we go to
school and college.

EXERCISES

1. A unified sketch of a person in whom one trait is more
prominent than any other (such as a bashful person, a super-
stitious person, an absent-minded person).

2. An incident in the life of an actual person showing char-
acter. (But do not rub in the lesson: tuck it away between
the lines.)

3. An incident in a person's life told as a short narrative,
with emphasis on the uncertainty of the outcome.

4. "Let any one who believes that an ordinary man can write
a great biography make the experiment himself. I would have
him try to describe the most interesting dinner-party at which
he was ever present : let him try to write down from memory
a few of the good things which were said, not forgetting to make
an incidental allusion to the good things that were eaten; let
him aim at what I may call the dramatic effect of the party.
And then let him compare the result with Boswell's account
of the famous dinner at Mr. Dilly's, the bookseller in the Poul-
try, where Johnson was first introduced to Wilkes, and he will
begin to understand the nature of Boswell's genius." This
extract is from Benjamin Jowett's Life and Letters, II, S3.
(For Bosweirs account, see Copeland and Hersey, RepreseTUa-
live Biographies^ pages 261-271 ; or Hill's edition of Boswell's
Johnson, Vol. Ill, pages 64-79.)

EXPOSITION 75

5. A paragraph explaining the success or failure of some one
by his strongest or weakest trait.

6. A portrait in which description brings out character.
(But observe the warning given under Exercise 2.)

7. A report on the best books and best magazine articles
about a person whose biography you propose to write. Con-
sider, in making up this list :

(a) the author's relation to his subject,
(6) the extent of his information,

(d) the fullness with which he illustrates his work by means of
portraits, facsimiles, etc.

8. Read the prefaces to two good biographies and report on
(a) the thoroughness with which the subject has been studied,
(6) the attitude of the biographer toward other biographers,
and (c) his special purpose in writing.

9. Reduce to a single unified paragraph the gist of Bryce's
" Goldwin Smith " {College Readings, pages 149 ff.).

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITING REPORTS AND THESES

47. Qualities of Style. — The qualities which the
writer of a report or thesis should have especially in mind
are clearness, accuracy, brevity, and force. A report
should be so clear, both in construction and in expres-
sion, that the reader will not be obliged to reread it.
Clearness and accuracy are of the first importance, and
these should not be sacrificed for the sake of brevity. But
brevity is the next important quality, and a writer should
devise means of making his ideas clear in the shortest
possible space. Furthermore, if he can write forcible
sentences which keep the attention and which make
points stick in the mind, his writing will be even more
eflScient.

76 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

48. Structure. — A report or thesis should be composed
according to the regular principles of unity, coherence,
and emphasis. Special problems of construction will
arise, according to the particular problems of the thesis.
Some theses give an historical account of certain facts
and would naturally be arranged in a chronological order ;
others analyze a complicated set of conditions, all exist-
ing at the same time ; others are argumentative and aim
to convince the reader of the writer's interpretation of
facts. The student must choose whatever method of
arrangement is most natural under the circumstances,
and most intelligible to the reader. Whatever the method
of structure, the student should keep the reader's atten-
tion by the use of brief announcements of method and by
summaries.

49. Table of Contents. — A report or thesis should be
regarded as a book. It should set out to make a distinct
point or set of points, concerning which the reader should
have no doubt when he has finished reading it. It should
also aim to let the reader know as early as possible the
piUTpose, plan, and method of the writer. Accordingly,
a table of contents should be prefixed to every report or
thesis. This table of contents should be arranged in
correlated form ; that is, the main divisions and the chief
subheadings, and what other important points are nec-
essary, should be arranged in the form of an outline, with
numbers and letters, and the page numbers should be
given on which these points are discussed. Such a table
of contents is very valuable in keeping the writer on the
main track, and is most helpful to a reader.

60. Paragraphs. — The matter of paragraphing de-
serves special attention. The length of paragraphs is

EXPOSITION 77

dependent on the nature of the thesis. Paragraphs should
not be fragmentary groups of a few sentences. A para-
graph represents a distinct step onward. The use of
topic-sentences at the beginning of paragraphs and of
summaries at the end is essential. The relation of each
paragraph to what has gone before should be made clear.
It is not necessary to employ artificial and mechanical
connective phrases for this purpose. The expression of
the vital connection of the thought itself is all that is
needful. In case a series of paragraphs represents va-
rious subheadings of a certain point, it is frequently help-
ful to number them, so that the reader can see quickly
their relation to each other.

61. Sentences. — Theses are often unsatisfactory on
account of bad sentence structure. Sentences must
first of all be grammatical, idiomatic, and correctly punc-
tuated. Great care should be taken that each sentence
is a unit in thought and expression. Straggling and inco-
herent sentences are fatal. Students should aim to form
a neat, trim, compact style.

62. Technical Terms. — It is to be expected that a
man will employ the technical terms and phrases com-
monly used by writers on his subject. But the privilege
of using these shorthand technical expressions carries
with it the obligation of using them accurately. If a
writer thinks that his reader may have any doubt as to
the meaning of technical words, he should carefully ex-
plain the sense in which he uses them.

63. Footnotes. — A thesis should be equipped with
footnotes which give exact references to books from
which the student has borrowed ideas or language.
These footnotes, which should be placed at the bottom

78 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

of the page, should contain : first, the name of the author ;
second, the title; third, the volume and page; fourth,
the place and date of pubUcation. It is not acceptable
to give a list of references on the first or last page of a
thesis and merely refer to these by figures throughout the
text. For various models of footnotes referring to books,
articles, and periodicals, see § 318.

CHAPTER III

ARGXIMENT

64. Value of Argument. — No one, in the words of
Henry V, need " sheathe his sword for lack of argument."
As long as men have conflicting beliefs and opinions about
facts, political measures, or international affairs, they will
engage in disputes. At certain periods of the world's
history, nations are plunged into controversy, and debate
in courts and parliaments flames into the furious debate
of the battle field. The study of the principles of argu-
ment is not only of absorbing interest, but of the most
vital importance. How shall we steer our way through
the flood of assertion, recrimination, evidence, refutation,
charge, and countercharge which during our time has
burst from the presses of every great capital? Never
before in the history of the world have governments so
completely taken the public into their confidence by the
publication of all sorts of official documents, treaties,
diplomatic correspondence, reports of commissions,
speeches, and letters. Recall the White Paper of Great
Britain, the Grey Paper of Belgium, the Yellow Paper of
France, the Orange Paper of Russia, the Red Paper of
Austria. Notes between the United States and Ger-
many were printed in the newspapers and in the New
York Times Current History. Never before has the
public had so much evidence in its possession.

80 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

How are we to find the truth for ourselves? How are
we to convince others that our idea of the truth is correct ?
How are we to persuade others to accept our belief and
act upon it? These are the aims of argument. An
argument is the endeavor to make other people believe,
and act in accordance with, our view of the facts. Our
task is more difficult here than in Exposition, for when
we explain we take it for granted that there is only one
view of the matter, but when we argue we realize that
other people hold other views. If I explain " Why I am
a Republican " I write exposition. But if I so handle
the subject that I make other people accept the principles
of the Republican party and vote for its candidate, I
make an argument.

66. Conviction and Persuasion. — Success in argument
is founded on the use of both conviction and persuasion.
Conviction appeals to the reason; persuasion to the
emotions, ideals, interests, and motives of men. Thus
argument has a twofold nature. It is not enough to
convince a man's intellect. His feelings must be warmed,
his sense of duty or love of country quickened, his passion
for justice aroused. Though conviction and persuasion
are both necessary, one or the other may be predominant,
according to the kind of argument.

66. Eonds of Argument. — Arguments are divided into
two kinds : arguments of fact and arguments of policy.
Arguments of fact try to prove that certain things are
true.^ Arguments of policy try to show that certain
things should be done.* In the first class fall arguments

^ There ape arguments of fact worth study in CoUege Readings, 276
and 291.

> For examples see College Readings, 223 ff., 259 fif., 308 ff., and 330 fif.

ARGUMENT 81

made in courts of law, and arguments about historical or
literary or scientific questions. In cases like these con-
viction is more important than persuasion : the attempt to
establish the truth about facts appeals primarily to the
intellect. Arguments of policy, on the other hand, deal
with various moral, social, and political questions : they
try to show that conditions should be changed or new
principles or methods adopted. Here persuasion is of
great importance, for men must be induced to take action.
67. Evidence. — To be successful an argument must
be supported by proof, which consists of all the facts,
illustrations, statistics, examples, and inferences " which
serve to convince the mind of the truth or falsehood of a
fact or proposition."^ Each detail of proof is called
evidence. The absence of evidence causes an argument
to be mere assertion, and consequently worthless.^ In
attempting to prove any proposition, we may bring for-
ward testimonial or direct evidence drawn from people
who testify from their own knowledge, experience, or
observation; or we may bring forward circumstantial
or indirect evidence, which comes through reasoning from
other facts which have been already established. Huxley
makes the distinction between testimonial and circum-
stantial evidence very clear, and explains why circum-
stantial evidence is often of greater value than direct
evidence.

By testimonial evidence I mean human testimony ; and by
circumstantial evidence I mean evidence which is not human
testimony. Let me illustrate by a familiar example what I

* Best On Evidence, p. 5.

* For examples of evidence well used see College Readings, 223, 241,
257, and 296.

82 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

understand by these two kinds of evidence, and what is to be
said respecting their value.

Suppose that a man tells you that he saw a person strike
another and kill him; that is testimonial evidence of the fact
of murder. But it is possible to have circumstantial evidence of
the fact of murder; that is to say, you may find a man dying
with a wound upon his head having exactly the form and charac-
ter of the wound which is made by an axe, and, with due care
in taking surrounding circumstances into account, you may con-
clude with the utmost certainty that the man has been murdered ;
that his death is the consequence of a blow inflicted by another
man with that implement. We are very much in the habit of
considering circumstantial evidence as of less value than testi-
monial evidence, and it may be that, where the circumstances
are not perfectly clear and intelligible, it is a dangerous and un-
safe kind of evidence ; . but it must not be forgotten that, in many
cases, circumstantial evidence is quite as conclusive as testi-
monial evidence, and that, not unfrequently, it is a great deal
weightier than testimonial evidence. For example, take the case
to which I referred just now. The circumstantial evidence may
be better and more convincing than the testimonial evidence;
for it may be impossible, under the conditions that I have
defined, to suppose that the man met his death from any cause
but the violent blow of an axe wielded by another man. The
circumstantial evidence in favor of a murder having been com-
mitted, in that case, is as complete and convincing as evidence
can be. It is evidence which is open to no doubt and to no
falsification. But the testimony of a witness is open to multi-
tudinous doubts. He may have been mistaken. He may have
been actuated by malice. It has constantly happened that
even an accurate man has declared that a thing has happened
in this, that, or the other way, when a careful analysis of the
circumstantial evidence has shown that it did not happ>en in
that way, but in some other way.^

^ T. H. Huxley, " Lectures on Evolution," in American Addresses,

ARGUMENT 83

68. Tests of Evidence. — Only that evidence is useful
which carries conviction. In order to test the value of
evidence we must take several things into consideration.

1. Consistency, — We must make sure that a piece of
evidence is consistent with itself, with other evidence and
known facts which we have given, and with human ex-
perience and judgment.

2. Source. — We must make sure that the source of
our evidence is reliable.^ To establish this we should
use four tests, which hold good whether we are examining
facts, or ojnnixms stated by authorities.

(a) Is the witness habitually truthful?
(6) Is the witness in a position to obtain correct
information ?

(d) Has the witness any personal interests, prej-
udices, or sympathies which would be liable to warp his
testimony ?

69. Argument from Authority. — Often our witness
is an expert, an authority on a certain subject. His
opinion is valuable because it is the opinion of a man who
is recognized to have complete mastery and knowledge
of his field. The tests to apply to an authority are:

1. Is he competent to give expert testimony in the
kind of case that is being considered? A few practical
tests of his competence may be mentioned. Look him
up in Who*s Who; find out what degrees he has, what
learned societies he belongs to, what other honors he
has received ; find out what books he has written on the
subject, and how recent the dates of publication are.
^ Cf. Godkin on Huxley as an authority (College Readings, 248).

84 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

2. Has he had an opportunity to examine the case in
question ?

3. Is he free from prejudice in the present case ? Nat-
urally, prejudice or the possibility of personal gain or loss
disqualifies him. Reluctant testimony and testimony
the significance of which the witness does not perceive
are particularly valuable.

Even though an expert witness meet all these tests,
what he says will carry little weight if

a. He is contradicted by another authority of equal
standing. Furthermore, the value of his testimony will
be seriously impaired if he is contradicted by a number
of authorities of lesser standing.

b. He is unknown to the audience.

60. Collecting Evidence. — You may gather evidence
in many ways.^ The various sources of evidence may be
enumerated as follows: (1) personal knowledge ; (2) per-
sonal interviews ; (3) personal letters ; (4) current pe-
riodicals; (5) standard encyclopedias, and books by
experts and authorities on special subjects; (6) special
documents, such as reports and documents issued by gov-
ernmental authority.

In the course of your reading you should record your
notes about evidence in a systematic way, so that they
may be always at hand. The following directions will
prove helpful:

1. Use small cards of uniform size.

2. Record only one fact on each card.

3. Give an exact reference to the source of the evidence
at the bottom of the card.

You will then be able to spread the cards on your desk,
* See Chap. I (Gathering and Weighing Material).

ARGUMENT 85

sort them, rearrange them, and thus build the body of
your argument in a way that is as interesting as a game.
61. Inductive and Deductive Reasoning. — It was
pointed out above (§ 57) that we might also support our
contentions by reasoning from other facts which have
been already estabUshed. The processes of reasoning are
brilliantly explained and illustrated by Huxley as follows :

Probably there is not one here who has not in the course
of the day had occasion to set in motion a complex train of reason-
ing, of the very same kind, though differing of course in degree,
as that which a scientific man goes through in tracing the causes
of natural phenomena.

A very trivial circumstance will serve to exemplify this.
Suppose you go into a fruiterer's shop, wanting an apple, — you
take up one, and, on biting it, you find it is sour ; you look at
it, and see that it is hard and green. You take up another one,
and that too is hard, green, and sour. The shopman offers you
a third ; but, before biting it, you examine it, and find that it
is hard and green, and you immediately say that you will not
have it, as it must be sour, like those that you have already
tried.

Nothing can be more simple than that, you think; but if
you will take the trouble to analyse and trace out into its logical
elements what has been done by the mind, you will be greatly
surprised. In the first place you have performed the operation
of induction. You found that in two experiences, hardness and
greenness in apples went together with sourness. It is so in
the first case, and it was confirmed by the second. True, it
is a very small basis, but still it is enough to make an induction
from ; you generalise the facts, and you expect to find sourness
in apples where you get hardness and greenness. You found
upon that a general law that all hard and green apples are sour ;
and that, so far as it goes, is a perfect induction. Well, having
got your natural law in this way, when you are offered another

86 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

apple which you find is hard and green, you say, "All hard and
green apples are sour; this apple is hard and green, therefore
this apple is sour." That train of reasoning is what logicians
call a syllogism, and has all its various parts and terms, — its
major premiss, its minor premiss, and its conclusion. And,
by the help of further reasoning, which, if drawn out, would have
to be exhibited in two or three other syllogisms, you arrive at
your final determination, "I will not have that apple." So
that, you see, you have, in the first place, established a law by
induction, and upon that you have foimded a deduction, and
reasoned out the special particular case. Well now, suppose,
having got your conclusion of the law, that at some time after-
wards, you are discussing the qualities of apples with a friend :
you will say to him, "It is a very curious thing, — but I find
that aU hard and green apples are sour!" Your friend says
to you, "But how do you know that?" You at once reply,
"Oh, because I have tried them over and over again, and have
always foimd them to be so." Well, if we were talking science
instead of common sense, we should call that an experimental
verification. And, if still opposed, you go further, and say,
"I have heard from the people in Somersetshire and Devonshire,
where a large number of apples are grown, that they have ob-
served the same thing. It is abo found to be the case in Nor-
mandy, and in North America. In short, I find it to be the
universal experience of mankind wherever attention has been
directed to the subject." Whereupon, yoiu* friend, unless he
is a very unreasonable man, agrees with you, and is convinced
that you are quite right in the conclusion you have drawn.
He believes, although perhaps he does not know he believes it,
that the more extensive verifications are, — that the more
frequently experiments have been made, and results of the same
kind arrived at, — that the more varied the conditions under
which the same results are attained, the more certain is the
ultimate conclusion, and he disputes the question no further.
He sees that the experiment has been tried under all sorts of

ARGUMENT 87

conditions, as to time, place, and people, with the same result;
and he says with you, therefore, that the law you have laid down
must be a good one, and he must believe it. . . .

So much, then, by way of proof that the method of estab-
lishing laws in science is exactly the same as that pursued in
common life. Let us now turn to another matter (though
really it is but another phase of the same question), and that
is, the method by which, from the relations of certain phe-
nomena, we prove that some stand in the position of causes
towards the others.

I want to put the case clearly before you, and I will there-
fore show you what I mean by another familiar example. I
will suppose that one of you, on coming down in the morning to
the parlor of your house, finds that a tea-pot and some spoons
which had been left in the room on the previous evening are
gone, — the window is open, and you observe the mark of a
dirty hand on the window-frame, and perhaps, in addition to
that, you notice the impress of a hob-nailed shoe on the gravel
outside. All these phenomena have struck your attention
instantly, and before two seconds have passed you say, "Oh,
somebody has broken open the window, entered the room, and
nm oflF with the spoons and the tea-pot ! " That speech is out
of your mouth in a moment. And you will probably add, "I
know there has ; I am quite sure of it ! " You mean to say ex-
actly what you know ; but in reality you are giving expression
to what is, in all essential particulars, an hypothesis. You
do not kruyw it at all; it is nothing but an hypothesis rapidly
framed in your own mind. And it is an hypothesis founded on
a long train of inductions and deductions.

What are those inductions and deductions, and how have
you got at this hypothesis? You have observed in the first
place, that the window is open; but by a train of reasoning
involving many inductions and deductions, you have probably
arrived long before at the general law — and a very good one
it is — that windows do not open of themselves ; and you there-

88 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

fore conclude that something has opened the window. A second
general law that you have arrived at in the same way is, that
tea-pots and spoons do not go out of a window spontaneously
and you are satisfied that, as they are not now where you left
them, they have been removed. In the third place, you look
at the marks on the window-sill, and the shoe-marks outside,
and you say that in all previous experience the former kind
of mark has never been produced by anything else but the hand
of a human being ; and the same experience shows that no other
animal but man at present wears shoes with hob-nails in them
such as would produce the marks in the gravel. I do not know,
even if we could discover any of those "missing links" that are
talked about, that they would help us to any other conclusion !
At any rate the law which states our present experience is strong
enough for my present purpose. You next reach the conclusion
that, as these kinds of marks have not been left by any other
animal than man, or are liable to be formed in any other way
than by a man's hand and shoe, the marks in question have
been formed by a man in that way. You have, further, a general
law, founded on observation and experience, and that, too, is,
I am sorry to say, a very universal and imimpeachable one, —
that some men are thieves; and you assume at once from all
these premisses — and that is what constitutes your hypothesis
— that the man who made the marks outside and on the window-
sill opened the window, got into the room, and stole your tea-
pot and spoons. You have now arrived at a vera causa; — you
have assumed a cause which, it is plain, is competent to pro-
duce all the phenomena you have observed. You can explain
all these phenomena only by the hypothesis of a thief. But
that is a hypothetical conclusion, of the justice of which you
have no absolute proof at all ; it is only rendered highly prob-
able by a series of inductive and deductive reasonings.^

^T. H. Huxley, "The Causes of the Phenomena of Organic Na-
ture," in Darwiniana,

ARGUMENT 89

62. Fallacies. — There are only a few right ways of
reasoning, but there are a great many wrong ways of
reasoning, and it is impossible to classify them because
it is impossible to classify infinity. A few of the most
important errors in reasoning, called fallacies, are here
mentioned in order that you may be able to detect flaws
in your own argument and in your opponent's.

63. Begging the Question. — This fallacy consists in
assuming without proof the truth of a point at issue. The
most frequent form of this fallacy is called " arguing in a
circle." This error lies in assuming the truth of a premise,
then basing on this premise a conclusion, and then using
this conclusion to prove the original premise. The follow-
ing case of arguing in a circle is exposed by Professor
Felix Adler :

There is an argument in favor of child-labor so im-American
and so inhuman that I am almost ashamed to quote it, and yet
it has been used, and I fear it is secretly in the minds of some
who would not openly stand for it. A manufacturer standing
near the furnace of a glasshouse and pointing to a procession
of young Slav boys who were carrying the glass on trays, re-
marked, "Look at their faces, and you will see that it is idle
to take them from the glasshouse in order to give them an
education; they are what they are, and will always remain
'what they are.." He meant that there are some human beings
— and these Slavs of the number — who are mentally irre-
deemable, so fast asleep intellectually that they cannot be
awakened ; designed by nature, therefore, to be hewers of wood
and drawers of water. This cruel and wicked thing was said of
Slavs; it is the same thing which has been said from time
immemorial by the slave-owners of their slaves. First they
degrade human beings by denying them the opportunity to
develop their better nature ; no schools, no teaching, no freedom.

90 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

no outlook ; and then, as if in mockery, they point to the de-
graded condition of their victims as a reason why they should
never be allowed to escape from it.^

64. Hasty Generalization. — The error here consists
in making an unwarranted or hasty generalization from
an insufficient number of cases.^ This fallacy may be
exposed by showing that not enough cases have been
observed to justify a conclusion about all other cases, or
by showing that the cases which have been observed are
not fair examples. (See the quotation from Huxley
in § 61 above.)

66. False Analogy.* — This common error in reasoning
consists in comparing two things which are similar only
in a superficial way, that is, only in the one point for
which we are comparing them, and then assuming that
they are identical in all points. You should be constantly
on guard against this fallacy. It appears very often in
arguments of policy, in which the advocates of a new
measure show that it ought to be adopted in a certain city
or country because it has worked well in another city or
country. This argument has no weight unless it is
pointed out that the conditions — political, social,
economic, etc. — in the two places compared are funda-
mentally similar. False analogy can be exposed by
demonstrating that the points of likeness which are
relied upon are outweighed by the points of diflFerence
which have been ignored. For example, take the state-
ment that just as a man will become bankrupt if he buys

1 The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science,
Vol. XXV, No. 3.

* Cf . College Readings, 276.

* In connection with this paragraph reread § 8 (analogies).

ARGUMENT 91

more than he sells, so a nation will become bankrupt if
the value of its imports exceeds that of its exports.
Webster in his Speech on the Tariff reveals the false analogy
here. He shows that the case of the man is not like that
of the nation, for when the value of imports exceeds that
of exports, a debt is not created. The excess of imports
over exports indicates the gains, not the losses, of trade.
66. Mistaken Causal Relation. — This fallacy consists
in assuming without justification that two facts stand in
the relation to each other of cause and eflFect simply be-
cause one fact is followed by the other.^ The Latin
name of this fallacy puts it compactly: post hoc ergo
propter hoc (after this, therefore on account of it). Almost
aU superstitions are due to this fallacy — that is, to the
lack of ability to distinguish a coincidence from a cause.
You can expose a fallacy in arguing from eflFect to cause
by showing (1) that the alleged cause was not sufficient
to produce the eflfect; (2) that other causes intervened
between the alleged cause and the eflfect ; or (3) that the
alleged cause was prevented from operating. President
Eliot gives several examples :

Many popular delusions are founded on the commonest of
fallacies — this preceded that, therefore this caused that; or
in shorter phrase, what preceded, caused. For example : I
was sick; I took such and such a medicine and became well;
therefore the medicine cured me. During the Civil War the
Government issued many millions of paper money, and some
men became very rich ; therefore the way to make all men richer
must be to issue from the Government presses an indefinite
amount of paper money. . . . Bessemer steel is much cheaper
now than it was twenty years ago ; there has been a tariff tax

1 Cf. College Readings, 241.

92 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

on Bessemer steel in the United States for the past twenty years ;
therefore the tax cheapened the steel. England, France, and
Germany are civilized and prosperous nations; they have
enormous public debts; therefore a public debt is a public
blessing. He must carry Ithuriel's spear and wear stout armor
who can always expose and resist this fallacy.^

67. Planning an Argument : Formal and Informal. —
The chief steps in planning an argument are phrasing
the proposition, analyzing the proposition, and proving
the proposition. The thoroughness of the plan depends
on whether you intend to treat the subject formally or
informally. Formal treatment means covering the case
fully and systematically, with careful regard to complete-
ness of proof and refutation of opposing argimients.
Informal treatment means dealing with the subject in a
simpler, less thorough way. Informal argument aims
to present opinions and to influence the opinions of other
people, but does not engage in an exhaustive statement of
proof. Informality, however, does not imply rambling
or scattering arrangement : it^ merely suggests less rigid
structure. First it is necessary to understand the method
of constructing a formal argument.

68. Phrasing the Proposition. — Until you state the
subject of the argument in the form of a definite proposi-
tion or question, you cannot begin to argue. When once
you have chosen a subject that is interesting, one that is
debatable (for there must be two sides to the question), and
one on which the material is accessible, you should narrow
down the proposition so that it will embody only a single
idea ; for instance, " Home Rule should be granted to Ire-

iC. W. Eliot, "Wherein Popular Education Has Failed," in Five
American ContribiUions to Civilizaiion.

ARGUMENT 93

land." You must not use a compound sentence, for thus
the proposition would be double-headed. Furthermore,
there should be no ambiguous words in the proposition,
or terms so general that they may be taken in many
senses, such as " Socialism," " Anarchism," " Trusts,"
" Policy," " Law." The proposition should be phrased
in the affirmative, thus : " The New Zealand system of
compulsory arbitration should be adopted in the United
States." The reason for this is that the burden of proof
rests on the affirmative. " He who affirms must prove."
If the affirmative is not able to prove a case, the decision
goes to the negative. Finally, the proposition should be
phrased as simply and briefly as is consistent with clearness.
69. Analysis. — It is of vital importance to discover
what the question means and what the main points at
issue are. This is the work of analysis. We must cut
our way to the pivotal points — those points which, if
proved, will prove the proposition itself. Burke in his
Conciliation Speech narrowed down the case to these
two main issues :

1. Should England concede?

2. What should the concessions be ? ^

The process of analyzing the proposition to find the main
issues consists, as a rule, of six steps :

1. The immediate origin of the question.

2. The history of the question.

3. The definition of terms.

4. The exclusion of admitted or irrelevant matter.

5. The conflicting contentions of the affirmative and
the negative.

6. The statement of the main issues.

^See, for other examples. College Readings, 232-238 (especially
p. 238), 239, and 260.

94 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

The order of these steps is not fixed : it varies according
to the peculiar nature of the case. Sometimes the defini-
tions are brought out in the history of the question;
sometimes the definitions should precede the history
of the question ; sometimes the definitions and the history
form parts of a preliminary exposition. The amount of
historical material depends on the circumstances. The
statement of the definitions and of the history should be
so accurate and unprejudiced that both the affirmative
and the negative may agree that it represents the facts
truthfully. For the qualities of a good definition, see § 25.
It is not necessary to define every word in the prop-
osition ; but it is essential that every term which admits
of several meanings, or which is to be used in a special way,
should be defined with rigorous exactitude. The object
of drawing up the leading contentions of both sides in
line of battle is to discover just which points are in sharp
dispute. Other points both sides may agree upon and con-
sequently may decide to omit; or it may be found that
certain contentions are so trivial or irrelevant that they
may be ruled out. The final step is to reduce the re-
maining contentions to as few main issues as possible,
and phrase them as questions. Let us illustrate these
steps by the analysis of the question. Should the North
Atlantic navy yard activities be concentrated at a naval
base on Narragansett Bay ?

I. (Origin of the question.) Public interest in the question
arises from the fact that the Secretary of the Navy
has had for consideration two reports submitted by
the Joint Army and Navy Board and by the General
Board of the Navy recommending that

ARGUMENT 95

A. The navy yards at Portsmouth, Boston, and New

York should be sold by the Government.

B, The activities of these navy yards should be con-

solidated at a great naval base to be established
on Narragansett Bay.
C This naval base on Narragansett Bay shoidd be
one of three such bases to be established on the
Atlantic coast, the other two being at Norfolk,
Virginia, and Guantanamo, Cuba.

n. (History of the question.) The question of concentrat-
ing the activities of the navy yards has been con-
sidered by experts in naval affairs for some years.

A. In the early eighties, a certain amount of con-

solidation was effected when William E. Chandler,
Secretary of the Navy, transferred the work of
the Boston Navy Yard to Portsmouth.

B, The development of the new navy before and after

the Spanish War of 1898 has increased the need
of efficiency and economy.
C The Completion of the Panama Canal is bringing
about far reaching changes in naval expansion
and in the distribution of fleets :

1. The Canal enables a fleet to divide its time be-

tween the Atlantic and the Pacific.

2. It increases the importance of the South Atlantic

bases and the Pacific bases.

3. It diminishes the importance of the North Atlan-

tic navy yards.

m. (Definition of terms.) The following definitions are
necessary in order to avoid misunderstanding :
A, A Navy Yard is a single establishment for docking,
repair, and supply. It may include building and
manufacturing facilities.^
.1 General Order 136, December 6, 1911.

96 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

B» A Naval Base is a point from which naval operations
may be conducted. Its essential feature is an
adequate anchorage for a fleet, sheltered from the
sea and fortified against attack. A permanent
base would have docking and repair facilities.^

C The Industrial Establishment of a navy yard is
that part of the equipment and activities of the
yard which constitutes the industrial plant.

D, The Military Establishment of a navy yard is that
part of its equipment and activities that is for
strictly military purposes.

IV. (Excluded matter.) Both sides agree to exclude dis-
cussion of the proposed naval bases at Norfolk and
Guantanamo.

V. (Clash of opinions.)

A. The affirmative contends that :

1. Navy yards exist for the navy and not the navy

for the navy yards.

2. The opening of the Panama Canal oflFers great

opportunities for the commercial expansion of
Portsmouth, Boston, and New York.
S. The opening of the Panama Canal threatens the
industrial welfare of the North Atlantic navy
yards, in that it will cause those navy yards to
suffer a decided loss in work and importance.

4. The concentration of the North Atlantic navy

yard activities at a naval base on Narragansett
Bay will improve the military efficiency of
the navy.

5. The concentration of the navy yard activities

at a naval base on Narragansett Bay will
result in a substantial saving in the cost of
maintenance, labor, and material.

1 General Order 135, December 6, 1911.

ARGUMENT 97

B. The negative contends that :

1. The sale of the navy yards at Portsmouth,
Boston, and New York would mean loss of
business to those cities.
%, The concentration of the North Atlantic navy
yard activities at a naval base on Narragansett
Bay would impair the military efficiency of
the navy.
8. Such concentration would be extravagant in
that large sums have been expended in building
up an industrial plant at the present navy yards.
4. There is no guarantee that the work now per-
formed at the three North Atlantic yards
would be performed more cheaply when con-
centrated in one plant.
VI. (Main issues.) The question resolves itself into these
main issues :
A* Woidd the sale of the Portsmouth, Boston, and
New York navy yards be to the industrial
advantage or disadvantage of those cities ? '

B, Would the concentration of the North Atlantic

navy yard activities at a naval base on Narra-
gansett Bay promote or impair the military
efficiency of the navy ?

C. Would the concentration of the North Atlantic navy

yard activities at a naval base on Narragansett
Bay residt in an appreciable saving of expense ?

70. The Brief. — The outline plan of an argument is
called a brief. Like the plan of an exposition, it is com^
posed of numbered headings and sub-headings.^ (See
the Rules for Making Plans, § 19.) But in the brief
there are special methods of procedure which are necessi-
tated by the fact that our chief purpose is to prove our
^ See College Readings, 257, 306.

98 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

case. For example, each heading must be a complete
statement with subject and predicate, in order that we may
know exactly what fact is affirmed. Furthermore, each
argumentative statement must be supported by evidence
in the form of sub-headings, and these sub-headings in
turn must be supported until we arrive at the solid wall
of conviction, and need proceed no further. In a brief
the order of writing is always "statement — proof,"
" statement — proof." Mechanical as this order is, it
is the only one to insure absolute clearness. The special
methods of procedure in drawing a brief are explained
by a set of riiles.

71. Rules for Briefing. —

Rule 1. A brief should be divided into three parts
marked Introduction, Proof, and Conclusion.

Rule 2. Each heading should be a single complete
statement : it should never be a compound sentence.

Rule 3. The relation of ideas in the brief should be
indicated by numbers and letters, and by indentations.

Rule 4. In the Introduction the main headings should
be the steps of analysis necessary for an intelligent reading
of the Proof. (See the list of these steps and the illustra-
tions of headings and sub-headings on p. 93.)

Rule 5. The last heading of the Introduction should
state the main issues.

Rule 6. In the Introduction there should be no state-
ments which require proof except the statements of the
conflicting opinions. Since the Introduction is really
an exposition, we should follow the rules for expository
planning in § 19.

Rule 7. In the Proof, the main headings should corre-
spond to the main issues at the end of the Introduction.

ARGUMENT 99

If there are two issues, there will be two main headings —
I and II : if there are five issues, there will be five main
headings — I, II, III, IV, V.

Rule 8. In the Proof, every sub-heading should read
as proof of the truth of the heading to which it is sub-
ordinate. This is the vital rule of briefing, and it must
never be forgotten. Note these illustrations from the
brief for the affirmative on the question, " Should the
North Atlantic navy yard activities be concentrated at a
naval base on Narragansett Bay? "

n. Concentration of the North Atlantic navy yard activi-
ties at a naval base on Narragansett Bay would
promote the military efficiency of the navy.
[Proof] A. Narragansett Bay has all the features required
for a naval base by the specifications of naval
experts.
[Proof] 1. It has an adequate anchorage for a fleet with

all its auxiliaries, sheltered from sea.^

2. It can be made impregnable against attack.
[Proof] a. It has direct access to the open sea by broad

and deep channels that give excellent
opportunity for submarine and mine
defense.
b. It is already defended by modem fortifica-
tions on the island midway of the entrance
and on the flanking headlands.

3. It would not be possible for an enemy to bottle

up any of our ships at this base.
[Proof] a. It would be impossible for an enemy to

obstruct effectually such wide and deep
channels.

^ United States Coast and Geodetic Survey {Chart) of Narragansett
Bay, Rhode Island,

100 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

b. An attempt to mine the entrance to the Bay
would be foiled by submarines and counter-
mining.

Observe that the sub-headings are not mere explanation,
but are proof of the fact affirmed in the preceding heading.
You must distinguish between a possible cause and proof.
For example :

A, John went to bed at eight o'clock :
1. He was tired.

Here 1 is the cause of A , but it does not prove A by any means.
In order to prove A you must have the testimony of some-
one who saw John go to bed at eight o'clock. The most
eflFective way of keeping your mind on proof is to concen-
trate your attention on the predicate of your heading and
prove the fact residing in that predicate. It is helpful, when
you are making your first brief, to write the word " Proof "
before each sub-heading, as in the illustration above.
You do not need connective words at the end of headings,
such as " for," " because," " hence," " therefore," for
these connectives are liable to throw you oflF the straight
track of " statement — proof."

Rule 9. Headings introducing refutation should state
clearly the argument to be refuted. Refutation is the an-
swering of contentions or objections which the other side
may bring forward in connection with main arguments or
details of proof. These objections should be answered
when they arise. The form of heading should make it
clear that you are answering your opponent's contention,

thus:

A^ The argument that the forests are increasing is
not true :

ARGUMENT 101

1. The alleged increase consists of infant woods
which will not mature for a century to come.

A. Although it is asserted that the forests are increas-
ing, this is not true :
1. [as before].

Rule 10. The Conclusion should be merely a summary
of the main arguments, followed by an affirmation or
denial of the original proposition.

Rule 11. The brief should be equipped with references
to sources of information in the form of footnotes. (See
the example on p. 95 and read § 318 on Footnotes.)

72. Writing the Argument. — Now that you have a
map of the analysis and the proof of your proposition,
the work of writing the argument is more than half
done. You should fill out the brief and make the result
a readable article. The brief has excellent but rigid
structure. In the argument you must not allow this
structure to be so obvious that it becomes mechanical
and " bony." Your reader must not feel that the argu-
ment is only a brief written out in long hand. What can
you do to fill out the brief with flesh and blood ? Many
things. You can add detailed proof; you can give as
many examples as you have space for; you can often
put this illustrative matter in the form of brief narrative
or descriptive passages; you can smooth out the rigid
structure by the use of transitions; you can warm the
whole argument by means of persuasion ; but you must
not put in mere padding. In the written argument you
must not keep slavishly to the set order of " statement —
proof," for this becomes very irritating. Frequently
you can present the proof first and bring out last the state-

102 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

ment which the evidence proves. This method piques
the curiosity. Again, it is often more diplomatic, espe-
cially if your audience has views opposed to yours. To
come out flat with a statement and then gradually produce
the evidence for it seems assertive until the demonstration
had been completed. It will often be better to say " Let
us see what the facts are and what conclusion they lead to."

A few words about the tone of your writing. Avoid a
sarcastic treatment of your opponents or your audience.
Avoid any appearance of laying down the law. Remember
that if the subject is worth anything, it not only has
two sides, but two sides almost evenly balanced. If you
appear to be reaching a conclusion from which no sane
man could conceivably diflFer, your hearers will be sus-
picious. They will wonder why this revelation of the
truth for which others have anxiously sought has been
made to you alone and not to your opponents. To
escape this tone get up your subject thoroughly and then
lean on it hard. There is no substitute for hard work
in getting facts or for modesty and good sportsmanship
in presenting them.^

73. Persuasion. — Persuasion, as was pointed out at
the beginning of this chapter, is that element in argument
which rouses the hearer to action. It accomplishes its
work by appealing to the emotions, to various personal
interests, sympathies, prejudices, and motives. Persua-
sion is so powerful a force that it can win its way in the
face of conviction. The following example shows how the
National House of Representatives was once conquered
by persuasion which appealed to sentiment.

^ In the light of the foregoing suggestions consider the briefs and
the finished arguments in College Readings, 257-271 and SOO-323.

ARGUMENT 103

Sentiment versus utUity was tried in the House to-day and
sentiment won. It was all over the mistletoe. The proposi-
tion was to destroy it by remorseless scientific means, and the
chivalry of the House was in arms. Arguments showing it to
be a pernicious plant that killed trees were of no avail. It was
permitted to stay in consideration of its otherwise tender in-
fluences. After a tree has become thoroughly inoculated with
the poison of the mistletoe, Mr. Burleson declared, it invariably
dies within seven years. Mr. Burleson asked that an item be
inserted in the agricultural appropriation bill directing the forest
service to determine whether there were any means to eradicate
**this parasitical pest." He thus described it on the authority of
statements made by the Audubon Society of Texas.

Mr. Gaines of Tennessee wanted to know if this was the
mistletoe of romance and poetry. Asserting that there were
too many shade trees anyhow, Mr. Gaines, with characteristic
impulsiveness, sprang to the defence of the mistletoe, and
pleading the influence of its gracious and hallowed memories,
calling to his aid Dickens's immortal description of the Christmas
Eve scene under the mistletoe in Mr. Wardell's kitchen, as given
in "Pickwick Papers," succeeded in rescuing it from the grasp
of the despoiler. Mr. Gaines offered the following effusion in
poetical form. He laid it to a new member, and said it had
been " tossed off " while the discussion, which lasted only fifteen
minutes, was in progress. The lines read :

"What ! Would they destroy thee, forgetting the part
So long thou hast played in affairs of the heart,
Forgetting the days of the dear long ago ?
The loves that enshrine thee, thou dear mistletoe ;
The beauties who dared and the gallants who won,
The romances dear that by thee were begun ?
Then surely has gallantry faded from earth,
And departed forever life's pleasure and worth."

That settled it. The vote was 43 to 38 to let the mistletoe alone.*

* A full account is given in the Congressional Record, March 30, 1908.

104 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Persuasion is often employed unscrupulously — a fact
which should warn us of its dangers. It is incumbent on
educated men to use this powerful weapon on the side of
justice and right.

74. Methods of Persuasion. — Some of the most im-
portant methods of persuasion are as follows :

1. Win a hearing for yourself by shocking the audience
into attention. When Woodrow Wilson, several years
before he became President of the Unites States, received
an honorary degree from Harvard, he was asked to speak
at the Commencement dinner, which was held in Memorial
Hall. This hall is a memorial of the Harvard men who
fought for the Union in the Civil War. Mr. Wilson soon
after beginning his speech said :

I cannot help thinking, as I sit here in this hall, that it is
dedicated to men who thrashed the men I most loved. I come
from a more ancient Commonwealth than the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts, namely, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and
I am one of those who are of the seed of that indomitable blood,
planted in so many parts of the United States, which makes
good fighting stuflF, — the Scotch-Irish. The beauty about a
Scotch-Irishman is that he not only thinks he is right, but knows
he is right. And I have not departed from the faith of my
ancestors.

This bold statement startled his audience into an attention
which remained keen throughout his speech. Senator
Lodge, speaking in the Senate on a resolution against
foreign governments interfering with our trade, moved the
addition of the words " and the lives of our citizens " ; and
in a superb sentence used anti-climax to gain a tremendous
climax and shock his hearers into emotion :

ARGUMENT 105

" To me the dead body of a baby floating on the ocean, the
victim of an unprovoked attack by a German submarine,
is a more tragic spectacle than an — unsold bale of cotton,**

%, Adapt your point of view to the special interests,
ideals, and intelligence of your audience. During the
Civil War, Henry Ward Beecher was sent to England to
speak on the side of the North in many industrial centres
where sympathies were running strong for the South. At
Liverpool, speaking against almost insuperable opposition,
he made himself heard by appealing to the English love
of fair play, and to the commercial interests of the manu-
factiu*ers and the laboring men.

That nation is the best customer that is freest, because
freedom works prosperity, industry, and wealth. Great Britain,
then, aside from moral considerations, has a direct commercial
and pecuniary interest in the liberty, civilization, and wealth of
every nation on the globe. [Loud applause.] You also have
an interest in this, because you are a moral and religious people.
["Oh, oh!" Laughter and applause.] You desire it from the
highest motives ; and godliness is profitable in all things, having
the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is
to come ; but if there were no hereafter, and if man had no prog-
ress in this life, and if there were no question of civilization
at all, it would be worth your while to protect civilization and
liberty, merely as a commercial speculation. To evangelize
has more than a moral and religious import — it comes back
to temporal relations. Wherever a nation that is crushed,
cramped, degraded under despotism is struggling to be free,
you — Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Paisley — all have an
interest that that nation should be free. When depressed and
backward people demand that they may have a chance to rise —
Hungary, Italy, Poland — it is a duty for humanity's sake, it
is a duty for the highest moral motives, to sympathize with them ;

106 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

but besides all these there is a material and an interested reason
why you should sympathize with them. Pounds and pence
join with conscience and with honor in this design.^

3. Appeal to the higher motives, and try to link the
lower motives — such as self-interest, profit, pleasure —
with the finer impulses, — generosity, self-sacrifice, love
of right and justice, devotion to home and country.
Few men have ever been so gifted with winning and per-
suasive speech as Abraham Lincoln. You should give
days and nights to the study of his beautiful simplicity
and sincerity, and his power of reaching out to nobler
impulses. Here is his speech to the 166th Ohio Regiment :

I almost always feel inclined, when I happen to say anything
to soldiers, to impress upon them, in a few brief remarks, the
importance of success in this contest. It is not merely for
to-day but for all time to come, that we should perpetuate for
our children's children that great and free government which we
have enjoyed all our lives. I beg you to remember this, not
merely for my sake, but for yours. I happen, temporarily, to
occupy this White House. I am a living witness that any one
of your children may come here as my father's child has. It
is in order that each one of you may have, through this free
government which we have enjoyed, an open field and a fair
chance for your industry, enterprise, and intelligence; that
you may all have equal privileges in the race of life, with all
its desirable human aspirations. It is for this the struggle should
be maintained, that we may not lose our birthright — not only
for one, but for two or three years. The nation is worth
fighting for, to secure such an inestimable jewel.

4. Focus your persuasion on a definite objective. If
you produce enthusiasm in your audience, you should

^ Henry Ward Beecher, Speech at Liverpool, October 16, 1863.

ARGUMENT 107

direct it into action ; if ypu do not, it will evaporate. A
splendid example of persuasion to a definite purpose is
the close of Senator Root's speech on the Panama Canal
Tolls. He urged the United States to live up to its
treaties with Great Britain to the eflFect that vessels of
the United States should not be exempt from paying tolls.

O Senators, consider for a moment what it is that we are
doing. We all love our country ; we are all proud of its history ;
we are all full of hope and courage for its future; we love its
good name ; we desire for it that power among the nations of the
earth which will enable it to accomplish still greater things for
civilization than it has accomplished in its noble past. Shall
we make ourselves in the minds of the world like unto the man
who in his own community is marked as astute and cunning
to get out of his obUgations? Shall we make ourselves hke
unto the man who is known to be false to his agreements ; false
to his pledged word? Shall we have it understood the whole
world over that "you must look out for the United States or
she will get the advantage of you" ?

It is worth while, Mr. President, to be a citizen of a great
country, but size alone is not enough to make a country great.
A coimtry must be great in its ideals ; it must be great-hearted ;
it must be noble; it must despise and reject all smallness and
meanness; it must be faithful to its word; it must keep the
faith of treaties ; it must be faithful to its mission of civilization
in order that it shall be truly great. It is because we believe
that of our country that we are proud, aye, that the alien with
the first step of his foot upon our soil is proud to be a part of
this great democracy.

Let us put aside the idea of small, petty advantage; let us
treat this situation and these obligations in our relation to this
canal in that large way which befits a great nation.^

^ Elihu Root, Speech in the United States Senate, in the Congres'
sional Record, January 21, 1913.

108 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

75. Informal Argtunent. — The diflference between
formal and informal argument, as was pointed out in
§ 67, is largely a matter of thoroughness and tone. Since
informal argument deals with a question in a simpler,
less thorough way, it is usually much shorter. Examples
of this kind of argument we read every day in the editorials
of newspapers. In cases like this, a writer sometimes
dispenses with an analytical introduction and treats only
one or two main arguments ; or perhaps gives his attention
merely to analyzing a question in order to acquaint the
public with the vital issues involved; or perhaps seizes
an opportunity to arouse public feeling. For example,
an editorial in the Outlook opens thus :

Our object in this article is, first, to define the issue joined
between the "open shop" and the "closed shop ; " and, secondly,
to give our judgment on that issue and the reasons upon which
it is based.^

This statement expresses clearly the essential steps in
all argument, and indicates as well the compactness and
brevity with which the particular question is to be treated.
Another editorial, this time in the Independenty begins
crisply with the subject to be discussed :

After the tariflF — the currency, after the currency — the
trusts, after the trusts — the Presidential primary. In his
address to Congress last December President Wilson urged
"the prompt enactment of legislation which will provide for
primary elections throughout the country at which the voters of
the several parties may choose their nominees for the Presidency
without the intervention of nominating conventions." There

1 The Outlook, July 16, 1904.

ARGUMENT 109

are indications that Mr. Wilson expects this to be the next big
task which he will urge Congress to undertake.^

It then proceeds to support the Presidential primary by
a series of paragraphs announced as follows :

The proposal for the direct nomination of candidates for the
Presidency is based upon soHd grounds.
It is a logical development. . . .
It is democracy. . . .

It is an instrument of representative government. . . .
It works well. . . .

In informal argument there is usually not time enough to
give many details of evidence, but the contentions are
supported by significant facts or justified by sound reason-
ing. As a result of brevity there is a gain in sharpness of
impression and unity of effect. Fiu*thermore, one of the
distinguishing marks of informal argument is the greater
part played by persuasion. Indeed, informal argument
frequently has as its aim the desire to make people feel
something or do something. Its appeal may be more
direct and intimate than that of formal argument, and
its tone and style may be more colloquial and spirited.

EXERCISES

1. Clip from newspapers examples of assertion.

2. CHp from newspapers examples of evidence.

S. Apply the tests of evidence (§58 of this book) to the
arguments in College Readings, 257 and 276.

4. Copy into your notebook five examples of evidence in
Lincoln's letters and speeches.

^ The Independent, February 23, 1914. See College Readings, pages
836 ff. For other examples of informal argument, see College Read'
ings, pages 221, 223, 324-336.

110 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

5. Find examples in daily life of inductive or deductive
reasoning.

6. Clip from newspapers or advertisements examples of
fallacies.

7. Criticize the flaws in the following arguments. Refute
these arguments.

a. Examinations are useful as a preparation for life;
for does not life confront us with a series of tests ?

b. I don't think much of a college education. My father
had none and is a successful man. My imcle went to college,
and my father supports him.

c. The only people excluded from the privilege of voting
are children, idiots, foreigners, convicts, and women. How
much longer will the civilized nations of the earth permit their
women to be classed with the incompetent and the criminal
classes of society ?

d. The rapid increase in wages for the past twenty years
shows the superior advantage gained by the organization of
the working men.

e. It is a poor way to entertain a girl to take her to the
theatre, for if you pay .attention to the girl you'll miss the play
and might just as well have entertained her at home and saved
your money, while if you pay attention to the play you'll neglect
the girl and might as well have bought one ticket and gone alone.

/. Iowa is the best for farming of any of the states. Mus-
catine County is the best farming county in the state. My
farm is the best farm in the county. Therefore, my farm is
the best in the United States.

g. President Wilson should be reelected, for the country
has had an era of enormous prosperity since 1914.

8. Discuss the value of the proof in the following arguments :
a. Boston real estate owners will not suflFer if Boston has

no-license. As to real estate to be vacated by reason of a no-
license vote, the experience of cities like Seattle and Denver is,
that such real estate has been entirely taken up by legitimate

ARGUMENT 111

business within three months of a no-license law becoming
operative.

b. "We want suflFrage for peace," declares an advocate of
suffrage and sufferer from war. But would we get it? Are
not the women of the warring countries just as keen for war as
the men? In England are not the women the most active
recruiting sergeants ? Even in this neutral country do not the
women divide as sharply on lines of racial sympathy as their
husbands and brothers ?

Why can't this question of the ballot be discussed on its
merits, without pretense that women's hearts and minds differ
radically in their workings from the like organs in masculine
frames ? Women should have the ballot — if they should have
it — because they are human beings and taxpayers and workers,
not because they belong to a supposedly superior sex. Those
who would give woman the ballot as a means of reforming society
either don't know what they are talking about or are not talking
about what they know. Intellectually and morally, women
are neither better nor worse than men. If this be treason,
we're glad of it.

9. Discuss the value of the arguments in this political ad-
vertisement :

What the Pubmc School What the Present School
Candidates Stand for: Committee has Stood for;

Administration of our Pub- The purchase of a second-
lie Schools first, last, and all hand Packard automobile for
the time for the benefit of $2500, whose maintenance cost,
those who attend them. exclusive of chauffeur, has aver-

The absolute and permanent aged $198 per month,
separation of Politics from our The consumption of 1200
Public School Administration, gallons of gasoline for the oper-

The maintenance of the ation of this car, which means
present schedule of salaries and that it must have been run

112 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

increases for teachers, janitors, nearly 10,000 miles, more than
and other school department three times across the United
employees. States, since June 4, 1915.

The charging to the city

The expenditure of School of bills for refreshments, some
Money fot School purposes, petty, others not so petty;
and FOR SCHOOL purposes some consumed in this city,
ONLY. most consumed elsewhere.

Favoritism in the appoint-

Strict adherence to the Merit ment and promotion of teachers
System in the making of ap- and employees. Relatives of
pointments and promotions. the School Board have been

first preferred ; political workers

The removal of all taint or or relatives of political workers
suspicion of jobbery from the have been second preferred,
purchase of land to be used for Faithful, conscientious teachers
School purposes. who have done their duty and

kept out of politics have been

Publicity for the doings of consistently ignored,
the School Board, and an op- Disregard of their own rules
portunity for every member to regulating appointment and
attend all sub-committee meet- promotion when some relative
ings. or friend, or relative of a friend,

was to be served.

The holding of all meetings Utter disregard of ordinary
of the School Board or its sub- business prudence, as illus-
committees in this city. trated by the far-famed $11,000

deficit with which the special

The extended use of School committee on improved busi-
Buildings as Community ness methods ended their first
Centers. year's administration.

ARGUMENT 113

10. Point out the errors in brief -drawing in these cases and
indicate what the proper form should be :

A, Socrates went about asking questions trying to
find out if he was wiser than any one else :

1. The Delphic oracle had said that he was the

wisest of all men.

2. He wished to see in what way he was wiser than

the other philosophers.

A. Capital pimishment makes punishment uncertain :
1. Many eminent jurors agree that the severer the
penalty the more likely the criminal is to be
acquitted :
a. The number of executions compared with the
number of well-authenticated cases of
crime is small.

ni. The United States did not imdertake the Spanish-
American War for territorial acquisition :
A. The United States still hold the Philippine
Islands :
1. The inhabitants of these islands are not yet
competent to govern themselves.

C. Under the republican form of government in

China financial conditions have improved

and social and administrative reforms have

been pushed forward :

1 . Social progress of the people has been great.

II. The republic. in China will solve the problem of
succession :

114 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

3. Yuan Shih Kai's own children are unfit
to succeed him, therefore
a. It will be easy to get an elective strong
man to succeed him.
In order to advance in medicine and surgery we
must have new drugs and a greater knowledge
which can only be gained through vivisection,
hence
a. Vivisection is absolutely necessary for the study

and remedy of human diseases.
Dr. Weir Mitchell practiced and endorsed vivisec-
tion, because
a. He believed in its value.

11. Construct the introduction of a brief from Huxley's
Three Hypotheses Respecting the History of Nature, or A. S.
Johnson's Case against the Single Tax. (Both in College Readings,
pages 232-239.)

12. Brief any of these arguments in College Readings: E. D.
Durand's Council Government vs. Mayor Government; Sir William
Anson's Defense of the House of Lords; W. H. Taft's Monroe
Doctrine; F. Franklin's Intellectual Powers of Woman; O. C.
Barber's Popular Control of National Wealth.

13. Write a persuasive letter appealing for money for a charity.

14. Copy into your notebook five examples of persuasion in
Lincoln's speeches.

15. What use of persuasion is made in the arguments in
College Readings, 301, 304, and 308 ?

CHAPTER IV
DESCRIPTION

76. Definition, Kinds, and Purposes. — Whereas Ex-
position tells how a thing works. Description tells how it
looks. To tell how a thing looks may be a matter of
explanation, or it may be a matter of arousing in the mind
of the reader a certain general effect of amusement,
gloom, rapture, or quiet enjoyment such as the thing
described has aroused in the mind of the writer. If the
purpose of the description is to instruct the reader in
the precise details of an object, we call the description
scientific. Such is the following paragraph from a con-
siderably longer description of a building : ^

It is about sixty-seven and one-half feet high to the top of
the main roof and has one eighty-five feet centre aisle commanded
by two ten-ton travelling cranes, and two thirty-nine feet side
aisles with single five-ton cranes. The general design of the
building conforms closely to advanced steel-shop construction
in this country, but the details vary considerably from it in
some of the important members. The wall columns, twenty-
three feet apart, carry the side aisle roof trusses directly, and
the centre-aisle columns, sixty-nine feet apart, carry riveted
longitudinal trusses about fourteen feet deep, each of which
supports two intermediate centre and side-aisle roof trusses,
while every third roof truss is carried directly on the columns.

^ Reprinted in full in College Readings, pages 375-876.
115

116 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

The centre-aisle columns are double with two H-shape shafts
four and a half feet apart transversely, with their feet riveted
between the webs of a single long, wide, structural^teel pedestal.

In the passage on page 125, however, the purpose of the
writer was to imitate in words the general impression
made upon him by Chartres Cathedral. In spite of the
difference in purpose these are both more or less sustained
descriptions. But small bits of description are used to
flavor almost every kind of writing : to be able to describe
a person vividly is important for the biographer; to set
the scene, to describe the people, and to indicate the
action which accompanies dialogue is necessary in order
to make narrative real. Even exposition and argument,
though their main purpose is far from being descrip-
tive, make some use of description in a subordinate way.
77. Material. — The materials which we put into de-
scription come to us from one or more of three sources:
from observation, from reading, and from imagination.
If we take a piece of paper and a pencil, sit down in front
of a building or a landscape or a picture on our walls,
and glancing at the object from time to time, try to re-
produce on paper the effect of what we see, we are de-
scribing from observation. Such a method, although it
saves us at times from untruthfulness, and though it should
furnish us with plenty of material, is not ordinarily so
good as to describe from our recollections of actual observa-
tion. By observing carefully and then allowing a short
interval to occur, we find that the less important details
have become dim or have altogether disappeared, while
the main points still stand out. It is a fair assumption
that whatever a well-trained observer remembers most
vividly will appeal most vividly to his reader.

DESCRIPTION 117

Although every one wishes to be as original as possible
in description as in other kinds of writing, a great deal is
to be learned by reading the descriptions of others.
Perhaps no writer has described precisely what I wish to
describe; yet many have described something similar
and have used words and devices which may be useful to
me. Without copying from them anything which does
not fully apply to my subject, I can get suggestions here
and there. One of the great pleasures in reading such
men as Stevenson and Mr. Kipling is the study of their
swift and telling description.

In all description there is a further element, — the ele-
ment of imagination. Daring writers like Poe occasion-
ally go so far as to write long descriptions of imaginary
scenes. Although this practice is not to be commended to
beginners, yet even they should remember to flavor fact
with imagination. Imagination is, indeed, in part made
up by observation and reading strangely changed and
recombined.

78. Use all of your Senses. — The mass of sensations
which make up the reality of any moment consist of
some which are immediate and vividly realized and others
which are subordinate and hardly thought of until they
cease. It is especially to be noted that these sensations
are not by any means all visual impressions: soimd,
smell, touch, and taste all play their part. The camera
merely sees what is within its range ; a sensitive person
feels things behind him, hears the whistle of a bird's
wings overhead or sees its shadow on the ground, smells
the new-cut hay or the freshly ploughed earth or the wood
smoke, or perhaps the gentler odor of lavender or sandal-
wood. All this, in addition to what we see, makes up the

118 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

reality of any moment. If a \i^iter of description forgets
this, his description will lack the beauty and complexity
of real life.

Anyone who doubts this may easily test the matter
for himself. Let him take any moment which is de-
scriptively rich, and let him temporarily deprive himself
of sight ; that is to say, let him close his eyes. He will
find that a large part of the reality of the moment remains.
Readers of The Light that Failed will remember that the
hero, Dick Heldar, after he became blind, was taken out
to the drill ground and that through other senses than sight
he contrived to know what was going on. He heard, for
example, the creaking of the leather slings as the bass
drummer heaved up the big drum. They will also re-
member how, near the end of the book, Dick went down
to the front on an armored train which had to use its
quick-firing gim, and how the tinkle of the empty cartridge
cases as they were thrown out of the breech of the gim and
the reek of the powder smoke as it swept back into the car
make in Kipling's hands an extremely vivid description,
although nothing in it is visual.

79. Considering the Reader. — On account of the
similarity between description and painting, the idea
has become fixed in the minds of many people that when we
describe a thing we make the reader see it. It is important
to remember that we do not make the reader see it, nor
do we expect to : when we say " an old gray house stood
near the dusty road," we cause the reader to picture,
from his own experience, an old gray house and a dusty
road. A child who has spent all his Hfe surrounded by
pavements and brick buildings has very little material
out of which to build this picture. Indeed, if he has

DESCRIPTION 119

any at all, it is probably what he has read from books.
Every one of us is more or less in this position in read-
ing description. If a palace is described, we who have
never seen a palace build up an idea of one curiously com-
pounded of the most stately actual house that we have
ever seen, plus some picture of a palace that we have
come across, plus the Arabian Nights and a dozen other
books more or less freshly and accurately remembered.
The result may have no more relation to the kind of
image the writer meant us to picture than our actual
experiences have to the strange distortions of them which
throng our dreams.

80. Unity. — Since your object in description is to
make the reader share your sense impressions, and since
the complete record of all details of sight, soimd, odor,
touch, and taste would be confusing, you should select
only the significant details. The two most helpful devices
to secure unity in description are Point of View and Domi-
nant Tone. By means of the former you help your reader
to make his mental reproduction of a scene true to place
and time. By means of the latter you give him one chief
impression.

81. Point of View.^ — If I were to photograph a bit
of landscape, I should walk about it and consider the best
place to plant my camera. It would be important to
have the light fall properly upon the object, to prevent
some object in the foregroimd from shutting out some-
thing more important beyond it, and in general to get
what we call a " good look " at the thing to be photo-
graphed. In other words, it would be necessary to select

^ See College Readings, page 609, for a classification of possible points
of view and references to examples of each.

120 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

the best " point of view/* So it is in written description :
I must be skillful in deciding upon my point of view and
definite in announcing it. But description is different from
photography in that the point of view may change. I may
be coming into a harbor and as the steamer approaches the
wharf I may jot down first a view of the harbor in the
distance; a few moments later, the nearer view; and,
finally, the detail visible only at short range. Or, in
other cases, the object being described may approach
me, and thus the effect may constantly change. In a
single sentence Kipling describes the coach of an airship
as it rises straight toward an observer looking down from
far above it : " It enlarges rapidly from a postage-stamp
to a playing-card, to a punt, and last a pontoon." Besides
these dzanges in the position of the observer and of the
object, there may be changes in the conditions — light
or weather, for example — under which the object is
seen. The light may gradually increase or diminish; a
flash of lightning may suddenly reveal details previously
hidden ; the moon may rise ; a fog may Uf t. Any one of
a dozen perfectly natural changes may be used to make
one view dissolve into another. If I am describing from
observation — writing actually in the field — I am almost
certain to be truthful to fact in my dealing with this
matter of point of view. The diflSculty comes when I
describe a thing as I recollect it after a long interval, or
when I imagine a view. In either of these cases I must
be very careful to apply in every part of my description
whatever conditions of light, weather, and physical point
of view govern the rest of the description. If I am sup-
posed to be describing a view from a certain window, I
must not include certain objects if a particular tree would

DESCRIPTION 121

hide those objects, or if the distance would prevent my
seeing them distinctly.^ I shall fail here if I jumble my
recollection of a bit of country seen from all sorts of posi-
tions, under all sorts of weather conditions. I must
either draw from life, or be essentially truthful to life if
I draw from recollection or imagination. But this is not
all : a certain landscape seen from the same point, under
the same weather conditions, makes one effect upon a child
and another upon his father; makes one effect upon a
despondent person and another upon one whose mood is
happy .^ So we must add temperament as another condi-
tion which modifies the view.'

82. Dominant Tone. — It is evident that we are not
cameras : we do not hold a piece of paper up to a landscape
in order that everything within range may be mechani-
cally printed upon it. We do our own selecting. We take
into our own minds and give out again in the form ^of
our own words the impression of those things which
happen to strike us. Now, the mass of detail, even
when I look out from my window upon a relatively
barren view, is so great that in my description I really
leave out almost everything that I see. The beginner
may think that when he writes two or three pages of de-
scription he is including a great deal : but let him think
for a moment of the enormous mass of detail that he is
leaving out ; then let him ask himself what the chances
of success are if he has no principle to guide him in deciding

1 In the light of this principle, examine the passages under § 133.

2 See the first paragraph of "The Manse" in Stevenson's Memories
and Portraits.

3 See Stewart Edward White, "On the Wind at Night" {College
Readings, 420).

122 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

what he shall leave out, what he shall subordinate, and
what he shall throw into high relief. Of course, every-
thing that we have said about point of view is to some
extent a guide in the selection of material. But even
after point of view has helped us all it can, we are still
swamped with a great mass of material. Then there
comes to our aid the principle of unity. Remembering
always that what we describe is not the thing itself,
but the impression which that thing makes upon us,
we must ask ourselves what is the essence of that im-
pression. ''

Perhaps the object to be described is a person; if so,
does that person impress us most with his shabby respect-
ability, or with the manifold evidences of newly acquired
wealth, or with a devotion to study which has left him scant
time to think of outward appearances? Perhaps it is a
landscape ; if so, could not the gist of it be conveyed to a
reader if we regard it as primarily a study in white, or a
study in autumn foliage, or a study in fog or heat or cold ?
Or perhaps it is a scene in which landscape, buildings,
and people all play their part; if so, what is the feeling
in the air? Is it jollity, or gloom? Entirely humdrum
people, landscapes, and scenes which nothing seems to
dominate are probably not good subjects for description.
Certainly they are not good subjects for a beginner.^

Having selected our dominant tone, we decide what
details will make that dominant tone most impressive,
throw them into high relief, and subordinate or omit
others. For example, suppose that I wish to describe

^See the selection from Irving in § 133 of this book. For other
examples of dominant tone, see College Readings, 358, 369, 383, 399,
400 (Drake), 405-410.

DESCRIPTION 123

the appearance of some young men in such a way as to
emphasize very rapidly the fact that, though not in
uniform, they are soldiers. There are many details about
them which are common to soldiers and to civilians.
These I ignore. The details which I emphasize are these
— if I am as keen as Kipling :

The line of the chin-strap, that still showed white and un-
tanned on cheekbone and jaw, the steadfast young eyes puck-
ered at the comers of the lids with much staring through red-
hot sunshine, the slow, untroubled breathing, and the curious»
crisp, curt speech.^

83. Coherence. — As in other kinds of writing, so in
description it is important that the parts should stick
together. Particularly in description there is a tempta-
tion to enumerate details in helter-skelter fashion instead
of combining them coherently. The result is an inventory
rather than a description. « Coherence is essential if you
wish your readers to have a strong impression of the
way a scene aflfects you.

The most natural method of progression is to arrange
the details in the order in which they impress themselves
on your senses. As a rule you should give the most
striking details first for the sake of producing your domi-
nant tone. You may then bring in less striking details,
and echo the chief impression at the end. In certain
cases it may be best to begin with particulars and build
up the general impression. Sometimes you may begin
with things near at hand and proceed to those far away ;
sometimes you may begin with things at a distance and

1 Kipling, "A Conference of the Powers." Quoted in J, H. Gar-
diner's Forms of Prose Literature,

124 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

draw steadily nearer to the foreground. "Follow the
eye " is the most useful advice.

Let us now watch some famous writers at work. Let us
visit the scenes they describe, place ourselves at the
points from which they view the scenes, and observe
what salient details they select, what methods of arranging
them they employ, and what words and figures they
choose. When Eden Phillpotts looks over the Vale of
Widecombe on Dartmoor, this is the way he paints the
scene :

[There] spread the Vale of Widecombe, within its granite
cincture of great hUls — a dimple on the face of the earth, a
cradle under a many-coloured quilt of little fields. Dim green
and brown, the patchwork of meadow, arable, and fallow cov-
ered all, swept the valley, and dimbed the foothills round about.
. . . Dark hedges outlined each croft, and shadow and sun-
shine swept alternately over them. ... A road or two dropped
into the valley, and where great Hameldon's featureless ridges
undulated upon the northwest, brown forests hung and made a
thick covering, like warm fur, for the shoulders of the hills.
Trees also clustered in the valley, and amidst them sprang a
granite tower. A spatter of cottages stood nigh the church
and thinned away round about it; but they were innumerous,
for more men and women dwelt in a zone of grey farms spread
on the sides of the Vale than lived within the tiny thorp itself.
The church tower dominated all. It lifted its shapely colunm
above the glimmering roofs, and now, in the westering light of
winter afternoon, dropped a shadow, four hundred yards long,
across the village green into the river marshes.^

Here Phillpotts follows the order in which the details
impress themselves upon us. First with a few sweeping

* Eden Phillpotts, Widecomhe Favr, ch. i.

CHAVW«T» CATHKnll'Vl.

DESCRIPTION 125

strokes he sums up the general impression, and uses a
figure of speech, based on keen observation, which fills
the eye with the effect of the whole — "a many-coloured
quilt of little fields." Then he begins to paint in the
details — the dark hedges, the road, the ridges of the
hills, and (coming nearer) the trees clustered in the valley,
the church tower, the spatter of cottages. He ends by
quickly surveying the whole landscape — " grey farms
spread on the sides of the Vale " — and by emphasizing
the tower which " dominated all." This method is
admirable, it is so natural. Note, too, how vividly the
words picture the objects : " there spread the Vale," " a
cradle under a many-coloured quilt," " the patchwork
swept the valley and climbed the foothills," " hedges
outlined," " a road dropped," " trees clustered," " amidst
them sprang a granite tower," " a spatter of cottages,"
" thinned away," " lifted its shapely column."

In describing Chartres Cathedral, Henry James first
expresses the dominant tone of the whole — " vertical
effects " and " endless upward reach " — and then lets
the eye climb in the most natural manner from the doors
to the spires.

Like most French cathedrals, it rises straight out of the
street, and is destitute of that setting of turf and trees and
deaneries and canonries which contribute so largely to the im-
pressiveness of the great English churches. . . . The little
square that surrounds it is deplorably narrow, and you flatten
your back against the opposite houses in the vain attempt to
stand off and survey the towers. . . . There is, however,
perhaps an advantage in being forced to stand so directly under
them, for this position gives you an overwhelming impression
of their height. I have seen, I suppose, churches as beautiful

126 ENGLISH COMPOSITION^

as this one, but I do not remember ever to have been so fasci-
nated by superpositions and vertical effects. The endless
upward reach of the great west front, the clear, silvery tone of
its surface, the way three or four magnificent features are made
to occupy its serene expanse, its simplicity, majesty, and dig-
nity — these things crowd upon one's sense with a force that
makes the act of vision seem for the moment almost all of life.
. . . Certainly there is an inexpressible harmony in the fagade
of Chartres.

The doors are rather low, as those of the English cathedrals
are apt to be, but (standing three together) are set in a deep
framework of sculpture — rows of arching grooves, filled with
admirable little images, standing with their heels on each other's
heads. . . . Above the triple portals is a vast round-topped
window, in three divisions, of the grandest dimensions and the
stateliest effect. Above this window is a circular aperture, of
huge circumference, with a double row of sculptured spokes
radiating from its centre and looking on its lofty field of stone
as expansive and symbolic as if it were the wheel of Time itself.
Higher still is a little gallery with a delicate balustrade, sup-
ported on a beautiful cornice and stretching across the front
from tower to tower ; and above this is a range of niched statues
of kings — fifteen, I believe, in number. Above the statues
is a gable, with an image of the Virgin and Child on its front*
and another of Christ on its apex. In the relation of all these
parts there is such a high felicity that while on the one side the
eye rests on a great many large blanks there is no approach on
the other to poverty. . . . The two great towers of the cathe-
dral are among the noblest of their kind. They rise in solid
simplicity to a height as great as the eye often troubles itself
to travel, and then suddenly they begin to execute a magnificent
series of feats in architectural gynmastics. This is especially
true of the northern spire, which is a late creation, dating from
the sixteenth century. The other is relatively quiet; but its
companion is a sort of tapering bouquet of sculptured stone.

DESCRIPTION 127

Statues and buttresses, gargoyles, arabesques, and crockets
pile themselves in successive stages, until the eye loses the sense
of everything but a sort of architectural lacework.^

Compare this description with the picture, and study the
choice of words — both those that give swift impressions
of broad aspects and those that picture specific details.
Note particularly the happy use of figures — " the wheel
of Time," " a tapering bouquet of sculptured stone,"
" architectural lacework."

When a landscape is extended or complicated, one of
the best ways of indicating the relative position of details
is to use what is called a " fundamental image " — that
is, a familiar figure which depicts the shape or form of a
place. Look for a few moments at the picture of the Bay
of Monterey and think of a good comparison which
suggests its shape. Then read Stevenson's description and
see how effective is General Sherman's figure of the bent
fishing-hook, and how skillfully Stevenson arranges the
details with reference to this image.

The Bay of Monterey has been compared by no less a person
than General Sherman to a bent fishing-hook; and the com-
parison, if less important than the march through Georgia,
still shows the eye of a soldier for topography. Santa Cruz
sits exposed at the shank; the mouth of the Salinas River is
at the middle of the bend ; and Monterey itself is cosily ensconced
beside the barb. Thus the ancient capital of California faces
across the bay, while the Pacific Ocean, though hidden by low
hills and forests, bombards her left flank and rear with never-
dying surf. In front of the town, the long h'ne of sea-beach
trends north and northwest, and then westward to enclose the
bay. The waves which lap so quietly about the jetties of Mon-

^ Henry James, "Chartres," in Portraits of Placea.

128 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

terey grow louder and larger in the distance ; you can see the
breakers leaping high and white by day; at night, the outline
of the shore is traced in transparent silver by the moonlight and
the flying foam; and from all roimd, even in quiet weather,
the low, distant, thrilling roar of the Pacific hangs over the coast
and the adjacent country like smoke above a battle. . . .

Inshore, a tract of sand-hills borders on the beach. . . .
The crouching, hardy live-oaks flourish singly or in thickets
— the kind of wood for murderers to crawl among — and here
and there the skirts of the forest extend downward from the hills
with a floor of turf and long aisles of pine-trees hung with Span-
iard's Beard.^

There are many examples of " fundamental image.**
Thoreau compares Cape Cod to a bended arm ; * Words-
worth, the valleys of the Lake Country to the spokes of a
wheel ; ^ Victor Hugo, the field of Waterloo to the letter A.
Turn next to the picture of the Palace of Fine Arts
at the San Francisco Exposition. Observe the details
minutely, think out an eflFective order to use, then write
a description with attention to order and vivid phrasing.
Finally compare your description with this :

Sweeping in a great arc aroimd the western shore of the la-
goon, the Palace, in the architect's view, is merely a backgroimd
for the water, the trees and the plants on the terraced walls
and pergolas. Certainly it is a beautiful setting to a beautiful
scene. So perfectly are the Palace and its foregroimd fitted
to each other that the structure looks as though it might have
stood there for twenty centuries, a well-preserved Roman villa,
while generations of trees grew, and decayed, and were repro-
duced around its base.

1 R. L. Stevenson, "The Old Pacific Capital," in Across the Plains.
' See College Readings, page 352.
' See College Readings, page 361.

DESCRIPTION 129

The great detached colonnade, 'with its central rotunda, is
the climax of the entire structure. ... At the extremities
of the double colonnade, and spaced regularly along it, are groups
of four colunms, each crowned with a great box designed for
flowers and vines. ... On the water side of the rotunda, a
novel effect of incliision is obtained by semicircular walls of
mesembryanthemum.

Beautiful as is the Palace of Fine Arts by day, it is even more
lovely at night. Either by moonlight or under the gentle flood
of illumination that rests softly upon it when the heavens are
dark, it is wonderful. Stand where you will around this struc-
ture, or on the opposite margin of the lagoon, and each position
gives you a different grouping of columns and dome and wall^
a different setting of trees and water. The form of the Palace
is responsible for this. Roughly speaking, a rectangular struc-
ture presents but four views. But the great arc of the Fine
Arts, with its detached colonnade following the same curve
on either side of the rotunda, is not so restricted. Every new
point of view discloses new beauty. The breadth of the lagoon
before it guarantees a proper'perspective.^

It is still more interesting to study the methods of differ-
ent men in describing the same scene. After looking at
the interior of Durham Cathedral and trying to express
the effect of it in your own words, read Hawthome*s
description.

Durham Cathedral has one advantage over the others which
I have seen, there being no organ-screen, nor any sort of parti-
tion between the choir and nave ; so that we saw its entire length,
nearly five hundred feet, in one vista. The pillars of the nave
are immensely thick, but hardly of proportionate height, and
they support the round Norman arch; nor is there, as far as
I remember, a single pointed arch in the cathedral. The effect

^ Ben Macomber, The Jewd City, ch. zii.

130 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

is to give the edifice an air of heavy grandeur. It seems to have
been built before the best style of church architecture had es-
tablished itself ; so that it weighs upon the soul, instead of help-
ing it to aspire. First, there are these round arches, supported
by gigantic columns; then, immediately above, another row
of round arches, behind which is the usual gallery that rims,
as it were, in the thickness of the wall, around the nave of the
cathedral; then, above all, another row of round arches, en-
closing the windows of the clere-story. The great pillars are
ornamented in various ways, — some with a great spiral groove
running from bottom to top ; others with two spirals, ascending
in different directions, so as to cross over one another ; some are
fluted or channelled straight up and down; some are wrought
with chevrons, like those on the sleeve of a police-inspector.
There are zigzag cuttings and carvings, which I do not know how
to name scientifically, round the arches of the doors and windows ;
but nothing that seems to have flowered out spontaneously,
as natural incidents of a grand and beautiful design.^

Note the method here : first the dominant tone — the
impression of length and " the air of heavy grandeur " —
then specific details so minutely observed that the grooves
on one pillar are compared to the chevrons on the sleeve
of a police-inspector. What is the order in which the
details are arranged .^^

Now compare this elaborate description with Dr.
Johnson's swift and impressionistic account :

The cathedral has a massiness and solidity such as I have seen
in no other place : it rather awes than pleases, as it strikes with
a kind of gigantic dignity, and aspires to no other praise' than
that of rocky solidity and indeterminate duration. ^

^ Nathaniel Hawthorne, English Note-Boohs, July 11, 1857.
^ Samuel Johnson, Letters, Aug. 12, 1773.

DESCRIPTION 131

This is magnificent. We do not often think of Dr. John-
son as a pictorial artist. He contents himself here with
emphasizing the dominant tone of the place by sounding
the sonorous organ-notes of his Latin style — " gigantic
dignity," " rocky solidity and indeterminate duration."
Read this passage aloud, and repeat several times the
masterly phrase " indeterminate duration." It fills the
mind with the effect of this cathedral more powerfully
than would pages of elaborate detail.

Edinburgh Castle has fired the imagination of many
writers. Let us compare descriptions of it by Scott,
Stevenson, Borrow, Lockhart, and Ruskin. There is an
interesting contrast between Scott's poetic and his prose
descriptions. In The Heart of Midlothian^ he writes
of the Castle as seen from the Grassmarket :

In Edinburgh, a large open street, or rather oblong square,
surrounded by high houses, called the Grassmarket, was used
for the same melancholy purpose [executions]. . . . The houses
in the Grassmarket are, generally speaking, of a mean descrip-
tion; yet the place is not without some features of grandeur,
being overhung by the southern side of the huge rock on which
the Castle stands, and by the moss-grown battlements and tur-
reted walls of the ancient fortress.

This is dull: it does not paint a vivid picture. The words
do not fill the eye with the tremendous height of the crag
and the romantic aspect of the Castle. Indeed, the Castle
merely " stands," which is equivalent to saying that it is
there. In Marmion, on the other hand, Scott has this
dashing and brilliant description :

132 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

The wandering eye could o'er it go.
And mark the distant city glow

With gloomy splendour red ;
For on the smoke-wreaths, huge and slow,
That round her sable turrets flow.

The morning beams were shed.
And ting'd them with a lustre proud
Like that which streaks a thunder-cloud.
Such dusky grandeur cloth'd the height
Where the huge Castle holds its state.

And all the steep slope down,
Whose ridgy back heaves to the sky,
Pil'd deep and massy, close and high.

Mine own romantic town !

Here Scott's paints are mixed with the fire of his poetry.
How vividly he suggests the color and shape of the Castle
— " sable turrets," " dusky grandeur cloth'd the height,"
" the huge Castle holds its state " ! How effectively he
introduces motion, which the crag seems to have as the
eye moves over it — " ridgy back heaves to the sky,
pird deep and massy, close and high " !

Stevenson, " born within the frown ^ of Edinburgh
Castle," was fond of picturing it in his books. He makes
St. Ives, the French prisoner, escape down the face of
the precipice. In Edinburgh he has this graphic passage :

In the very midst stands one of the most satisfactory crags
in nature — a Bass Rock upon dry land, rooted in a garden,
shaken by passing trains, carrying a crown of battlements and
turrets, and describing its war-like shadow over the liveliest
and brightest thoroughfare of the new town.

*This admirable phrase is C. T. Copeland's in his essay "Robert
Louis Stevenson," in the Atlantic Monthly, April, 1895.

DESCRIPTION 133

The phrase " carrying a crown of battlements " is so
true, so picturesque, that it seems the inevitably right
one. The idea of the castle encircling the brow of the
rock like a crown is the most swift and vivid means of
flashing into the mind of a person who has never seen
the Castle an image of its shape.

As an exercise, test the eflFectiveness of these other de-
scriptions of Edinburgh Castle by comparing them with
the picture. Note the choice of words, the figures of
speech, the arrangement of details :

The Castle in which I dwelt stood upon a rock, a bold and
craggy one, which, at first sight, would seem to bid defiance to
any feet save those of goats and chamois. . . . The boldest
features of the rock are descried on the southern side, where,
after shelving down gently from the waU for some distance, it
terminates abruptly in a precipice, black and horrible, of some
three hundred feet at least, as if the axe of nature had been here
employed cutting sheer down, and leaving behind neither
excrescence nor spur — a dizzy precipice it is.^

This gigantic rock lifts itself high above all that surrounds
it, and breaks upon the sky with the same commanding black-
ness of mingled crags, cliffs, buttresses, and battlements. These,
indeed, shift and vary their outlines at every step, but every-
where there is the same unmoved effect of general expression,
the same lofty and imposing image, to which the eye turns with
the same unquestioning worship. Whether you pass on the
southern side, close under the bare and shattered blocks of
granite, where the crumbHng turrets on the summit seem as
if they had shot out of the kindred rock in some fantastic freak
of Nature, and where, amidst the overhanging mass of darkness,
you vainly endeavor to descry the track by which Wallace scaled ;

^ George Borrow, Lavengro,

134 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

whether you look from the north, where the rugged cliffs find
room for some scanty patches of moss and broom, to diversify
their barren grey, and where the whole mass is softened into
beauty by the wild green glen which intervenes between the
spectator and its foundations, wherever you are placed, and
however it is viewed, you feel at once that here is the eye of the
landscape, and the essence of the grandeur. ... If the air
is cloudless and serene, what can be finer than the calm reposing
dignity of those old towers — every delicate angle of fissured
rock, every loop-hole and every lineament seen clearly and dis-
tinctly in all their minuteness ? or, if the mist be wreathed around
the basis of the rock, and frowning fragments of the citadel
emerge only here and there from out the racking clouds that
envelop them, the mystery and the gloom only rivet the eye the
faster, and half -baffled Imagination does more than the work of
Sight. . . . When the daylight goes down in purple glory, what
lines of gold creep along the hoary brow of its antique strength !
When the whole heaven is deluged, and the winds are roaring
fiercely, and *snow and hail, and stormy vapour,' are let loose
to make war upon its frpnt, with what an air of pride does the
veteran citadel brave all their well-known wrath, 'cased in the
unfeeling armour of old time ! ' ^

The Castle rock of Edinburgh is, as far as I know, simply
the noblest in Scotland. . , . Nothing i can be more noble
or interesting than the true thirteenth or fourteenth century
castle, when built in a difficult position, its builder taking ad-
vantage of every inch of ground to gain more room, and of every
irregularity of surface for purposes of outlook and defence; so
that the castle sate its rock as a strong rider sits his horse, —
fitting its limbs to every width of the flint beneath it ; and fring-
ing the mountain promontory far into the sky with the wild
crests of its fantastic battlements.^

^ J. G. Lockhart, Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk.
^ John Ruskin, Arrows of the Chase,

DESCRIPTION 135

84. Emphasis. — In description the beginnmg and the
end should be particulariy emphatic. Since the reader's
ability to follow you depends largely upon his knowledge
of the point of view, it is vital that you give him this
knowledge at once. Again, if you wish him to receive
a dominant impression of a scene or person, you should
begin at the outset to create this impression. You may
merely hint at it or you may proclaim it : whatever you
do, he should feel it. Observe how effectively the chief
impression is produced at the beginning of the descriptions
in the previous section. As you progress, give the most
significant details the most space. At the end, bring out
forcibly the dominant tone by summarizing phrases or by
telling details.

86. Style. — Important as structure is in description,
style is vastly more important. Throughout everything
that follows, it must be remembered that what really
counts toward the effectiveness of great description is
more than anything else the genius of the writCT.
Nevertheless, certain devices can be commended and
certain habits have to be condemned.

86. Be Objective. — If I say, " The people seemed to
be suffering from the heat," I make a subjective state-
ment ; that is, I phrase the matter in terms of its effect
upon myself. If I say, " The people were fanning them-
selves desperately," I put the matter objectively ; that is,
I give the evidence instead of my inference from that
evidence. In description, one tries, wherever possible,
to avoid generalization without evidence. The reason
for this is clear : to say " what a wonderful view it was "
is to convey no information whatever about the view.
Two people who are standing in front of a picture may

136 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

exchange such comments as this, but description is sup*
posed to be written for the benefit of those who have not
seen the thing described or who, even if they have seen
it, can best be stimulated by a vivid representation of the
efifect of it upon a keenly imaginative mind. Therefore,
keep your work free from vague generalizations, especially
from those generalizations which usurp the place of vivid
details. " It was a most impressive sight." Then make
it so, and the reader will do the rest. If you have given the
details upon which this generalization is based, you do
not need the generalization ; if you have not, your generali-
zation has nothing to rest upon, — it is like an unsupported
assertion in argument. Do not, therefore, say, " It made
me feel sorry to see how grieved she was." Do not say,
** She was evidently much grieved." If she was evidently
grieved, give its the evidence. Did she wipe her eyes?
Did her lips tremble? If so, tell us so, and there is no
need to tell us that she was grieved. To do so without
the evidence is to keep the reader in the dark; to do so
after having given him the evidence is to deprive him of
the pleasure of using his mind. In the following passages,

(a) a spinning-wheel that had not been used for years,
(6) a spinning-wheel that had not been used for years, as was
evident from, the dust and cobwebs that covered it,
(c) a spinning-wheel covered with dust and cobwebs,

we have, first, a generalization unsupported by evidence.
Descriptively, this is inefifective. In the second passage
we have the generalization and the evidence, but the infer-
ence to be drawn from the evidence is so obvious that the
passage lacks all stimulus. In the third passage we have

DESCRIPTION 137

the evidence and are pleased at being allowed to draw our
own conclusion.

Again, let us take three passages :

(a) The night was perfectly still. ^

(6) The flame from the candles went straight up in the air.
(c) The night was so still that the flame from the candles
went straight up in the air.

The first passage makes us ask, " How do you know? " ;
the second passage makes us ask, " What of it ? " ; the
third passage combines the evidence and the generalization
in an efifective way.

If we recall this advice about being objective, we
shall be likely to remember several other important points
about description : we shall remember not to thrust into
the description either ourselves or any imaginary observer,
unless there is need of such a figure ; we shall not insult the
reader by personally conducting him through the descrip-
tion when a more objective method would have enabled
him to conduct himself ; we shall avoid question marks
and exclamation points. Few rules in connection with
description, therefore, are more important than that it
should be objective. -

This matter of objectivity has another application : it
means that we must not talk about what we are doing.
We must not use such words as description, scency picture,
picturesque, point of view. We must not label our sensa-
tions as we do when we say that a thing could be seen,
could be heard, met the eye, met the ear, or saluted the nostrils.
To do that is not to be objective.

Again, this same useful principle of objectivity means
that we must tell what, under the given circumstances,

138 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

would appear, not what we may happen to know was there.
For example, in one of his stories Kipling has a torpedo
boat destroyer tow a fishing schooner through a very thick
fog. The schooner, instead of keeping directly astern,
has sheered off well toward the quarter, the evidence of
which is that the towrope is no longer pointing directly
astern. Now how should that towrope be described?
One knows what it actually was, — a big wet rope, curving
down from the stern of the destroyer into the water and
up again to the bow of the schooner. But to describe it
in that way is to forget the fog. This Kipling does not
do : he has one of his characters turn ** a lantern on a
scant yard of the gleaming vrire rope thai pointed like a stick to
my leff The point where the fog cuts off the cable is
the point where the cable ends, so far as Kipling's descrip-
tion is concerned.

87. Figures of Speech.^ — In Description, as in every
kind of writing, that which is unfamiliar needs to be illus- «

trated by that which is familiar. If I am writing the ^

story of a battle, it is entirely ineffective to say that a ;

bullet passed over my head : a balloon, a cloud, or a pigeon
would do the same. To say that it whizzed over my head *

is somewhat better, but still far from vivid. To say that f

it sang by like the sound of a banjo string being tightened
is to illustrate by the familiar what is to most Americans
quite unfamiliar. {

In general, the metaphor (which boldly says that some-
thing is something else) is better than the simile (which
more timidly says that something is like something else). \

Remember also not to use " so to speak " and " as it were," ♦

for these expressions seem to indicate lack of faith in your

1 See also § 188. I

DESCRIPTION 139

comparisons. Remember that the kind of personification
which is called " pathetic fallacy " is usually ineffective.*
To say that the waves " tired of their sport " is fanciful,
but not convincing.

If you study successful figures of speech, you will see
that the writer who uses them chooses something which is
familiar, harmonious, and true. Above all, you will
notice that he does not mix his figures. He does not say
that " his mind floats away on a side-track," because he
visualizes the idea of floating and the idea of a side-
track too vividly to allow himself to confuse them.
Avoid trite comparisons, such as " swift as the wind,"
" quick as lightning," " smooth as glass," " white as
snow," " black as night," and so on. These may be true
resemblances, but they have been too often used.^

88. Expressive Verbs. — Do not employ colorless verbs,
such as " be," " go," and " do." Remember that " seems "
is much less effective than " is." Many weak descriptive
sentences are weak just because the wrong verb has been
chosen : for example, " The rushing river is visible as it
tumbles foaming over the black rocks in its path." This
contains good material, but has a very bad verb.^ We can
greatly improve this by saying that the river " tumbled,"
or "foamed," or "rushed" over the black rocks in its
path. Make a study of the descriptions in § 83 and
see how much more the verbs do than merely certify to
the existence of the objects.^

1 Cf. § 187.

'Compare the advice given on page 137 about labelling sensations.

' Compare the passage in § 90. See also Exercise 15 on page 147.
Study the verbs in Ruskin's Cloud Effects {College Readings, 342-344,
especially the final paragraph) and particularly Ruskin on Turner's
"Slave Ship" (CoUege Readings, 214-215).

140 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

89. Description by Effect. — In spite of what we have
said about the needless introduction of people into descrip-
tion, it is important to remember that it is often desirable
to describe things by their effect. If I say, " The tele-
graph poles rushed by the car window," I have not
introduced any person, but have modified my method
by describing what seems to the observer to be taking
place.

90. Sound and Meaning. — It should always be re-
membered in description that not merely the meaning*
but also the sound of a word contributes to the effect.
Notice the force of the italicized words in the following
passage :

The fog had gone, but a siiUen sea ran in great rollers behind
it. The "We're Here" slid into long sunk avenues and ditches
which felt quite sheltered and homelike if they would only stay
stiU; but they changed without rest or mercy, and flung up
the schooner to crown one peak of a thousand gray hills, while
the wind hooted through her rigging as she zigzagged down the
slopes. Far away a sea would hurst in a sheet of foam, and the
others would follow suit as at a signal. (Kipling's Captains
Courageous,)

91. Combination of Details. — The writer of descrip-
tion tries in every possible way to avoid the effect of in-
ventory ; that is, a series of disconnected details monot-
onously introduced. To lean one detail against another,
as Stevenson did when he said, " The plunge of our anchor
sent up clouds of birds wheeling and crying," is much more
effective than to say, "Our anchor plunged into the water
and the gulls flew away." If I am describing a room, it
is tiresome to say, " On the north side of the room there

DESCRIPTION 141

was an open fireplace, and on the south side of the room
there was a bookcase." I would much better say, " The
light from the fire showed the backs of the books in the
case on the opposite wall." No trick of style is more
striking in Robinson Crusoe than the skill by which Defoe,
by leaning one detail against another, contrives to erect
something which seems truthful. The same device gives
reality to the following description of Peggotty's boat,
in the third chapter of David Copperfield:

The tray was kept from tumbling down by a Bible, and the
tray, if it had tumbled down, would have smashed a quantity
of cups and saucers and a teapot that were grouped around the
book.

92. Brevity. — Almost any other form of writing
may — in spite of what Poe says — be sustained without
injury to the effect ; but description must not be allowed
to drag on. Do not use ponderous introductions : begin
when your actual description begins, and stop when your
description stops. Cut your material to the quick,
particularly when, in a story which is moving rapidly,
you are trying for flashes of description. That he does
this is one of the very great merits of Mr. Kipling, as the
following passages will show. The first strives to give
the effect of an express train ; the second of an ocean liner.

.007 had caught one glimpse of the . . . south-bound express,
laying the miles over his shoulder as a man peels a shaving from
a soft board. The rest was a blur of maroon enamel, a bar of
white Hght from the electrics in the cars, and a flicker of nickel-
plated hand-rail on the rear platform.

[Dense fog on the Banks. Point of view : the deck of a
fishing-schooner. A liner is heard coming straight toward them

142 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

through the fog.] Then Harvey felt that he was near a moving
body, and found himself looking up and up at the wet edge
of a cliff-like bow, leaping, it seemed, directly over the schooner.
A jaunty little feather of water curled in front of it, and as it
lifted it showed a long ladder of Roman numerals — XV., XVI.,
XVn., XVlll., and so forth, — on a salmon-coloured, gleaming
side. It tilted forward and downward with a heart-stilling
" Ssssooo *' ; the ladder disappeared ; a line of brass-rinmied port-
holes flashed past ; a jet of steam puffed in Harvey's helplessly
uplifted hands; a spout of hot water roared along the rail of
the We^re Hercy and the little schooner staggered and shook in
a rush of screw-torn water, as a liner's stern vanished in
the fog.

93. Description in the Service of Narrative. — Descrip-
tion is of great use to narrative in setting the stage
and in making vivid the costumes, facial expression,
and byplay of the characters. In the older fiction the
custom was to let the descriptive element appear in
masses and to give it the point of view of the author.
Some of these ** set pieces " — notably the descriptions
of the heroes and heroines — now strike us as curiously
unlike the fashion of our own day. It is not merely
because the clothes of these people seem queer and
their beauty superhuman, but partly because the modem
reader of fiction is not used to such unrelieved masses
of description. W^e nowadays try — particularly in short
stories, and most particularly in those short stories
where the action is rapid — to break up the descrip-
tion, to make it swift, and, when possible, to have it
seem to come from the characters. Notice how this is
done in the following extract from Kipling's William
the Conqueror:

DESCRIPTION 143

The procession creaked past Hawkins's camp — three
stained tents under a clump of dead trees, behind them the
famine-shed, where a crowd of hopeless ones tossed their arms
around the cooking-kettles.

"Wish to Heaven William had kept out of it," said Scott
to himself, after a glance. " We'll have cholera, sure as a gun,
when the Rains break."

But William seemed to have taken kindly to the operations
of the Famine Code, which, when famine is declared, supersede
the workings of the ordinary law. Scott saw her, the centre of
a mob of weeping women, in a calico riding-habit, and a blue-grey
felt hat with a gold puggaree.

"I want fifty rupees, please. I forgot to ask Jack before
he went away. Can you lend it me? It's for condensed-milk
for the babies," said she.

Scott took the money from his belt, and handed it over with-
out a word. "For goodness' sake, take care of yourself," he
said.

" O, I shall be all right. We ought to get the milk in two days.
By the way, the orders are, I was to tell you, that you're to take
one of Sir Jim's horses. There's a grey Cabuli here that I
thought would be just your style, so I've said you'd take him.
Was that right?"

"That's awfuUy good of you. We can't either of us talk
much about style, I am afraid."

Scott was in a weather-stained drill shooting-kit, very
white at the seams and a little frayed at the wrists. William
regarded him thoughtfully, from his pith helmet to his greased
ankle-boots. "You look very nice, I think. Are you sure
you've everything you'll need — quinine, chlorodyne, and
soon?"

" Think so," said Scott, patting three or four of his shooting-
pockets as he mounted and rode alongside his convoy.

" Good-bye," he cried.

"Good-bye, and good luck," said William. "I'm awfully

144 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

obliged for the money." She turned on a spurred heel and dis-
appeared into the tent, while the carts pushed on past the famine-
sheds, past the roaring lines of the thick, fat fires, down to the
baked Gehenna of the South.

The inexperienced story-writer, having invented his
fictitious characters, is likely to find too little for them
to do. They should be made not only to carry on the
story by their conversation, but to relieve the author of
various descriptive tasks. This they are particularly
competent to do, because they represent a variety of
temperaments. In Stevenson's Lodging for the Night,
for example, Frangois Villon knocks, late at night, at a
house and is admitted by a soldierly looking old gentle-
man, who almost at once leaves the room to seek food and
drink for his guest. Up to this point there has been no
description of the room. While the old gentleman is
away, Villon, as he naturally would, takes a quick look
around the apartment. Now Villon is a potential thief.
The objects that he notices are, therefore, chiefly the
valuable objects. To enumerate them from his point
of view gives just the kind of quick, natural description
which would be impossible from the more formal point
of view and the less specialized temperament of the
author.

At a slightly earlier point in the same story — at the
point, in fact, where Villon knocks at this house — we
learn that one-half the door was thrown open, and that
an old gentleman stood in it, holding a hand-lamp and
surveying Villon. This being the first appearance in the
story of the old gentleman, the reader naturally expects
his portrait. The conditions for the portrait are, it should
be observed, extremely favorable. The open door,

DESCRIPTION 146

brought about by the natural course of the plot, forms a
frame, and the flickering hand-lamp makes not only a
detail in the picture but a condition which affects other
details.^

EXERCISES

1. Exercise in observation: Choose two buildings which
apparently are identical, and make a list of all the differences
you can discover — architectural details, materials, colors, etc.

2. A pair of descriptions of the same view seen under dif-
ferent conditions: for example, a city street (a) on Sunday
morning, (b) on Monday morning; or the same view (a) at
noon, (6) at midnight; a certain view (a) on a foggy day, (6)
on a clear day ; or (a) on a summer day, (6) on a winter day ;
or (a) on a very hot day, (6) on a very cold day.

3. A description of a room which shall show as much as possible
about the character and favorite interests of the occupant. (But
keep the occupant of the room outside the picture, and suggest
without actually telling what kind of person the occupant is.)

4. A pair of short descriptions of a person : one written by
a friend, one by an unfriendly observer.

5. A description emphasizing other senses than sight.

6. Supply a variety of specific words to fill each of the fol-
lowing blanks :

(a) My rival gave me a — look.

(6) The poor fellow was dressed very — ly.

(d) The great dining hall had an air of — .

(e) The fog made everything — .
(/) The empty church was — .
(g) He looked at the dog — ly.

* Study the use of description in Stevenson's "Sire de Mal^troit's
Door " (CoUege Readings, 502 ff.).

146 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

7. Supply a variety of specific words in place of the italicized
words in the following sentences :

(a) The old man walked away.

(6) The drums sounded.

{d) The mother looked out of the window.

{e) A little boy was coming down the stairs.

if) He got into the boat.

{g) The cloth had a pleasant feeling.

(h) He took his hat from the table.

{i) He walked out of the room and shut the door.

8. A dinner table from the point of view of (a) a hungry little
boy, and (6) an anxious hostess.

9. A view from my window : (a) when I feel happy, (6) when
I am bored.

10. Make a detailed comparison of the two following para-
graphs, commenting on choice of words, figures, picturesque-
ness of detail, and anything else that seems of importance.
Discuss the last sentence in the first selection, from the point
of view of (a) unity, and (6) effectiveness.

1. The branches closed over his head again, and Kala
Nag began to go down into the valley, — not quietly this time,
but as a runaway gun goes down a steep bank — in one rush.
The huge limbs moved as steadily as pistons, eight feet to each
stride, and the wrinkled skin of the elbow-points rustled. The
undergrowth on either side of him ripped with a noise like
torn canvas, and the saplings that he heaved away right and
left with his shoulders sprang back again, and banged him on the
flank, and great trails of creepers, all matted together, hung
from his tusks as he threw his head from side to side and plowed
out his pathway.

2. Kala Nag entered the forest, and began to go down
hill. His strides were steady, and eight feet long ; and he moved

DESCRIPTION 147

so fast that the skin on his joints wrinkled. There was thick
undergrowth all about him, through which he forced his way
with difficulty. The saplings and creepers which he had to
push aside made the descent arduous; for so tightly did they
seem to cling to him, that he was forced to open a pathway for
himself with his tusks.

11. The football (or baseball) field just before the game as
it would look : (a) to an Englishman who had never seen the
American game, (6) to a little boy whose older brother was
taking him to the game.

12. The football (or baseball) field as it looked after the game :
(a) when we won, (6) when they won.

13. Describe very briefly and very rapidly something which,
though vivid, is all over in a few seconds, e.g, a collision, a sharp
rally at tennis, a double play in baseball.

14. A country railway station: (a) just before the train
arrived, (6) half an hour later.

15. Criticize the following passage :

"Just before nine o'clock in the morning, Randall Hall pre-
sents a scene full of life. There is the loud clattering of dishes,
the constant hum of voices, and the sound of many footsteps
upon the cold stone floor. The scene which is before the eye
is fully as lively as the noises which fall upon the ear."

16. Comment on :

(a) The use of sound in Jefferies* In Front of the Royal
Exchange (College Readings, p. 369).

The use of sound in Norris' The Ploughing (College
Readings, p. 348).

(6) The use of color in Ruskin's St. Marks (College Read-
ings, p. 383).

The use of color in Ream's Sunrise at Port-of-Spain
(College Readings, p. 340).

148 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

(d) The use of weather in White's On the Wind at Night
{College Readings, p. 420).

The use of weather in Ruskin's Clovd Effects {College
Readings, p. 342).

CHAPTER V

NARRATION

94. Definition. — What do we mean when we say of
a person that he is " a good story-teller " ? We have in
mind many attributes : readiness, enthusiasm, a feeling
for striking details of situation or character, and a happy
faculty of keeping our attention alert to the end. A
skillful narrator alternately stimulates and satisfies our
curiosity. It is action, events, that he is concerned with :
and the same interest in our own minds is echoed in the
eternal question, — " What happened next ? " Narration,
then, is the recounting of a series of events. The essence
of good narration is (1) action, and (2) the arrangement
of the details of action both in the order of time and in
the order of cause and eflFect. It is this requirement that
makes narration an art. If we set down a record of the
events of everyday Ufe hour by hour, we are lost in con-
fusion because we see no logical relation of cause and
effect. The event which happens at three o'clock may
follow in time that which happened at two, but there
may be no causal link between them. The art of narra-
tion does not merely copy life, but it simplifies life by
selecting from the mass of events the essential ones and
by arranging these in the order of time and causation.

But events do not happen by themselves. Events
happen to people, and occur in places. Action, charac-

149

150 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

ters, and setting are the elements, then, which must be
woven together to form the pattern of our narrative.
KipUng's Httle rhyme will help us to fix these elements in
mind:

I keep six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I knew) : —

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who.

SIMPLE NARRATION

The most interesting way to learn the qualities of good
narration is to contrast the following examples. The first
selection comes from a typical dime-novel.

It was all very well to talk about flying, but the question which
bothered the Bradys was which way to go.

They did not debate long. The whizzing arrows kept on
coming.

As the Yaquis are well known to be deadshots with their bows
and arrows, Old King Brady felt that this was merely a warning
for them to go no further.

"We take the back track, Harry," he cried.

They wheeled about and were just starting when they saw a
dozen or more half -dressed Indians scrambling down from the
cliff on ahead.

"They are after our horses !'* gasped Harry.

"Not a doubt of it," replied Old King Brady. "If we can
save ourselves, we shall do well. Dismount, Harry. We take
to the rocks."

They shpped from their saddles and sent the horses forward
on the run.

The cliff on the left was just a mass of broken rock.

Among these the Bradys now hid themselves.

NARRATION 151

The situation had become very serious.

The Yaquis are well known to be absolutely merciless.

But it must have been as Old King Brady said.

The horses were what was wanted.

For some unfathomable reason the Indians did not desire to
kill their riders.

Peering out from behind the rocks, the Bradys saw them halt
the bronchos. Three mounted and went dashing madly down
the canyon. The rest scrambled back up the cliff and disap-
peared.

The position of the detectives was now a terrible one.

To be stranded in the Antunez range without horses or provi-
sions was almost equivalent to their death warrant.

For a long time they waited, but nothing more was seen or
heard of the Indians.

Let us turn immediately from this abominably bad
narrative to Froude's account of the martyrdom of St.
Thomas k Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.

From the middle of the transept in which the archbishop
[Thomas k Becket] was standing a single pillar rose into the roof.
On the eastern side of it opened a chapel of St. Benedict, in
which were the tombs of several of the old primates. On the
west, running parallel to the nave, was a lady chapel. Behind
the pillar, steps led up into the choir, where voices were already
singing vespers. A faint light may have been reflected into the
transept from the choir tapers, and candles may perhaps have
been burning before the altars in the two chapels — of light from
without through the windows at that hour there could have been
scarcely any. Seeing the knights coming on, the clergy who had
entered* with the archbishop closed the door and barred it.
"What do you fear?" he cried in a clear, loud voice. "Out of
the way, you cowards ! The Church of God must not be made a
fortress." He stepped back and reopened the door with his

152 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

own hands, to let in the trembling wretches who had been shut
out. They rushed past him, and scattered in the hiding-places
of the vast sanctuary, in the crypt, in the galleries, or behind the
tombs. All, or almost all, even of his closest friends, William of
Canterbury, Benedict, John of Salisbury himself, forsook him
to shift for themselves, admitting frankly that they were un-
worthy of martyrdom. The archbishop was left alone with his
chaplain Fitzstephen, Robert of Merton his old master, and
Edward Grim, the stranger from Cambridge — or perhaps with
Grim only, who says that he was the only one who stayed, and
was the only one certainly who showed any sign of courage. A
cry had been raised in the choir that armed men were breaking
into the cathedral. The vespers ceased; the few monks as-
sembled left their seats and rushed to the edge of the transept,
looking wildly into the darkness.

The archbishop was on the fourth step beyond the central
pillar ascending into the choir when the knights came in. The
outline of his figure may have been just visible to them, if light
fell upon it from candles in the lady chapel. Fitzurse passed to
the right of the pillar, De Morville, Tracy, and Le Breton to the
left. Robert de Broc and Hugh Mauclerc, an apostate priest,
remained at the door by which they entered. A voice cried,
"Where is the traitor? Where is Thomas Becket?" There
was silence; such a name could not be acknowledged. "Where
is the archbishop?" Fitzurse shouted. "I am here," the arch-
bishop replied, descending the steps, and meeting the knights
full in the face. "What do you want with me? I am not
afraid of your swords. I will not do what is unjust."

The knights closed round him. "Absolve the persons whom
you have excommunicated," they said, "and take off the sus-
pensions."

" They have made no satisfaction," he answered ; "I will not."

"Then you shall die as you have deserved," they said.

They had not meant to kill him — certainly not at that time
and in that place. One of them touched him on the shoulder

NARRATION 168

with the flat of his sword, and hissed in his ears, '* Fly, or you are
a dead man." There was still time ; with a few steps he would
have been lost in the gloom of the cathedral, and could have con-
cealed himself in any one of a hundred hiding places. But he
was careless of life, and he felt that his time was come. *'I am
ready to die," he said. "May the Church through my blood
obtain peace and liberty ! I charge you in the name of God that
you hurt no one here but me." The people from the town were
now pouring into the cathedral ; De Morville was keeping them
back with difficulty at the head of the steps from the choir, and
there was danger of a rescue. Fitzurse seized hold of the arch-
bishop, meaning to drag him off as a prisoner. He had been
calm so far ; his pride rose at the indignity of an arrest. "Touch
me not, Reginald !" he said, wrenching his cloak out of Fitzurse's
grasp. "Off, thou pander, thou!" Le Breton and Fitzurse
grasped him again, and tried to force him upon Tracy's back.
He grappled with Tracy and flung him to the ground, and then
stood with his back against the pillar, Edward Grim supporting
him. He reproached Fitzurse for ingratitude for past kindness ;
Fitzurse whispered to him again to fly. "I will not fly," he
said, and then Fitzurse swept his sword over him and dashed off
his cap. Tracy, rising from the pavement, struck at his head.
Grim raised his arm and caught the blow. The arm fell broken
and the one friend found faithful sank back disabled against the
wall. The sword, with its remaining force, wounded the arch-
bishop above the forehead, and the blood trickled down his face.
Standing firmly with his hands clasped, he bent his neck for the
death-stroke, saying in a low voice, "I am prepared to die for
Christ and for His Church." These were his last words. Tracy
again struck him. He fell forward upon his knees and hands.
In that position Le Breton dealt him a blow which severed the
scalp from the head and broke the sword against the stone,
saying, * * Take that for my Lord William." De Broc or Mauclerc
— the needless ferocity was attributed to both of them — strode
forward from the cloister door, set his foot on the neck of the dead

154 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

lion, and spread the brains upon the pavement with his sword's
point. "We may go," he said; "the traitor is dead, and will
trouble us no more." *

As we read this passage, we are caught up into the great
march of the narrative, we suddenly become spectators
of this tragic event, and our emotions are stirred. Not
for one moment do we throb with excitement as we read
the dime novel incident. Indeed, we are annoyed at its
utter dullness. In despair we cry out to the author,
" Lift us ! Lift us ! " but he lets us fall exhausted from his
nerveless fingers.

95. Development of Situation. — The chief trouble
with this incident is that it is a mere shred of narrative.
In Hamlet's words, it is " stale, flat, and unprofitable.'*
It is not developed. It is not rounded out with the
details which give us the sense of completion, which sat-
isfy us that real flesh-and-blood men are having an ad-
venture. We are not niade to feel the peril. The author
lisps ineflFectually, " The situation had become very
serious," but we do not believe him. We do not see the
Indians, we do not see the escaping detectives, we do
not see the riderless horses. The fact is, the dime novel
writer cannot see a situation steadily or see it whole.
He cannot look a situation in the face long enough to
recognize it as a situation.

The author of the Death of Beckett on the other hand,
has presented a fully developed and well-rounded situa-
tion. This event has completeness, totality. Here are
the burly activity, the surging fullness, the suspense,

1 J. A. Froude, "life and Times of Thomas Becket," in Shxnt Studies
on Great Svbjecta,

NARRATION 155

the rising accumulation of deeds which swell to a great
climax. The cries fill our ears ; the moving figures in the
scene fill our eyes. All is visualized. Becket " wrenches
his cloak out of Fitzurse's grasp," and when he falls, he
falls " forward upon his knees and hands." The action
has its own individuality. Thus it was that this event
happened, unlike any other event before or since.

96. Motivation. — In the dime novel episode the rela-
tion of cause and eflFect is managed very feebly. The
various details seem like fragments of a broken dream.
Things happen too abruptly and for no clear reason.
There is no preparation for eflFects which are to follow.
In other words, there is no " motivation." Motivation
is the art of preparation. A good narrative, like a good
play, proceeds from eflFect to eflFect, each of which grows
from a cause or motive. The skillful author points for-
ward : he " foreshadows without forestalling." Steven-
son, who made so many shrewd remarks about narration,
wrote thus about his own care in motivation (he is speak-
ing of The Beach of Falesd) : " Make another end to it?
Ah, yes, but that's not the way I write ; the whole tale is
implied ; I never use an effect when I can help it, unless
it prepares the eflFects that are to follow; that's what a
story consists in. To make another end, that is to make
the beginning all wrong. The body and end of a short
story is bone of the bone and blood of the blood of the
beginning." Now observe the skillful preparation in the
Death of Becket, The gathering dusk, the entrance of
the knights with drawn swords, the details about the
pillar and the choir steps, the desertion of Becket by most
of his friends, the cries of the monks, Becket 's courage,
his unyielding pride, — these are some of the things

156 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

which foreshadow the tragedy, and increase the suspense.
When finally the end comes, we realize to the full that it
is " bone of the bone and blood of the blood of the be-
ginning."

97.- Clixnaz. — Furthermore, we notice that in the epi-
sode of the detectives there is no climax, or point of
highest interest. The events do not lead to a definite
focus or objective. The escape of the Bradys should be
the point of highest interest, but this is not thrown into
relief. In the other narrative, however, the death of
Becket is the strongly marked climax. Our steadily rising
interest is focused on this point. And when we reach
this point, we are gratified to find that the author has
taken space enough to develop it into an able-bodied
climax by means of vivid details.

98. Setting. — Another important thing to remember
is that in the detective incident we have no feeling of
place, or weather, or light. A few cliflFs are mentioned,
but they may as well be canvas cliflFs : they do not im-
press us as being anything real. Nor are we clearly in-
formed as to the lie of the land : the stage is not set for
the action. It should be understood that we do not need
much description of landscape. But we do ask for the
necessary details of topography, so that we can follow the
actors of the story without confusion. Now note in the
account of Becket the brief but effective statement of
the setting. The few architectural details of the tran-
sept, the pillar, the steps, enable us both to understand
the action and to visualize it. The faint light in the
cathedral is not only true to the time — late afternoon in
December — but it fills us with dread and foreboding.
This harmony of place and time and action is masterly.

NARRATION 157

Becket standing with his back against the pillar in the
gathering gloom is a figure that lives in the mind's eye
forever.

99. Characters. — What shall we say about the char-
acters in these two narratives? After all, our abiding
interest is in himian character. The persons in the dime
novel can hardly be regarded as human beings at all.
They are mere names. They have no traits of charac-
ter; they show no feeling. They have no corporeal
substance. The Yaquis' arrows could have passed
straight through these shadows. But the Yaquis them-
selves are only painted phantoms. Becket, on the con-
trary, is an actual man, strongly individualized. Fear-
less in the face of impending death, resolute in his refusal
of his enemies* demands, staunch in his belief that the
Church is speaking through him, then suddenly bursting
forth with haughty pride, — this is a man charged with
personality.

100. Dialogue. — The vitality of a narrative is always
enhanced by the speech of the actors. Good dialogue
serves several purposes: it explains the situation, it
reveals character, it propels the story. In the dime
novel the detectives make a few commonplace remarks
which do not adequately represent the way they feel
under the circumstances. Nor is their dialogue flavored
with characteristic touches. But the dialogue between
Becket and the knights is highly dramatic. "Where is
the traitor? Where is Thomas Becket?" What inso-
lence is packed into this speech ! There is no answer.
Becket's silence reveals his lofty pride. Character is
showing itself with passionate intensity on the verge of
death. " Where is the archbishop ? " "I am here.'*

158 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

These few speeches sum up all the essentials of good dia-
logue. They make the narrative move on rapidly ; they
bring before us the Uving men as no description can ; they
flash upon us both momentary passions and the deeps of
character.

101. Style. — There is a vast difference between the
two selections in the matter of style. The dime novelist
uses dull and lifeless phrases which have no power to stir
our emotions. The language is threadbare. There are
no pictorial details. Can we imagine a more aimless or
insipid .style than this ?

The situation had become very serious.
The Yaquis are well known to be absolutely merciless.
But it must have been as Old King Brady said.
The horses were what was wanted.

Contrast this with the graphic power and steady onward
sweep of Froude's style. Here the words stir us like
trumpets. Details appeal to the ear and eye : " voices
singing vespers *' ; " the gloom of the cathedral " ; " the
faint light from the choir tapers " ; Becket " grappled
with Tracy " ; " the blood trickled down his face '* ;
" the sword broke against the stone." Everything is
vivid, and our imagination is fired.

Now with these essentials of good narration in mind

— (1) development of situation, (2) motivation, (3) cli-
max, (4) setting, (5) character, (6) dialogue, (7) style

— dip your pens in ink courageously and write a story
that people will like to read.

102. Material. — Here the questions arise : " What
shall we write about ? " " How shall we choose our mate-

NARRATION 159

rial? " Your material may come from various sources:
experience and observation, reading, and imagination.

1. Experience. — Whether you have lived in the city
or the country you have an interesting background of
experience. What is the most exciting thing that ever
happened to you? What adventures have you had in
the woods, at the seashore, on a farm, on the athletic
field, or at dances ? What incident in which you were the
hero or the villain or only a spectator are you fond of
telling by the fireside ? Hunting, fishing, saiUng, travel-
ling, baseball, football — any one of these will yield
excellent material.

2. Reading, — You may get admirable hints for stories
from books of history, biography, or travel, and from
newspapers. Read books about the French Revolution,
as Dickens did in preparing to write his Tale of Two
Cities, and then narrate incidents vividly, or imagine
yourself taking part in them. It is fascinating to re-create
the drama of the past, to climb the Alps with Hannibal,
to cross the Rubicon with Caesar, to fight at Austerlitz
with Napoleon, to sail with Columbus, to flee from Loch
Leven with Mary Queen of Scots, or to sign the Decla-
ration of Independence by the side of Franklin.

Newspapers are an inexhaustible mine of incidents which
will work up into good stories. Every day the eye is
seized by a picturesque event, and the mind is busy in
reconstructing the details.

.160 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

BURGLAR SAVES BABY'S LIFE

He Came to Rob Los Angeles Woman, but Remained to
Minister to Case of Croup, and Mrs. Morris won't
Describe him to Police.

Los Angeles, CaL, Feb. 15. — A burglar who went to rob Mrs.
Fred Morris remained to save her baby's life, according to a
report she made yesterday to the police. Mrs. Morris said her
baby was stricken with croup. She started to run for a physician.
Just as she went out her front door she met a masked man who
ordered her to keep quiet at the risk of her life. She screamed,
"My baby is dying; I am going for a doctor."

"Let me help you," said the robber, dropping a revolver in his
pocket.

Mrs. Morris, frightened, led him back into the house. He
asked for vinegar, sugar, and water and concocted a mixture which
he forced down the infant's throat. Then he rubbed olive oil
on the child's chest and worked for an hour before he told the
mother it was out of danger.

"You must have a baby yourself," remarked Mrs. Morris.

"I have five," replied the man. "That's why I came here
to-night."

Then he left and Mrs. Morris refused to give the police a
description of him.

BOY CONVICTS CHAUFFEUR

Carnegie Hero Who Traps Driver Fixes Guilt op
Manslaughter

New York, March 23. — Upon the testimony of George H.
Callaghan, a 16-year-old boy, John O'Hanlon, a chauffeur, was
convicted to-day of manslaughter in the second degree and was
remanded for sentence.

NARRATION 161

O'Hanlon's machine ran over and killed a young woman last
October, and the chauffeur put on full speed in an attempt to
escape. But Callaghan, who witnessed the tragedy, sprang on
the running board and clung there, despite O'Hanlon's blows,
until a policeman interfered. The boy subsequently received a
Carnegie hero medal for his act.

In these brief clippings the essential parts of the action
are given. It is an easy matter to expand and develop
these situations. You should keep a scrapbook in which
you can paste news items that suggest effective narratives.
Incidentally, you will become absorbed in keenly watching
the " stream of the world," which is so full of dramatic
interest.

3. Imagination, — But the germ of your story may
spring from your imagination. You may be able to
invent situations, and to see in your mind's eye charac-
ters doing interesting things in interesting places. This
does not mean that these stories need be fantastic or
grotesque. The characters born of your imagination may
set their feet squarely on the ground and cast their shad-
ows behind them. No one doubts the reality of Hamlet,
Becky Sharp, or Long John Silver. The ways iii which
stories may arise in a writer's mind and events may be
created were once explained by Stevenson in conversation
thus : " There are, so far as I know, three ways, and three
ways only, of writing a story. You may take a plot and
fit characters to it, or you may take a character and choose
incidents and situations to develop it, or lastly — you
must bear with me while I try to make this clear " —
(here he made a gesture with his hand as if he were try-
ing to shape something and give it outline and form) —

162 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

" you may take a certain atmosphere and get action and
persons to express it and realize it. I'll give you an
example — The Merry Men. There I began with the
feeling of one of those islands on the west coast of Scot-
land, and I gradually developed the story to express the
sentiment with which the coast affected me." ^

Another helpful aid in invention is the use of allegory.
Start with a general truth based on experience, or a prov-
erb such as " Honesty is the best policy," and then
devise characters and events that will exemplify this truth.
It is not necessary that the point brought out should be
a moral one. You do not need to append a moral tag.
The central truth should animate the narrative and deter-
mine the main lines of structure. An interesting story
is told of Guy de Maupassant in this connection. A
friend of Maupassant, to test his powers, once said to
him, " Now, here is a piece of string, an insignificant
piece of string. You can't make a story about that."
" A piece of string ! " said Maupassant. " Why, yes,
it's very easy to make a story about that. Little things
like that may often be very important." And accord-
ingly he wrote his famous story A Piece of Stringy^ which
shows that the most insignificant things may produce
portentous results.

103. Notebook. — You should jot down in a notebook
various ideas for stories, striking situations, ingenious
eflFects, clever speeches which flash into your mind. Some
of the most famous notebooks are those kept by Haw-
thorne — the English and the American Notebooks.

^ Graham Balfour, The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson, Ch. zv.
* See A. V. Waite and E. M. Taylor, Modem Masterpieces of Short
Prose Fiction.

NARRATION 16S

Here he recorded all sorts of ideas for stories, many of
which he never used.

A person to be the death of his beloved in trying to raise her to
more than mortal perfection; yet this should be a comfort to
him for having aimed so highly and holily. (This is the germ
of his story The Birthmark,)

A person or family long desires some particular good. At
last it comes in such profusion as to be the great pest of their
lives.

A person to be writing a tale, and to find that it shapes itself
against his intentions ; that the characters act otherwise than he
thought ; that unforeseen events occur ; and a catastrophe comes
which he strives in vain to avert. It might shadow forth his own
fate — he having made himself one of the personages.

A young man and girl meet together, each in search of a person
to be known by some particular sign. They watch and wait a
great while for that person to pass. At last some casual cir-
cumstance discloses that each is the one that the other is waiting
for. Moral, — that what we need for our happiness is often
close at hand, if we knew but how to seek for it.

A letter written a century or more ago, but which has never
yet been unsealed.

You should also look at the extracts from Charles
Dickens's Book of Memoranda which are printed in
Forster's Life of Dickens} Here are outlines of subjects
or characters, titles for stories, and groups of names for
characters. Here is the germ of the Tale of Two Cities,
Other jottings are as follows :

iVol.n.BookIX, Ch. 7.

164 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Two girls mismarrying two men. The man who has evil in
him, dragging the superior woman down. The man who ha^
good in him, raising the inferior woman up.

Open a story by bringing two strongly contrasted places and
strongly contrasted sets of people into the connection necessary
for the story, by means of an electric message. Describe the
message — be the message — flashing along through space, over
the earth, and under the sea.

104. Plan. — When the material for a story has been
gathered, the next step is to plan it out. Many interest-
ing problems arise, the settling of which will call into play
our originality. How shall we determine the limits of our
narrative ? Where shall we begin and where end ? What
is to be the climax ? How many characters do we need ?
These matters are dependent on our purpose and are
bound up with the large structural principle — unity.
A story is read from the beginning to the end, but it is
planned from the end to the beginning. Exposition has
a plan and indicates it at the outset. Narration has a
plan, but reveals it gradually. Its method is the method
of suspense. The reader must be kept guessing ; yet, as
we have seen, he shoiJd be given little hints to pique
his curiosity, and little clues to keep him on the scent.
It is just as if an author should go out into a field some
morning and bury a dagger in one place, a diamond
ring in another, a letter in a third, a doubloon in a
fourth, and hide his heroine in a cave in the woods.
Then in the afternoon he says to the reader, " Come on,
let's read a story " ; and together they go across the field
and discover the dagger, and are startled at the ring, and
surprised at the letter, and mystified at the doubloon, and
amazed and delighted to rush into the heroine's arms.

NARRATION 166

106. Limiting the Field. — One of the first steps in
planning a story is to limit the field, to decide where to
begin and where to end. Suppose you wish to base
your narrative on material drawn from a week's trip in
the woods, or on the river. Your first impulse is to tell
everything — how, the winter before, you talked about
the trip, how you gathered your equipment, how you took
a train and were met at the station by old Joshua, with
his wagon, how you set up your tent the evening of arrival,
how you went fishing one day and tramping the next,
how you killed a bear the third, how your tent was
blown down, how finally you had to strike camp, and come
back home " tired but happy." This would be merely
a diary or journal of the trip. The reader would be tired
but not happy after reading it, because your desire to
cover the entire ground would have given you no chance
to develop situations in detail and reproduce the thrill of
adventure in the woods. Now from this mass of experi-
ence choose some outstanding event, some series of facts
which have a climax, such as killing the bear. Plunge into
the story as quickly as possible; a bit of dialogue or
a few rapid strokes of description will explain the situa-
tion ; and when the bear has been killed, end as abruptly
as you can. Having, then, cut off the superfluous mate-
rial before and after the main episode, you will have room
to develop that main episode ; you will have a chance to
put in vivid bits of description, passages of conversation
by the characters, and at the most exciting parts of the
story a specific account of the action. Good examples are
An Elephant Hunt, by Theodore Roosevelt,^ and How I
Caught Salmon in the Clackamas, by Rudyard Kipling.^
^ See College Readings, p. 430. > In From Sea to Sea.

166 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

NARRATION WITH PLOT

106. Plot. — An important thing to determine at the
outset is whether your narrative is to be the simple recital
of an incident or whether it is to have plot. The himting
story we have just mentioned is a narrative with a simple
series of events forming a single line of action. The
law of cause and eflFect operates along a straight line to a
definite objective. Such a story may be represented thus :

But suppose that when you are following out your single
line of action in pursuit of the bear, you cross the line of
action of another set of people proceeding toward an-
other objective, that the two lines react on each other
and form a knot, that the knot has to be untied, and that
finally the result is quite different from what either party
expected. In this case we should have plot. Plot means
the weaving together of two or more strands of action : a
complication of events which influences the characters
and is influenced by them. It may be illustrated thus :

Fto. 1. — AB = one line of action ; CD = another line of action ;
K^ihe knot ; iJ = the result.

A love story is an example of plot in its most elementary
form. A man is following the routine of life from day to

NARRATION

167

day. A woman is doing the same. Suddenly they meet.
The result — a totally new line of action, readjustment of
lives and characters. Study Stevenson's story The Sire
de MaUtroit's Door, What are the main lines of action?
Where does the complication begin ? How do the events
modify character? The plots of most short stories and
of all novels are more complicated than this. There are
many hues of action intersecting each other, forming
many knots, weaving themselves into tight complica-
tions, which are finally untied at the dinouement (the
French word for untying). The weaving together of the
strands in Thomas Hardy's story The Three Strangers
may be pictured thus :

Fig. 2.

107. Unity of Impression. — Good narration, like
description, has a " dominant tone." This is achieved
by making all the elements of a story — action, charac-

168 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

ters, and setting — contribute to the production of a
unified impression. Poe, who was a shrewd critic as
well as a poet and story- writer, was the first to emphasize
this idea. In his criticism of Hawthorne's Tales in 1842
he said :

A skilful literary artist has constructed a tale. If wise, he
has not fashioned his thoughts to accommodate his incidents;
but having conceived, with deliberate care, a certain unique or
single effect to be wrought out, he then invents such incidents —
he then combines such events as may best aid him in establishing
this preconceived effect. If his very initial sentence tend not
to the out-bringing of this effect, then he has failed in his first
step. In the whole composition there should be no word written
of which the tendency, direct or indirect, is not to the one pre-
established design.

In another essay. The Philosophy of Composition, Poe
tells in detail how in writing The Raven he kept his eye
steadily on the eflfect he wished to produce and how he
chose all the details to heighten this eflfect:

I first established in my mind the climax or concluding query
— that query to which * Nevermore ' should be in the last place
an answer — that query in reply to which this word * Never-
more* should involve the utmost conceivable amount of sorrow
and despair.

Here, then, the poem may be said to have had its beginning,
at the end where all works of art should begin, for it was here at
this point of my preconsiderations that I first put pen to paper
in the composition of the stanza :

** 'Prophet !' said I, * thing of evil ! prophet still if bird or devil !
By that Heaven that bends above us — by that God we both

adore.
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,

NARRATION 169

It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore —
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore/
Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore.'"

I made the night tempestuous, first to account for the Raven's
seeking admission, and secondly, for the efifect of contrast with
the (physical) serenity within the chamber.

I made the bird alight on the bust of Pallas, also for the effect of
contrast between the marble and the plumage — it being under-
stood that the bust was absolutely suggested by the bird — the
bust of PaUas being chosen, first, as most in keeping with the
scholarship of the lover, and, secondly, for the sonorousness of
the word, Pallas, itself.

It is interesting to compare with these passages what
Stevenson has to say on the same subject in one of his
essays on the art of narrative, A Humble Remonstrance:

Let him [the writer] choose a motive, whether of character
or passion ; carefully construct his plot so that every incident is
an illustration of the motive, and every property employed shall
bear to it a near relation of congruity or contrast; . . . and
allow neither himself in the narrative nor any character in the
course of the dialogue, to utter one sentence that is not part and
parcel of the business of the story or the discussion of the problem
involved.^

Again, in a letter to Sir James Barrie he wrote :

The Little Minister ought to have ended badly; we all know
it did; and we are infinitely grateful to you for the grace
and good feeling with which you lied about it. If you had told
the truth, I for one could never have forgiven you. As you had
conceived and written the earlier parts, the truth about the end,

^ In Memories and Portraits,

170 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

though indisputably true to fact, would have been a lie, or, what
is worse, a discord in art. If you are going to make a book end
badly, it must end badly from the beginning. Now your book
began to end well. You let yourself fall in love with, and fondle,
and smile at your puppets. Once you had done that your honor
was committed — at the cost of truth to life you were bound to
save them. It is the blot on Richard Feverel, for instance, that it
begins to end well ; and then tricks you and ends ill.^

108. The Fable. — The unity of the whole narrative
is best seen in the fable. There the moral forms a kind
of topic-sentence. The older critics, indeed, use the word
fable regularly instead of plot. By fabky in this sense,
they mean a unified action which could be reduced almost
to a single topic-sentence. It is always well to test the
plot with this idea of the fable as a unified action in mind.
We shall then be less tempted to indulge in meaningless
episodes. (" For a thing whose presence or absence
makes no visible diflference is not an organic part of the
whole." Aristotle, Poetics, ix. 1.)

109. Point of View. — One of the most valuable de-
vices for producing unity of impression is the maintenance
of the point of view. There are several varieties of point
of view from which to choose.

1. One character in first person, or autobiographic, —
You may identify yourself with one of your characters
and tell the story through his mouth. This character
may be the " hero " of the narrative, as in Anthony
Hope's Prisoner of Zenda, which is told by Rudolf Ras-
sendyll ; or he may be a subordinate figure who partici-
pates in the action, as in the sequel of this story, Rupert

1 The Letters of R, L, Stevenson, Vol. IV, p. 144.

NARRATION 171

oj Hentzau, which is told by Fritz von Tarlenheim, one
of Rudolf's friends. The result of adopting the autobio-
graphic point of view is that the story becomes far more
vivid and convincing. As we read such a stoiy, " we
push the hero aside ; then we plunge into the tale in our
own person and bathe in fresh experience."

But this great gain in vividness is accompanied by
diflSculties in technique. Absolute faithfulness to the
point of view is essential. Consequently, you must be
careful to picture things as they would appear to the eyes
of the narrator. You cannot introduce details which
the narrator could not know. If you introduce events
which did not come under his personal observation, you
should clearly indicate the fact by some such device as
this:

In order to a full understanding of what had occurred in the
castle of Zenda it is necessary to supplement my account of what
I myself saw and did on that night by relating briefly what I
afterward learned from Fritz and from Mme. de Mauban.^

In Treasure Island, Jim Hawkins cannot tell about
the landing of the captain's party from the Hispaniola
while he is having his adventure with Ben Gunn on the
island. For this reason Stevenson makes Dr. Livesey
write three chapters conveying the needed information.
A break in the point of viiew like this, however, is veiy
unwise. It was undoubtedly the cause of the sudden
stop in the flow of Stevenson's invention after he had
been writing the first fifteen chapters at the rate of a
chapter a day.

^ Anthony Hope, The Prisoner of Zenda, Ch. xz.'

172 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Furthermore, you must make the narrator's thought and
emotions true to his nature. You must make him tell
his story in a style that will be appropriate to his race,
rank, and education. There is, however, a literary con-
vention whereby a narrator is allowed to wield a much
more skillful style than he really could write. This is
especially true in cases where the story is told by a youth-
ful hero. Stevenson's David Balfour, who narrates
Kidnapped, and Jim Hawkins, who narrates Treasure
Island^ write frequently in Stevenson's own picturesque
style. On the other hand, Mark Twain's hero, Huclde-
beny Finn, expresses himself in a manner which is true
to that young vagabond's nature, — though Mark
Twain's own humor shines through Buck's rags.

It was a mighty nice family, and a mighty nice house, too. I
hadn't seen no house out in the country before that was so nice
and had so much style. It didn't have an iron latch on the front
door, nor a wooden one with a buckskin string, but a brass knob
to turn, the same as houses in town. There wam't no bed in
the parlor, nor a sign of a bed ; but heaps of parlors in town has
beds in them.^

2. One character in third person. — It often happens
that instead of letting the chief character tell his story in
his own words, the author himself writes the narrative
but steadily looks at events through the eyes of this chief
character. In Arnold Bennett's Denry the Audamous the
author is interested in Denry himself — what Denry does,
what ambitions and schemes rise in his mind, how the
worid impresses him.

^ Mark Twain, The Adventures of HvcUeberry Finn, Ch. xvii.

NARRATION 173

''She can't eat me. She can't eat me ! "

This was what he said to himself as he crossed the floor.
People seemed to make a lane for him, divining his incredible
intention. If he had not started at once, if his legs had not
started of themselves, he woidd never have started. . . . But
started he was, like a piece of clock-work that coidd not be
stopped ! In the grand crisis of his life something not himself,
something more powerfid than himself, jumped up in him and
forced him to do things. Now for the first time he seemed
to understand what had occurred within him in previous
crises.

"Could I have this dance with you?" he demanded bluntly,
but smiling and showing his teeth.^

The Sire de MaUtraifs Door, by Stevenson,* is another
example of the same method.

3. The " omniscient " point of view is the most com-
mon in short stories and novels. In this case the " all-
seeing author " looks over the entire field of action as if
from a mountain top. He can understand and explain
the motives and emotions of all the characters. He can
manipulate many figures, and weave together many
strands. He can easily change his scene from place to
place, and record conversations among various groups of
persons. Examples of this " omniscient " point of view
are many: Thackeray's Vanity Fair, Hawthorne's
Marble Faun, Arnold Bennett's Old Wives' Tale,

The point of view to choose depends on the efiPect you
wish to produce, the complexity of the plot, the number
of characters involved.

1 Arnold Bennett, Denry the Audacious, Ch. i (College Readings,
477 ff.).

* See College Readings, p. 502.

174 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

110. Characters. — Carlyle says : " Man is perennially
interesting to man ; nay, if we look strictly to it, there is
nothing else interesting. How inexpressibly comfort-
able to know our fellow-creature ; to see into him, under-
stand his goings-forth, decipher the whole heart of his
mystery." The portrayal of character is one of the most
fascinating parts of story-writing. When once you have j
decided what the chief effect of the story is to be, you |
should exercise your skill in selecting the right number '
and the appropriate kind of characters to help in produc- '
ing this effect. If the narrative is one of fact and you are
recording real events in your own life or in history,
you will find the figures ready made to your hand (see
Fronde's narrative of the death of Becket). But if you

are inventing the story, you may adapt real men and
women to your purpose, or you may create your char-
acters. I

111. Origin of Characters. — It is a common practice i
among authors to take salient traits of people they know
and from these develop the characters of their stories.
Often one character is a composite of several persons.
Many of Scott's most famous figures were based on living
originals. Rebecca in Ivanhoe was drawn from Rebecca
Gratz of Philadelphia : Scott learned of her from Wash-
ington Irving; and on the publication of the novel
wrote to Irving : " How do you like your Rebecca ?
Does the Rebecca I have pictured compare well with the
pattern given ? " Jeanie Deans in The Heart of Mid-
lothian was drawn from Helen Walker, a Scottish girl
who actually walked to London to secure the pardon of
her sister. Other originals were as follows :

NARRATION 175

Characters Originals

Di Vemon {Rob Roy) Jane Cranstoun

-r. J- TV wi^ IT • X /Willie EUiot

Dandle Dinmont {Guy Mannenng) < ^ n 'h

Meg Merrilies {Guy Mannering) Jean Gordon

Colonel Mannering {Guy Mannering) Sir Walter Scott himself

Jonathan Oldbuck {The Antiquary) j • , p^

Edie Ochiltree {The Antiquary) Andrew Gemmels

Old Mortality {Old MartalUy) Robert Paterson

The many historical figures who march across his pages
were very carefully studied: Queen Elizabeth, Mary
Queen of Scots, Louis XI, Graham of Claverhouse.

Dickens's characters were not modelled upon their
originals with the same realistic exactness as Scott's
often were. The strangely fantastic and transforming
mind of Dickens too often produced caricatures. His
Harold Skimpole (in Bleak House) is based on Leigh
Hunt, Mr. Micawber (in David Copperfield) on his own
father, Mrs. Nickleby (in NichoUis Nicklehy) on his
mother, Mr. Fang (in Oliver Twist) on Mr. Laing, a
harsh magistrate of Hatton-garden, Mrs. Pipchin (in
Dombey and Son) on an old woman at whose house
Dickens boarded in his bleak childhood. George Eliot
painted many of her characters from life: Adam Bede
(in Adam Bede) from her father, Dinah Morris from her
aunt, Mrs. Poyser from her mother, Maggie Tulliver
(in The Mill on the Floss) from herself. One of the most
brilliant performances in the modelling of character is
Stevenson's John Silver, who was developed from the
author's friend, the poet William Ernest Henley. Of
his method Stevenson says :

176 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

To take an admired friend of mine, to deprive him of all his
finer qualities and hijgher graces of temperament, to leave him
with nothing but his strength, his courage, his quickness, and his
magnificent geniality, and to try to express these in terms of the
culture of a raw tarpauh'n, — such psychical surgery is, I think,
a common way of "making character"; perhaps it is, indeed,
the only way.

This method is emphasized in an illuminating letter^
written by Mr. Will H. Low, the American painter, who
was a friend of both Stevenson and Henley.

W. E. Henley vjos the original of John Silver undoubtedly, the
"psychical surgery" being performed by the author according to
his recipe, roughly remembered as something like : "Take your
best friend and extract all his good qualities and the residue will
give you a forceful villain." Stevenson's portraits were, how-
ever, not only the expression of his own mutable nature, but were
composites as well of a number of different characters ; he was
not in any sense a realist according to my light — as we con-
tended together during all hb life. Consequently, while John
Silver has many of Henley's traits, Stevenson's sense of a com-
plete character led him, I believe, to add intuitively other and
sympathetic traits until his figure lives "in the round" as we
know it.

Among present-day novelists, Mr. H. G. Wells fills
his books with real people. In The New Machiavelli^
the pages are crowded with figures in English political
life : Mr. and Mrs. Bailey are done from Mr. and Mrs.
Sydney Webb, and Evesham from the Rt. Hon. A. J.
Balfour. The example of these great masters of nar-

1 Published in Introduction to Stevenson's Treasure Island by F. W.
C. Kersey, 1911.

NARRATION 177

rative will stimulate you to look for interesting traits of
character in the people around you.

112. Character Stories. — Before writing a narrative
you should decide whether the characters are to exist
chiefly for the sake of the action, as in Poe's Gold Bug,
or whether the action is to occur chiefly for the sake of the
characters, as in Stevenson's Markheim, If your main
concern is with character, it is wise to choose a strongly
marked or picturesque personality and place him in a
crisis of his life which will bring out his real nature. This
is done in Maupassant's Coward and Mh'e Sauvage, Bret
Harte's Outcasts of Poker Flat, and Mrs. Wharton's
Crucial Instances,

113. Methods of Portraying Character. — There are
many methods of portraying character : choice of names,
description, exposition, action, and dialogue.

114. Choice of Names. — Characters must be made to
live, and the first step in giving them life is to honor them
with a name, not an initial or a dash. Edward Thorn-
ton is a man, but E T may be a geometrical dia-
gram. Names should be interesting, not commonplace
and colorless. In an attempt to gives names which should
reveal character, the older writers employed such names
as Snake, Puff, Sir Fopling Flutter, Moll Cutpurse. To
be sure, in an allegorical or satirical story or play, where
the characters are merely personifications of virtues
and vices, these type-names are helpful. In The Pit-
grimes Progress no one would wish to change the
names of Christian and Mr. Worldly-Wiseman. Except
in cases like this, type-names have long gone out of
fashion, and the modern practice is to use realistic
names which are appropriate and suggestive. Dickens

178 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

was a master in suiting names to characters : recall Mrs.
Gamp, Dick Swiveller, Quilp, Uriah Heep, Ham Peggotty,
Chadband. He kept a long list of " available names "
(printed in Forster's Life of Dickens, Book IX, Ch. vii)
which he found in parish iregisters, charity lists, etc.
Here are some of them : it is an entertaining pastime to
imagine the characters which ought to bear these names :
Chinkerble, Haggage, Chilby, Queedy, Slyant, Meagles.
Stevenson had a happy faculty in choosing names. What
marvellous ones he gives the pirates in Treasure Island:
Flint, Bones, Silver, Pew, Gunn — all cause a thrill of
fear. Sometimes a name itself will evolve a character,
and that in turn plunge us into a situation. In one of
his letters Stevenson has raptures over the romantic
associations which spring into his mind from the name
of Jerry Abershaw, an English highwayman :

Jerry Abershaw — what a title ! Jerry Abershaw ; sir,
it's a poem. The two most lovely words in English ; and what
a sentiment ! Hark you, how the hoofs ring ! Is this a black-
smith's ? No, it's a wayside inn. Jerry Abershaw. ** It was
a clear, frosty morning, not 100 miles from Putney," etc.
Jerry Abershaw. Jerry Abershaw. Jerry Abershaw.

And he says that Sixteen-string Jack troubled him awake
and haunted his slumbers.

116. Description. — Elaborate descriptions of charac-
ters impede the action of a narrative. The more brief
and vivid the description, the better. Dickens's " In
came Mrs. Fezziwig, one vast substantial smile " is worth
more than pages of minute detail. You should avoid
giving a catalogue of features and dress. Select some
striking feature which individualizes a person and will

NARRATION 179

live in the memory, like Hewlett's magic phrase about
Mary Queen of Scots — " her trick of the sidelong
look." Hardy's description of Tess is imf orgettable :

Her mouth he had seen nothing at all equal to on the face
of the earth. To a young man with the least fire in him, that
Uttle upward lift in the middle of her top lip was distracting.,
infatuating, maddening. He had never before seen a woman's
hps and teeth which forced upon his mind, with such persistent
iteration, the old Elizabethan simile of roses filled with snow.

Frequently an author sums up the essence and efipect
of a character by a descriptive metaphor; for instance,
George Eliot likens Gwendolen Harleth to a serpent,
and Thackeray, Beatrix Esmond to a leopard. George
Meredith is fond of putting these descriptive figures into
the mouth of a clever character. " A dainty rogue in
porcelain," is Mrs. Mountstuart Jenkinson's word on Clara
Middleton in The Egoist, And her saying of Vernon
Whitford : " * He is a Phoebus Apollo turned fasting
friar,' painted the sunken brilliancy of the lean long-walker
and scholar at a stroke."

Whenever possible it is well to describe characters in
motion, for the eflfect of reality is heightened, and a reader
is more interested in a person in motion than in one at
rest. How the eye follows the movement in these pas-
sages :

Captain Brazenhead set his steel bonnet at a rake over one
eye, chewed a straw, and cocked his sword point to the angle of a
wren's tail.^

Her walk was like a yacht before the wind.^

^ Maurice Hewlett, "Brazenhead the Great," in Foni Adventures.
' George Meredith, Beatichamp's Career,

180 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Hans Breitmann paddled across the deck in his pink pyjamas,
a cup of tea in one hand and a cheroot in the other, when the
steamer was sweltering down the coast on her way to Singapur.^

The picture of Beatrix Esmond coming down the stairs
is one of the most memorable in English fiction.^
. 116. Exposition. — Traits of character may be ex-
plained by expository statements. Direct analysis, if
it is keen, will often flash upon your readers the essence
of a person. But such passages of exposition should be
brief and animated, and should not be massed together
at the beginning of a story. Note how brightly Sir
James Barrie expounds the character of this young man :

An impatient yoimg man in knickerbockers and a Norfolk
jacket, all aglow with raindrops. Public school (and the partic-
ular one) is written on his forehead, and almost nothing else;
he has scarcely yet begun to surmise that anything else may be
required. He is modest and clear-eyed, and would ring for his
tub in Paradise; (reputably athletic also), with an instant smile
always in reserve for the antagonist who accidentally shins him.
Whatever you, as his host, ask him to do, he says he would like
to awfully if you don't mind his being a priceless duffer at it ; his
vocabulary is scanty, and in his engaging mouth "priceless"
sums up all that is to be known of good or ill in our varied exist-
ence; at a pinch it would suffice him for most of his simple
wants, just as one may traverse the continent with Comhienf
His brain is quite as good as another's, but as yet he has referred
scarcely anything to it. He respects learning in the aged, but
shrinks uncomfortably from it in contemporaries, as persons
who have somehow failed. To him the proper way to look upon
ability is as something we must all come to in the end. He has

iRudyard Kipling, "Reingelder and the German Flag," in Lifers
Handicap,

^ See also the portraits by Dickens in College Readings, pp. 408-410.

NARRATION 181

a nice taste in the arts that has come to him by the way of socks,
spats, and slips, and of these he has a large and happy collection,
which he laughs at joUily in public (for his sense of humour is
sufficient), but in the privacy of his chamber he sometimes
spreads them out like troutlet on the river's bank and has his
quiet thrills of exultation.^

Kipling sometimes sums up a character in a single ex-
pository sentence :

There was Mulvaney, who had served with various regiments
from Bermuda to Halifax, old in war, scarred, reckless, resource-
ful, and in his pious hours an imequalled soldier.'

117. Action. — The best way of portraying characters
is to let them act and speak for themselves, and of the
two " actions speak louder than words." Action is the
life of narration. Devise episodes which shall make the
characters reveal their nature. One of the greatest
scenes in fiction, the scene in Vanity Fair where Rawdon
Crawley knocks down Lord Steyne, reveals as by a search-
light the characters of three people.

Rawdon opened the door and went in. A little table with a
dinner was laid out — and wine and plate. Steyne was hanging
over the sofa on which Becky sate. The wretched woman was
in a brilliant full toilette, her arms and all her fingers sparkling
with bracelets and rings ; and the brilliants on her breast which
Steyne had given her. He had her hand in his, and was bowing
over it to kiss it, when Becky started up with a faint scream as
she caught sight of Rawdon's white face. At the next instant
she tried a smile, a horrid smile, as if to welcome her husband :

1 Sir James M. Barrie, "Rosalind," in Half Hours.
•Rudyard Kipling, "The Incarnation of Krishna Mulvaney," in
Life* 8 Handicap,

182 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

and Steyne rose up, grinding his teeth, pale, and with fury in his
looks. ...

But Bawdon Crawley, springing out, seized him by the neck-
cloth, until Steyne, almost strangled, writhed, and bent under
his arm. "You lie, you dog!" said Rawdon. "You lie, you
coward and villain!" And he struck the peer twice over the
face with his open hand, and flimg him bleeding to the ground.
It was all done before Rebecca coidd interpose. She stood there
trembling before him. She admired her husband, strong, brave,
and victorious.^

Becky's thrill of admiration for her husband at the mo-
ment of his vigorous, masculine revenge is superb.
Thackeray was so moved by the absolute truth of this
flash of character that he threw down his pen on writing
these words with the cry " That is a stroke of genius ! "
It is interesting to hear Stevenson's comment on this
episode : " If Rawdon Crawley's blows were not delivered,
Vanity Fair would cease to be a work of art. That
scene is the chief ganglion of the tale ; and the discharge
of energy from Rawdon's fist is the reward and consola-
tion of the reader." ^

When your characters act, picture their action as
vividly as possible by using picturesque verbs. Maurice
Hewlett's verbs are keen, eager, and refreshing in their
concreteness.

He made a rush for it, gained so the great hall, dizzied through
it somehow, and out into the corridor. He flung himself at the
stone stairs with the desperation of his last agony, half crawled,
half swarmed up to the top (dragging his legs after him at the

1 W. M. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Ch. liii.

*R. L. Stevenson, "A Gossip on Romance," in Memories and PoT'
traits.

NARRATION 183

end, like a hare shot in the back), and finished his course to
Spiridion's chamber on hands and knees.^

118. Dialogue. — " Stop making speeches, Andrew,"
says Lady Britomart in Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara.
" This is not the place for them." And Andrew replies,
" I have no other means of conveying my ideas." .

In using dialogue to portray character you should be
careful to make the speech of your people appropriate
to their race, age, sex, and degree of education. Their
language must be natural : they must not " talk like a
book." Nor should they all talk alike, for they diflFer in
education and native ability. To be sure, readers want
an author to heighten the wit of his witty characters,
and the stupidity of his stupid ones; but they will not
tolerate too much falsification. They will not believe
in a Maine guide who says, " If, however, you desire to
shoot a moose." G. A. Birmingham, one of the most
exhilarating writers of dialogue, hits this matter of
naturalness very cleverly in the following passage. Cal-
laghan, the gardener, is telling the Rev. J. J. Meldon, an
irrepressible young Irish clergyman, about the meeting of
an English judge and his niece.

"And then as soon as ever he seen her coming he put out his
hand, and gripped a hold of Patsy Flaherty by the arm, and
*Stop, ye divil,' says he. 'Haven't ye had enough of battering
that old screw for one day?' says he, *and don't you see the
young lady that's coming across the lawn there and her lepping
like a two-year-old, so as the sight of her would make you supple
and you crippled with the rheumatics?'"

"I know now," said Meldon, "that you're telling me a pack of

1 Maurice Hewlett, The Forest Lovers, Ch. xxix.

184 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

lies from start to finish. There's not a judge in the world would
say the words you're putting into that one's mouth. It isn't
the way judges talk, nor the least like it. You oughtn't to try
and invent things, Callaghan. You can't do it. You haven't
got any faculty for dramatic probability in characterization.
. . . The judge wouldn't have spoken that way to Patsy
Flaherty. If he'd wanted to have the car stopped, he'd have
said, *Pull up for a minute, my good man,' or words to that
effect."

"Well," said Callaghan, "it might have been that he said.
How was I to hear what passed between them when I was half-
way across the lawn at the time scuffing the path with my hoe ? " ^

A person's character, mental ability, and attitude to-
ward life may be shown in his talk. For admirable
examples of characterizing dialogue read the plays of
Sir Arthur Pinero, Bernard Shaw, John Galsworthy,
Lady Gregory, and John M. Synge. The Dolly Dialogues ,
by Anthony Hope, contain some of the most charming
and clever talk in English literature. Other masters of
characterizing dialogue are Thomas Hardy, in the talk
of the peasants in his Wessex novels ; G. A. Birmingham
in his humorous stories of Irish life ; Leonard Merrick in
his stories of French Bohemian artists and of cultivated
English people (his Dead Violets is a masterpiece of search-
ing and veracious dialogue).

Besides portraying character, good dialogue propels
the story onward, develops the plot, explains situations,
and gives animation and reality to the whole.

The management of " stage directions " needs special
attention. You should not keep repeating " he said,"
" she said," which become intolerably monotonous.

^ G. A. Birmingham, The SimpHns Plot, Ch. xvi.

NARRATION 185

Vary the phrase, use synonyms of " say," and choose
verbs that denote the tone of voice or manner of speaking.
In The DoUy Dialogues, three people utter the same word
in different tones :

*'DvUl" gasped Miss Phyllis.
"DuUt" murmured Mrs. Hilary. •
"Z>wZ«/" chuckled HiUry.

Figures of speech may be used to describe the tone or
manner, as in this case :

"Why are you here, woman?" came sharp as sleet.^

If you invent picturesque phrases, you should not ride
them to death. Monotony is more marked when it is
bizarre. For example, " snapped " and " rapped " are
vigorous now and then, but in the Fu-Manchu stories
produce this sort of " snappy fiction " :

"Do you hear anything, Petrie?" h« rapped. . . .

"Come on. Peine!" he snapped. . . .

"Eh?" rapped Smith, turning upon him. . . .

"Now, Petrie," rapped Smith, glancing around.

"I mean it !" he rapped. ...

"Why not an empress, Petrie?" he rapped. . . ,

"So am I," snapped Smith grimly.

" Stage directions " include also gestures, facial expres-
sion, and bits of action accompanying speeches. How
much this little phrase at the beginning of The Prisoner
of Zenda tells about* the time and situation :

"My dear Rose," I answered, laying down my egg-spoon,
"why in the world should I do anything?"

1 Maurice Hewlett, The Forest Lovers, Ch. xix.

186 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

The " business " in the following dialogue is so true that
the little boy and girl actually live before our eyes.

"Oh, you know," returned the boy, stepping irregularly, to
make the tips of his toes come on the cracks of the sidewalk.
There was another pause, during which Piggy picked up a
pebble, and threw it at a bird in a tree. His heart was sinking
rapidly.

"Oh, that rose?" said his Heart's Desire, turning full upon
him with the enchantment of her childish eyes. "Why, here it
is in my grammar. I'm taking it to keep with the others.
Why?"

"Oh, nuthin' much," replied the boy. "I bet you can't do
this," he added, as he glowed up into her eyes from an impulsive
handspring.^

119. Dialect. — A few words should be said about
dialect, that is, the form of speech peculiar to a district,
or class of people. Sometimes stories are told entirely
in dialect: Kipling's Mulvaney stories are in Irish, and
Joel Chandler Harris's Uncle Remus tales in negro dia-
lect. Unless you are very familiar with a dialect, you
had better not attempt to write it. Its value depends
on its reality. There is hardly anything that makes a
character so actual as the faithful rendering of his dia-
lect. When we hear the New England stage-driver
speak in Miss Jewett's Winter Courtshipy we have no
doubt that he is alive.

"I do' know's I said. Mis' Tobin." ...

" 'T would a come handy later on, I declare, bein* 's you went
an' had such a passel o' gals to clothe an' feed." •

1 W. A. White, "The King of BoyviUe," in The Real Issue.

NARRATION 187

But your zeal for accuracy in reproducing sounds must
not lead you into imintelligible spelling. After all, a
reader must read, and if he can't, he will stop.

120. Dialogue in Notebook. — Follow Synge's prac-
tice (see § 176) and record striking phrases and speeches
which you hear in conversation. Bernard Shaw auda-
ciously imagines Shakespeare taking down picturesque
phrases from the lips of people he met, phrases which
appear in his plays.

The Beefeater. You judge too much by the Court, sir.
There, indeed, you may say of frailty that its name is woman.

Shakespeare {puUing out his tablets). Prithee say that
again : that about frailty : the strain of music. . . . {}V''^i''^9)
"Frailty: thy name is woman!" {Repeating it affectionately)
"Thy name is woman."

The Beefeater. Well, sir, it is but four words. Are you a
snapper-up of such imconsidered trifles ?

Shakespeare (eagerly). Snapper-up of — (he gasps) Oh!
Immortal phrase ! (He writes it down.) This man is a greater
than I.i

There is no doubt that Shakespeare had alert ears for
full-flavored speech. Dickens, we know, took delight in
observing tricks of tongue. Micawber's flourishes of
language are based on the rhetorical exuberance of
Dickens's own father. In his letters, Charles was very
fond of quoting these paternal sentences :

"We are very sorry to lose the benefit of his advice — , or,
as my father would say, to be deprived, to a certain extent, of the
concomitant advantages, whatever they may be, resulting from

1 George Bernard Shaw, The Dark Lady of the Sonnets,

188 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

his medical skill, such as it is, and his professional attendance,
in so far as it may be so considered."

"And I must express my tendency to believe that his longevity
is (to say the least of it) extremely problematical." ^

This grandiloquent style rolls from the lips of Wilkins
Micawber :

''Emma, my love, my friend Mr. Thomas Traddles is so
obliging as to solicit, in my ear, that he should have the privilege
of ordering the ingredients necessary to the composition of a
moderate portion of that Beverage which is peculiarly associated,
in our minds, with the Roast Beef of Old England. I allude to
— in short, Punch." ^

121. Setting. — Setting is the place of the action.
The reality of a story is not complete unless the reader
knows that it occurs in a definite region — the hill country
of India, a New England town, the seacoast of Scotland,
a California mining camp. This background should
harmonize with the motive of the narrative and should
set ofif the characters. Stevenson was keenly aware of
the relation of background and action.

One thing in life caUs for another ; there is a fitness in events
and places. The sight of a pleasant arbor puts it in our mind to
sit there. One place suggests work, another idleness, a third
early rising and long rambles in the dew. The effect of night, of
any flowing water, of lighted cities, of the peep of day, of ships,
of the open ocean, call up in the mind an army of anonymous
desires and pleasures. Something, we feel, should happen ; we
know not what, yet we proceed in quest of it. And many of the
happiest hours of life fleet by us in this vain attendance on the

* John Forster, The Life of Charles Dickens, Book VI, Ch. vii.

* Charles Dickens, Datnd Copperfidd, Ch. Ivii.

NABRATION 189

genius of the place and moment. It is thus that tracts of young
fir and low rocks that reach mto deep soundings, particularly
torture and delight me. Something must have happened in such
places, and perhaps ages back, to members of my race ; and when
I was a child I tried in vain to invent appropriate games for them,
as I still try, just as vainly, to fit them with the proper story.
Some places speak distinctly. Certain dank gardens cry aloud
for a murder; certain old houses demand to be haunted;
certain coasts are set apart for shipwreck. ^

You recall that in writing The Merry Men, he says,
" I began with the feeling of one of those islands on the
west coast of Scotland, and I graduaUy developed the
story to express the sentiment with which the coast
aflFected me." Action and characters often spring from
the locality, are shaped by it and dominated by it. In a
very true sense, we are children of the earth. In Haw-
thorne's Scarlet Letter and House of Seven Gables, the New
England setting controls both events and people ; in his
Marble Faun the spell of the eternal Rome casts its
golden influence over all ; in Joseph Conrad's Almayer*s
Folly, the Oriental landscape subordinates the story.
But the greatest master of the triumphant background
is Thomas Hardy. In his many novels of Wessex (Dor-
set and Somerset on the south coast of England) men
and women live lives moulded by the force of Nature.

The setting of The Return of the Native is the most
famous example of Hardy's treatment of environment.
This setting is Egdon Heath, a vast tract of waste land.
Egdon Heath tyrannizes over the lives of the natives to
such an extent that it has been called the chief character
of the story. The superb narrative opens with a descrip-

^ R. L. Stevenson, A Gossip on Romance,

190 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

tion of this grim hero. The accompanying photographs
taken during a trip through this region will iUustrate
Hardy's magical skill in making words produce the feel-
ing one has in looking at the actual heath.

A Saturday afternoon in November was approaching the time
of twilight, and the vast tract of unenclosed wild known as Egdon
Heath embrowned itself moment by moment. Overhead the
hollow stretch of whitish cloud shutting out the sky was as a
tent which had the whole heath for its floor.

The heaven being spread with this pallid screen and the earth
with the darkest vegetation, their meeting-line at the horizon was
clearly marked. In such contrast the heath wore the appear-
ance of an installment of night which had taken up its place
before its astronomical hour was come ; darkness had to a great
extent arrived hereon, while day stood distinct in the sky. Look-
ing upwards, a furze-cutter would have been inclined to continue
work ; looking down, he would have decided to finish his faggot
and go home. The distant rims of the world and of the firma-
ment seemed to be a division in time no less than a division in
matter. The face of the heath by its mere complexion added
half an hour to evening ; it could in like manner retard the dawn,
sadden noon, anticipate the frowning of storms scarcely gener-
ated, and intensify the opacity of a moonless midnight to a cause
of shaking and dread.

In fact, precisely at this transitional point of its nightly roll
into darkness the great and particular glory of the Egdon waste
began, and nobody could be said to understand the heath who
had not been there at such a time. It could best be felt when
it could not clearly be seen, its complete effect and explanation
lying in this and the succeeding hours before the dawn ; then,
and only then, did it tell its true tale. The spot was, indeed, a
near relation of night, and when night showed itself, an apparent
tendency to gravitate together could be perceived in its shades
and the scene. The sombre stretch of rounds and hollows seemed

NABRATION 191

to rise and meet the evening gloom in pure sympathy, the heath
exhaling darkness as rapidly as the heavens precipitated it.
And so the obscurity in the air and the obscurity in the land
closed together in a black fraternization towards which each
advanced halfway.

The place became full of a watchful intentness now ; for when
other things sank brooding to sleep the heath appeared slowly
to awake and listen. Every night its Titanic form seemed to
await something ; but it had waited thus, unmoved, during so
many centuries, through the crisis of so many things, that it
could only be imagined to await one last crisis — the final over-
throw. . . .

It was at present a place perfectly accordant with man's
nature — neither ghastly, hateful, nor ugly; neither common-
place, unmeaning, nor tame ; but, like man, slighted and endur-
ing : and withal, singularly colossal and mysterious in its swarthy
monotony. As with some persons who have long lived far apart
solitude seemed to look out of its countenance.

Along an aged highway walked an old man. . . . Before him
stretched the long, laborious road, dry, empty, and white. It
was quite open to the heath on each side, and bisected that vast
dark surface like the parting line on a head of black hair, diminish-
ing and bending away on the furthest horizon.^

Study the admirable phrases which enforce the domi-
nant tone of the heath : " embrowned itself moment by
moment," " an installment of night," " retard the dawn,
sadden noon," ** the sombre stretch," " slighted and
enduring," " singularly colossal and mysterious in its
swarthy monotony." Note the figure ** bisected that
vast dark surface like the parting line on a head of black
hair," which a glance at the picture shows is a master-
piece of careful observation. Thus close to the soil is

1 Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native, Ch. i.

192 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Hardy's " local color." His work should be emphasized,
for it offers the most stimulating examples of the relation
of setting to events and characters. It is exhilarating
to make a walking tour through the Hardy country,
reading the stories on the scenes of action. But since
that is possible for very few of us, the next best thing is
to read the novels and look up the backgrounds in Her-
mann Lea's Thomas Hardy's Wessex, which is equipped
with two hundred and forty pictures from photographs
and a map of Wessex. The dairy farms, manor houses,
churches, inns, roads, and villages which figure in his
stories are done from the real. A few more examples
will be interesting. In Tess of the D' Urbervilles the scene
of the tragic honeymoon of Tess and Angel Clare is " the
mouldy old habitation " of Wool Bridge — called by
Hardy Wellbridge. Later the story moves to Kingsbere,
where in the church is the ancient tomb of the D 'Urber-
villes. In the dusk, Tess enters the church, and, in a
highly dramatic way, comes face to face with Alec
D'Urberville, who had been the evil genius of her life.

Within the window were the tombs of the family, covering in
their dates several centuries. They were canopied, altar-shaped,
and plain; their carvings being defaced and broken; their
brasses torn from the matrices, the rivet-holes remaining like
marten-holes in a sand-cliff. Of all the reminders that she had
ever received that her people were socially extinct there was none
so forcible as this spoliation.

She drew near to a dark stone on which was inscribed :

ffistium jsepulcfjri antiqttae familiae WWixitxbilU.

Tess did not read Church-Latin like a Cardinal, but she knew
that this was the door of her ^ancestral sepulchre, and that the

The D'Urberville Window and Tomb
Bere Regis Church (Kingsbere)

NARRATION 193

tall knights of whom her father had chanted in his cups lay
inside.

She musingly turned to withdraw, passing near an altar-tomb,
the oldest of them all, on which was a recumbent figure. In the
dusk she had not noticed it before, and would hardly have noticed
it now but for an odd fancy that the effigy moved. As soon as
she drew close to it she discovered all in a moment that the figure
was a living person; and the shock to her sense of not having
been alone was so violent that she was quite overcome, and sank
down nigh to fainting, not however till she had recognized Alec
D'UrberviUe in the form.

He leapt off the slab and supported her.^

Observe how faithfully Hardy paints the details of the
old tomb, and chooses a figure which appeals to the eye :
" their brasses torn from the matrices, the rivet-holes re-
maining like marten-holes in a sand-cliff."

An author who has much in common with Hardy is
Eden Phillpotts, who writes of the rugged dramas enacted
among the tors and woodlands of Dartmoor in Devon-
shire. In Children of the Mist, The River, The Secret
Woman, and many other novels, he enforces the fact that
locality shapes character and determines destinies. Just
as Egdon Heath is the hero of Hardy's Return of the
Native, the River Dart is the heroine of Phillpotts's
River, Phillpotts's attitude toward background is set
forth in his Foreword to Widecombe Fair:

If I deem a forest or river, a wild space, a hill top, or the chang-
ing apparitions of inanimate nature as vital as the adventures of
men and women, and as much a part of the material which I
handle, then to these things must be apportioned the significance
I desire for them. If I choose to make a river a protagonist, or

1 Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D'UrherviUes, Ch. lii.
o

194 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

lift a forest, in its unknowable attributes, into a presence more
portentous than the human beings who move within it, none has
the right to deny me. ... To me, then, the phenomena of
man's environment are as interesting as man himself.^

For an example of his closeness to actuality see the de-
scription and picture of the Vale of Widecombe, p. 124.
One of the most famous books that exhale the atmos-
phere of place is Blackmore's Loma Doone^ a romance of
Exmoor in North Devon. " Loma Doone to a Devon-
shire man is as good as clotted cream, almost ! " The
Doone Valley — the fastness of the outlaw Doones —
the Badgery Water, which flows through it, the Valley of
the Rocks, Oare, Brendon, Malmsmead, may all be
visited. Blackmore, to be sure, exaggerated the slopes
of the valley into dismally precipitous cliflFs to heighten
the effect. But as to the rightness of placing the story
of the Doones in this wild glen there is no question. The
description, in the words of John Ridd, rims thus :

And now for the first time I was amazed at the appearance of
the Doones' stronghold, and understood its nature. . . . The
chine of highland whereon we stood curved to the right and left
of us, keeping about the same elevation, and crowned with
trees and brush-wood. At about half a mile in front of us, but
looking as if we could throw a stone to strike any man upon it,
another crest just like our own bowed around to meet it; but
failed by reason of two narrow clefts, of which we could only see
the brink. One of these clefts was the Doone-gate, with a
portcullis of rock above it, and the other was the chasm by which
I had once made entrance. Betwixt them, where the hills fell
back as in a perfect oval, traversed by the winding water, lay a

1 Eden Phillpotts, Widecombe Fair, Foreword.

NARRATION 195

bright green valley, rimmed with sheer black rock, and seeming
to have sunken bodily from the bleak, rough heights above.^

Stevenson, as we should expect from the quotation on
page 188, was quick to seize the spirit of place and fuse it
with action and character into gratifying unity. Wit-
ness The Merry Men, The Master of BdlarUrae, Kid-
napped, The Ebb Tide. Kidnapped, a story of the
Scottish Highlands, is so redolent of the soil that " the
wind seems to* turn the pages of that swift record, and
the smell of the heather comes with it." * In his stories
we always know what the weather is. Take the episode
of the duel in The Master of BaUantrae:

There was no breath stirring : a windless stricture of frost had
bound the air ; and as we went forth in the shine of the candles,
the blackness was like a roof over our heads. Never a word was
said; there was never a sound but the creaking of our steps
along the frozen path. The cold of the night fell about me like
a bucket of water.

" Here is the place," said the master. " Set down the candles."
I did as he bade me, and presently the flames went up as
steady as in a chamber in the midst of the frosted trees.'

In Treasure Island the salt sea air is always in our nos-
trils, and the booming of the surf in our ears. The
account of Jim's first view of Treasure Island is masterly.
The details of color, form, sound — "grey-colored woods,"

1 R. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doom, Ch. xv. You should not fail to
look up the many pictures of the region in the illustrated editions of
Lorna Doone: one edited by H. Snowden Ward (Harper), another pub-
lished by J. C. Winston Co.

*C. T. Copeland, "Robert Louis Stevenson," in Atlantic Monthly,
April, 1895.

* R. L. Stevenson, The Master of BaUantrae, Ch. iv.

196 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

" the spires of naked rock " — strike in the mind the
dominant tone of gloomy foreboding.

A few practical hints about setting will be useful.
You should make the passages of description — of land-
scape, houses, rooms, etc. — as brief as possible. Include
only the necessary and most significant details. Again,
do not give too long accounts of background at the be-
ginning. Work in the setting as you go along, unless the
requirements of the story make another method better.
For example, the setting of a detective story may need
careful expository treatment, supplemented by a diagram,
as is sometimes the case in the Sherlock Holmes stories.
You can at times put eflFective bits of description into the
mouths of your characters. Note the speech quoted
from Synge, § 176. Above all, avoid " fine writing "
and flowery language. Always bear in mind this remark
of Henry James :

I cannot imagine composition existing in a series of blocks, nor
conceive, in any novel worth discussing at all, of a passage of
description that is not in its intention narrative.

The most important illustrated books on " literary geography,"
i,e, the background of famous writers, are as follows : you will
find them very enjoyable.
Literary Geography, William Sharp. London, 1904. This has

chapters on the country of Stevenson, Scott, Dickens,

Thackeray, George Eliot, the Brontgs, George Meredith,

and others.
The Real Dickens Land, H. Snowden Ward. London, 1904.
In Dickens's London, F. Hopkinson Smith. New York, 1914.
George Eliot: Scenes and People in her Novels, Charles S. Olcott.

New York, 1910.

NARRATION 197

IxmuL Doone. J. C. Winston Co., New York.

Loma Doone. Dooneland Edition by H. Snowden Ward. Lon-
don and New York, 1908.

The New York of the Novelists, A. B. Maurice. New York, 1917.
With pictures of places that figure in stories by Washing-
ton Irving, Henry James, O. Henry, Richard Harding
Davis, and others.

The Country of Sir Walter ScoU, Charles S. Olcott. London,
1913.

Thomas Hardy' a Wesaex, Hermann Lea. London, 1913.

122. Coherence. — The general conduct of a narrative
ought not to be difficult, because you can rely on the
chronological order of events. Coherence in narration
is far more simple than in exposition, argument, or de-
scription. A good story will tell itself. There are,
however, several faults to guard against.

1. Digressions. — Do not let your story run oflf the
track. Sometimes there is a temptation to wander far
afield in following the " coherence of association." But
if the associated facts and details that come flocking into
the mind do not bear on the main purpose, they should
be firmly ignored. Avoid making comments on your
story as you go along. Thackeray's habit of holding up
his narrative to moralize on the characters is admired
by many readers, but it should be remembered that this
method is successful in very few hands.

2. Backing and filling. — Do not let your story double
back on itself. If events occur in the order of 1, 2, 3, 4,
do not tell them in the order of 2, 1, 4, 3. In novels
which are crowded with many characters and interests,
it is as difficult to keep them marching on as it is to drive
sheep.

198 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

3. Clumsy explanations, — Do not halt the narrative
to explain certain relations between characters or certain
facts about the setting or topography which should have
been prepared for. Stevenson vigorously criticizes a
passage in Scott on account of this fault. Understand,
however, that he admires the episode itself.

In Guy Mannering, again, every incident is delightful to the
imagination; and the scene when Harry Bertram lands at
Ellangowan is a model instance of romantic method.

" * I remember the tune well/ he says, * though I cannot guess
what should at present so strongly recall it to my memory.'
He took his flageolet from his pocket and played a simple melody.
Apparently the tune awoke the corresponding associations of a
damsel. . . . She immediately took up the song —

'Are these the links of Forth, she said;

Or are they the crooks of Dee,
Or the bonny woods of Warroch Head
That I so fain would see ? '

"*By heaven !' said Bertram, *it is the very ballad.'" . . .

The reader will observe a mark of excision in the passage as
quoted by me. Well, here is how it runs in the original : " a
damsel, who, close behind a fine spring about half-way down the
descent, and which had once suppUed the castle with water, was
engaged in bleaching linen." A man who gave in such copy
would be discharged from the staff of a daily paper. Scott has
forgotten to prepare the reader for the presence of the " damsel " ;
he has forgotten to mention the spring and its relation to the
ruin ; and now, face to face with his omission, instead of trying
back and starting fair, crams all this matter, tail foremost, into a
single shambling sentence. It is not merely bad English, or
bad style ; it is abominably bad narrative besides.^

^ R. L. Stevenson, A Gossip on Romance.

NARRATION 199

123. Movement. — Movement is the rate of speed, or
pace. In some stories the nature of the events, people,
and setting requires a slow pace ; in others, a rapid one.

1. Methods of producing slow pace :

a. Use of many details.

b. Long descriptions.

c. Analysis of character or motives.

d. Dialogue for its own sake — which does not

advance the action.

e. Leisurely style, composed of rather long sen-

tences and many words.

2. Methods of producing rapid pace :

a. Selection of only telling details.

b. Suggestion rather than enumeration of details.

c. Dialogue, crisp in itself and winging the story on.

d. Concise style, composed of rather short sentences.

e. Graphic words of high carrying power.

In general your motto should be " Get on." Don't
treat all things with equal emphasis; develop those
scenes which are striking.

124. Emphasis. — The most important methods of se-
curing emphasis in a narrative are a good beginning and
ending, climax, and surprise.

125. Eflfective Beginning. — We have already said
something about beginning in the section on Umiting the
field (§ 105). You should begin as abruptly as possible:
avoid a long running start. It has been wittily said,
" The way to pick up a story is the way to pick up a
puppy-dog — a little in front of the middle." It is
often necessary to clear the groimd for the action to
follow by a short exposition, or by rapid painting of
backgroimd. But even while you are doing this, you

200 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

should catch the reader's attention by sounding the key-
note or rousing his curiosity. Note these brief exposi-
tory beginnings by Kipling :

Mrs. Hawksbee was sometimes nice to her own sex. Here is
a story to prove this ; and you can believe just as much as you
please.^

Never praise a sister to a sister, in the hope of your compli-
ments reaching the proper ears, and so preparing the way for you
later on. Sisters are women first, and sisters afterwards; and
you will find that you do yourself hartn.*

East of Suez, some hold, the direct control of Providence ceases ;
Man being there handed over to the power of the Gods and
Devils of Asia, and the Church of England, Providence only
exercising an occasional and modified supervision in the case of
Englishmen.^

Of the descriptive beginning this opening of one of Hew-
lett's stories of the Italian Renaissance is a fine example :

Up at Fiesole, among the olives and chestnuts which cloud the
steeps, the magnificent Lorenzo was entertaining his guests on a
morning in April. The olives were just whitening to silver;
they stretched in a tumbling se^ down the slope. Beyond lay
Florence, misty and golden ; and round about were the mossy
hills, cut sharp and definite against a grey -blue sky, printed with
starry buildings and silver ranks of cypress.*

Dialogue makes an effective beginning, but it requires
skill to carry on the narrative from that point without

iRudyard Kipling, "The Rescue of Pluffles," in Plain Tales from
the HiUs.

2 Rudyard Kipling, "False Dawn," in Plain Tales from the HiUs.
' Rudyard Kipling, " The Mark of the Beast," in Life's Handicap.
* Maurice Hewlett, "Quattrocentisteria," in Earthwork out of Tuscany*

NARRATION 201

doubling back. Here are some excellent dialogue be-
ginnings :

"I can assure you," said I, "that it will take a very tangible
ghost to frighten me." And I stood up before the fire with my
glass in my hand.

"It is your own choosing," said the man with the withered
arm, and glanced at me askance.^

"But if it be a girl?"

"Lord of my life, it cannot be. I have prayed for so many
nights, and sent gifts to Sheikh Badl's shrine so often, that I
know God will give us a son — a man-child that shall grow into a
man." «

126. Effective Ending. — The ending should be swift
and impressive. Never use the " tired but happy "
ending, and never add a postscript. The conclusion is
part and parcel of the climax, the surprise, the dSnoue-
ment to which the narrative has been progressing. Quo-
tations of endings without the context are not very clear :
you should look up the admirable conclusions of the
stories of Poe, Kipling, and Leonard Merrick. Study the
endings of O. Henry's Mammon and the Archer^ Mary
Wilkins Freeman's Gala Dress, Stevenson's Sire de
MaUtroifs Door,^ Sarah Orne Jewett's Winter Court-
ship, and Kipling's Story of Muhammad Din. Try to
phrase the very last words so that they will echo in the
memory :

I had walled the monster up withia the tomb ! *

1 H. G. Wells, "The Red Room," in The Country of the Blind.

* Rudyard Kipling, "Without Benefit of Clergy," in Life's Handicap.
' All in College Readings.

* E. A. Poe, The Black Cat.

202 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

"A little bit of string — a little bit of string — see here it is,
M'sieu' le Maire." ^

"Pieces of eight ! pieces of eight !" *

Owing to the delay, the violets, now that they reached her,
were quite dead.'

Then the door slammed, and Lizer Chope was in the windy
street.*

127. Climax. — Climax is the highest point in a nar-
rative, the goal toward which the action steadily climbs,
and in a story with plot, the place where the various lines
of action reach the moment of greatest tension and dis-
charge. Climax is the firing of the gun. Reread at this
time the comment on the climax of the Death of Becket
(§ 97). The position of the climax is at the end. It is
emphasized by rapid action and vivid details. And it
may be thrown into greater relief by suspense, that is,
by retarding the action just before it in order to keep the
reader guessing. Often the point in suspense is not the
outcome, but the means by which it is to be brought
about. In stories of which the main interest is charac-
terization, this is especially true. In stories of action it
is not so frequently the case.

128. Surprise. — Climax does not necessarily include
surprise. In certain narratives we foresee the end, as in
Poe's Cdsk of Amontillado, and our interest lies in watch-
ing the artful progress of events. The " surprise story,"

1 Guy de Maupassant, A Piece of String,

2 R. L. Stevenson, Treasure Island,

'Leonard Merrick, "Dead Violets," in The Man Who Understood
Women.

* Arthur Morrison, "Lizerunt," in Tales of Mean Streets,

NARRATION 203

on the other hand, keeps us in suspense throughout and
thrills us by a sudden twist at the end. Detective stories
are constructed on this principle ; for example, the Sher-
lock Holmes stories by Conan Doyle. Other notable
surprises are Marjorie Daw, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich,
^ The Monkey's Paw and Captain Rogers by W. W. Jacobs,

^ The Necklace by Maupassant. Two writers who employ

I this method most adroitly are O. Henry (see Mammon

and the Archer) and Leonard Merrick. Merrick has
I such polished technique and such variety of eflFect that

. you should read his books whenever you can get them.

His extraordinary 'ability to build up crisis upon crisis
\ and then surprise us in spite of ourselves at the end, is

.. well illustrated in The Tragedy of a Comic Song, where

/ there are six crises, one after another.

129. Titles. — A good title should be brief, specific,
[ original, and alluring. The purpose of giving a story a dis-

tinctive name is to summarize the main idea and to pique
the curiosity, as in The Phantom 'Rickshaw and The Cop
and the Anthem. The phrasing of a title brings into play
all our literary expertness. Here are a few admirable
examples :

The Gold Bug — Poe.
The Suicide Club — Stevenson.
Mammon and the Archer — O. Henry.
The Dolly Dialogues — Anthony Hope.
^, At the End of the Passage — Kipling,

Wireless — Kipling.
Without Benefit of Clergy — Kipling.
Spanish Gold — G. A. Birmingham.
A Slip under the Microscope — H. G. Wells.
The Valley of Spiders — H. G. WeUs.

204 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

The Tragedy of a Comic Song — Leonard Merrick.
Whispers about Women — Leonard Merrick.
Dead Violets — Leonard Merrick.

A few " don't's " wiU be helpful :

1. Don't be vague. An Automobile Accident, A Day in
the Woods, On a Farm, A Narrow Escape, are far too general
and colorless to be of any interest.

2. Don't be trite. Don't use parts of trite quota-
tions, like Bom to Blush Unseen; Hope Springs Eternal;
To Err is Human; or hackneyed forms like John Ward,
Preacher; The (Something) of (Somebody) ; The {Some-
one) Who (Did Something) ; The Passing of .

3. Don't be sensational and alliterative after the manner
of the dime novels : Seven Diamond Skulls; or. The Secret
City of Siam.

4. Don't be lengthy. A long title is hard to remember
and diflBcult to pronounce: for example, Dionysus, the
Weaver's Heart* s Dearest; My Double and How He Undid
Me.

EXERCISES

1. Tell an actual experience without plot. Read Jowett's re-
mark about Dr. Johnson's meeting with Wilkes, p. 74.

2. Rewrite an episode in a dime novel.

8. Work up a story from an item in the newspapers.

4. Take an old fable and retell it in terms of modern life.

5. Try your hand at writing stories from these beginnings,
which Stevenson jotted down in one of his letters (to W. E.
Henley, October, 1884) :

Chapter I

The night was damp and cloudy, the ways foul. The single
horseman, cloaked and booted, who pursued his way across

NARRATION 205

Willesden Common, had not met a traveller, when the sound of
wheels. . .

Chapter I

"Yes, sir,." said the old pilot, "she must have dropped into the
bay a little afore dawn. A queer craft she looks."

"She shows no colours," returned jthe young gentleman, mus-
ingly.

"They're a-lowering of a quarter-boat, Mr. Mark," resumed
the old salt. "We shall soon know more of her."

"Ay," replied the young man called Mark, "and here, Mr.
Seadrift, comes your sweet daughter Nancy tripping down the
diff."

"God bless her kind heart, sir," ejaculated old Seadrift.

Chapter I

The notary, Jean Rossignol, had been summoned to the top
of a great house in the Isle St. Louis to make a will ; and now, his
duties finished, wrapped in a warm roquelaure and with a lantern
swinging from one hand, he issued from the mansion on his home-
ward way. Little did he think what strange adventures were to
befall him ! . . .

6. Devise an eflFective conclusion for a story which the in-
structor stops reading at an exciting point. Excellent stories
for such a purpose are :

O. Henry : "A Municipal Report" (in Strictly Business),
Kenneth Grahame : "The Burglars" (in The Golden Age).
R. L. Stevenson: "Tale of the Explosive Bomb" (in The
Dynamiter),

7. State the plots of a few stories in their lowest terms. Try
to sum up the plot in one sentence.

8. Read Poe's doctrine about unity in stories (p. 168) and then
test one of his own stories in the light of this doctrine ; for exam-
ple. The Cask of Amontillado,

206 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

9. Test other stories by Poe's doctrine: for example, O.
Henry's Mammon and the Archer, Stevenson's Sire de Malitroifa
Door, Mary Wilkins Freeman's Gala Dress (all in College Readings) .

10. Imagine yourself in a famous historical event and narrate
it from the autobiographic point of view.

11. Analyze ten stories and give the following facts about
them:

1. The dominant character.

2. The plot.

3. The order of events.

4. The point of view.

5. The setting.

12. Exercises in Characterization :

1. Select names for

A miser ; a young poet ; an elderly New England
spinster; a very successful, hard-headed business
man ; a romantic school girl ; a young Englishman,
fond of athletics, graduate of Oxford.

2. Summarize in ten or fifteen words each the characters

that you would expect to go with the following names :
John Stone, Enoch Beane, Lily Dale, Plantagenet
Palliser, Silas Lapham, Basil March, Arthur Fletcher,
Amos Headston, Mrs. Flinks, Ravender, Joad, Clar-
riker, Glibbery,Plomish, Rosa Dartle.

13. By what methods are the characters portrayed in The
Sire de MalHroit's Door, A Gala Dress, Mammon and the Archer
(all in College Readings) ?

14. Write a story in which there is a great deal of dialogue.
(See The Dolly Dialogues by Anthony Hope.)

15. Write a few short studies in dialect : choose dialects with
which you have first-hand acquaintance.

16. Write out speeches you have taken down from real con-
versation.

17. Take a passage of dialogue in a magazine story and make
a list of the traits of character revealed.

NARRATION 207

18. Read the introduction of The Green Door, by O. Henry
(in The Four MiUion) and be on the watch for adven-
tures.

19. Taking Stevenson's suggestion — "There is a fitness in
events and places. Certain dank gardens cry aloud for a mur-
der; certain old houses demand to be haunted" — write a story
which grows out of a place with which you are familiar.

20. Discuss the appropriateness of the setting in various
stories, such as The Sire de McdStroifs Door, The Pursuit of the
OuUaw, A Gala Dress (all in College Readings),

21. Discuss the value of this introduction:

Probably I had the most thrilling experience summer
before last that I will ever have in my life. Inasmuch
as it concerns itself with a bear, I feel like apologizing,
since so many bear stories have been written. That it
is true, and therefore may be of interest to some others,
is my only excuse for offering it.

22. Discuss this estimate of O. Henry :

"I hear O. Henry is being used in the schools and the
colleges. I hear that he is held up as a model by critics
and professors of English. The effect of this must be
pernicious. It cannot but be pernicious to spread the
idea that O. Henry is a master of the short story. O.
Henry did not write the short story. O. Henry wrote
the expanded anecdote."

"What is the difference between them?" the reporter
asked.

"It's hard to define the difference," Mrs. Gerould replied,
"but it is impossible to confuse the two forms. In a
short story there are situation, suspense, and climax.
O. Henry gives the reader climax — nothing else ! "

23. Why is Treasure Island a better title than the original
one. The Sea Cook?

24. Which is the better title for Hawthorne's story — The
Marble Faun or the English version Transformation f

208 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

25. Select other titles for these stories :

The Legend of Sleepy HoUow — Washington Irving.

A Municipal Report — O. Henry.

A Humble Romance — Mary Wilkins Freeman.

The Great Stone Face — Hawthorne.

A Winter Courtship — Sarah Orne Jewett.

The Ambitious Guest — Hawthorne.

Markheim — R. L. Stevenson.

A Lodging for the Night — R. L. Stevenson.

Part III
STRUCTURE

CHAPTER VI
PARAGRAPHS

130. Definition. — A paragraph is a group of sentenc es
which togetherde velop a single topic . This single topic —
a fact,^ an opinion, an event — may be one step in the
course of a whole composition, or it may be a complete
brief article in itself. A paragraph is composed of sen-
tences just as a sentence is composed of words. The
sentences in a paragraph are arranged according to the
principles of unity, coherence, and emphasis. The
application of these principles, however, depends upon
our purpose in writing. If we are explaining facts, the
method of composing the steps, or paragraphs, may be
quite diflFerent from that when we are narrating events.
The length of the paragraphs will also vary. The narra-
tive paragraph is ordinarily shorter than the expository.
For instance, in Kidnapped (Chapter xx, "The Flight
in the Heather ") Stevenson has thirty-four paragraphs,
not counting the direct speeches, in ten pages ; whereas in
his essay on Some Portraits by Raebum he has eight para-
graphs in ten pages. In considering the structure of
paragraphs, then, let us note the variations in the diflFerent
kinds of writing.

p 209

210 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

UNITY

131. Unity in Exposition and Argument. — Unity in
the construction of paragraphs cannot be attained merely
by writing a succession of unified sentences. 1 Unity of
the paragraph exists only when the paragraph can be
summarized in a single sentenceJ And this unity can
ordinarily be secured only by making a careful plan in
which there are headings of at least two different degrees
of importance. Suppose, for instance, that we wish to
compose a single paragraph. We cannot put together
sentences about the poetry of Tennyson, the advantages of
sleeping out of doors, and the genius of Wagner, because
— although each of these sentences might be a unit — the
series of sentences would not together make up any larger
unit. Twelve inches make a foot, and sixteen ounces
make a pound, and twenty-four sheets of paper make a
quire ; but a quire, added to a pound, plus a foot, makes
nothing but nonsense. A paragraph, therefore, cannot be
a unit unless its component parts have something in
common.

Nor can a paragraph have unity if its ideas, although
of the same general sort, together make only a fraction of
the larger idea which they are intended to group together.
For example, suppose I have a group of sentences, of
which the first is, ** The three branches of the government
of the United States are the legislative, the executive,
and the judicial." Suppose my second sentence goes on to
say something about the executive branch of the govern-
ment, and my third sentence to say something about the
legislative branch. Do these three sentences together
make a unified paragraph? Certainly not; because

PARAGRAPHS 211

they do not include a sentence about the judicial branch
of the government. They do not, therefore, fulfill the
promise made in the opening sentence, and are no more a
paragraph than two feet are a yard. This fault is illus-
trated in the paragraphing of the following composition :

Of the scenes in The Merchant of Venice the ones which excite
the most sympathy for Shylock are those where Bassanio asks
for the loan, the scene where he bewails that even his daughter
has left him, and finally the court scene. In the first of these
three Shylock probably makes his most famous plea, and tries
to show Bassanio that he like other men must eat to live, and
has feelings, a heart and soul. His defence of himself in this
instance is strong and shows his good character.

In the second scene Shakespeare makes the reader realize the
agony of Shylock, when even his daughter, Jessica, runs away
and leaves him alone. The last scene in which Portia, acting
as a judge, pronounces to Shylock that he can have a pound
of flesh, and not an ounce more nor a drop of blood. Poor
Shylock sees right away that he has lost all. He can neither
obtain his three thousand ducats or his pound of flesh. This
last scene probably excites more sorrow for him than any other,
because here even the learned judg^ turns against him.

According to its plan, this composition should be all one
paragraph, or it should be developed into four paragraphs.
132. The Topic-Sentence. — Unity in the structure
of paragraphs, however, is more liable to be violated by
including in one paragraph too many ideas, than by
including too few. The surest method of guarding
against this danger is to see to it that we never con-
struct a paragraph which cannot be summarized in a
single sentence. In planning our theme, in other words,
each group of minor points must fall naturally under

212 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

some major heading. It should always be kept in mind»
however, that this " topic-sentence " need not be actually
written out in the paragraph. To illustrate, suppose
that we wish to write a paragraph about " Joseph
Addison's Sense of Humor." We may not at any point
in the paragraph use those five words together, and yet,
if we have thought out our work with proper care, the
paragraph may make upon the mind of the person who
reads it just as strong an impression of unity as if the first
sentence in the paragraph had been " Had Addison any
sense of humor? " and the last, "Thus it appears that
Addison's sense of humor, though very subtle, was very
strong." For the beginner the latter method of opening
and closing paragraphs — of surrounding them, so to
speak, by a frame — is perhaps safest. Especially is this
the case in the more formal kinds of writing — exposi-
tion, criticism, and argument. Here are a number of
examples : ^

When a group of families moved out into the wilderness they
built themselves a station or stockade, fort ; a square palisade
of upright logs, loop-holed, with strong blockhouses as bastions
at the comers. One side at least was generally formed by the
backs of the cabins themselves, all standing in a row ; and there

1 For further illustrations see the paragraph on Polonius, p. 69, and
also College Readings, p. 16 (J. H. Newman, "The Aim of a University
Education") ; p. 115 ff. (H. Croly, "Lincoln as More Than an Ameri-
can") ; p. 124 ff. (J. Corbin, "English and American Sportsmanship") ;
p. 130 ff. (G. H. Palmer, "Self-Cultivation in English"); p. 137 ff.
(W. James, "The Social Value of the College-Bred") ; p. 203 ff. (G. E.
Woodberry, "The Waverley Novels") ; p. 232 ff. (T. H. Huxley, "Three
Hypotheses Respecting the History of Nature") ; p. 248 ff. (E. L. Godkin,
"Professor Huxley's Lectures"); p. 34 ff. (W. Wilson, "The House
of Representatives ") .

PARAGRAPHS 213

was a great door or gate, that could be strongly barred in case
of need. Often no iron whatever was employed in any of the
buildings. The square inside contained the provision sheds
and frequently a strong central blockhouse as well. These
forts, of course, could not stand against cannon, and they were
always in danger when attacked with fire; but save for this
risk of burning they were very effectual defences against men
without artillery, and were rarely taken, whether by whites or
Indians, except by surprise. Few other buildings have played
so important a part in our history as the rough stockade fort
of the backwoods.*

Not only is the God of the great Christian churches often a
War God, but the Christian life itself is often represented in
Christian hymn and preachings as a battle. The Christian
fights against Satan and the powers of evil, — he goes forth to
war against the evils and wrongs of his day : "The Son of God
goes forth to war, a kingly crown to gain '* — meanest of motives.
The saint wears armor, the armor of the mediaeval battle-field,
and the archangels and the knights set upon the dragons and
fiends, and slay them with swords. A large part of the imagery
of Christian literature is drawn from the work of soldiers and
armies. "Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war"
is to-day one of the favorite hymns of the Protestant churches.
In the annual procession of the Corpus Christi in Vienna, three
bodies take common part, each with great magnificence, — the
court, the army, and the church. This is the habitual associa-
tion which has gradually undermined the capacity of the Church
to advance in modem Europe the cause of justice, mercy, and
liberty, and hence of peace and goodwill.^

Macaulay's use of the topic-sentence at the beginning
of paragraphs is especially skillful. Note this series :

1 Theodore Roosevelt, The Winning of the West, Vol. I, Ch. v.
, * Charles W. Eliot, The Crying Need oj a Renewed CkriHianity.

214 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

It was by the highways that both travellers and goods generally
passed from place to place. . . .

One chief cause of the badness of the roads seems to have
been the defective state of the law. . . .

On the best highways heavy articles were, in the time of Charles
the Second, generally conveyed from place to place by stage
wagons. ... ^

On byroads, and generally throughout the country north of
York and west of Exeter, goods were carried by long trains of
pack-horses. ...

The rich commonly travelled in their own carriages, with at
least four horses.^ . . .

In argument it is not only monotonous but maladroit
to announce the topic, or statement to be proved, con-
tinually at the beginning. Vary the structure by opening
with the details of evidence and leading up to the point
which they prove. This device holds the attention. For
example :

Similar, too, has been the experience of several smaller cities
which have changed to the one-man system. Indianapolis,
since the adoption of her centralizing charter in 1891, has not
elected a single mayor who has obeyed the spirit, or even the
letter, of the laws regulating the civil service. All appointments
have been made on strictly partisan grounds. Four years
after Quincy, Mass., greatly increased the power of the mayor,
Mr. Gamaliel Bradford, who had specially urged the change,
was forced to confess that "extravagance of expenditure, local
jobbing, and caucus politics are as rampant as in any other
city in the state." In Cleveland the mayor has abused his
appointing power for the sake of aiding his own political ambi-
tions. Nowhere, in fact, can the advocate of mayor donunation,
if he be candid, point to anything like thoroughly and con-

i T. B. Macaulay, The History of England, Ch. iii.

PARAGRAPHS 216

tinuously good administration where that system has prevailed.
Temporary improvement has often followed a change to mayor
rule; permanent improvement even has residted in certain
cases from doing away with the anomalies and complexities
of earlier charters ; but the actual success of the centralization
of power has fallen very far short of fulfilling the promises which
were held out to us.*

133. Unity in Description. — On account of the.throng
of details that may come crowding into your mind when
you are writing descriptive paragraphs, you must be par-
ticidarly careful to produce a nnifipr^ ^fTet^t. Here the
devices of point of view ani dominant tone save the day.
Be sure to keep one point of view throughout a paragraph.
You cannot take two pictures on the same film. If you
try to, the result will be like this :

We were rounding New York on the departing steamer, and
we were, by this time, well around to the east. The sun was
just below the horizon, and the city was outlined on a field of
gold, across which was a sweep of the purest blue I have ever
seen. Above the city, the spare forms of the Singer and Metro-
politan buildings towered; and, to the left, Brooklyn Bridge
stretched out like a mighty arm. There was none of the grim-
ness and newness of the city in broad daylight : the whole mass
was fused into one by a beautiful' violet light, which toned down
the obtrusive brick color of the bridge and buildings to its own
hue. As the sun sank, the lights along Broadway and Times
Square sprang into life. In the center of the square the glit-
tering electric signs were bewildering. They painted the faces
of the hurrying throng sometimes with a bluish tint, sometimes
with a yellow glare. The taxis, coming from the side streets
suddenly, glittered as they shot into the blaze, so rapidly did

^E. Dana Durand, "Council Government vs. Mayor Government,"
in College Readings, p. 247.

216 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

the reflections sparkle on their windows. A few moments
more and we entered Long Island Somid, and the city faded in
the distance.

The right-about-face in this paragraph is disastrous to
unity. Contrast with this Washington Irving's steady
maintenance of his point of view in the following extract :

It was a rainy Smiday in the gloomy month of November.
I had been detained, in the course of a journey, by a slight
indisposition, from which I was recovering; but was still fe-
verish, and obliged to keep within doors all day, in an inn of the
small town of Derby. A wet Sunday in a country inn ! — who-
ever has had the luck to experience one can alone judge of my
situation. The rain pattered against the casements; the beUs
tolled for church with a melancholy sound. I went to the win-
dows in quest of something to amuse the eye ; but it seemed as
if I had been placed completely out of the reach of all amuse-
ment. The windows of my bedroom looked out among tiled
roofs and stacks of chimneys, while those of my sitting-room
commanded a full view of the stable-yard. I know of nothing
more calculated to make a man sick of this world than a stable-
yard on a rainy day. The place was littered with wet straw
that had been kicked about by travellers and stable-boys. In
one comer was a stagnant pool of water, surrounding an island
of muck; there were several half -drowned fowls crowded to-
gether under a cart, among which was a miserable, crest-fallen
cock, drenched out of all life and spirit ; his drooping tail matted,
as it were, into a single feather, along which the water trickled
from his back; near the cart was a half-dozing cow, chewing
the cud, and standing patiently to be rained on, with wreaths
of vapor rising from her reeking hide; a wall-eyed horse, tired
of the loneliness of the stable, was poking his spectral head out
of a window, with the rain dripping on it from the eaves ; an
unhappy cur, chained to a dog-house hard by, uttered some-

PARAGRAPHS 217

thing every now and then, between a bark and a yelp ; a drab
of a kitchen wench tramped backwards and forwards through
the yard in pattens, looking as sulky as the weather itself;
everything in short was comfortless and forlorn, excepting a
crew of hardened ducks, assembled like boon companions round
a puddle, and making a riotous noise over their liquor.^

The dominant tone may be directly expressed by a topic-
sentence,* as " It was a rainy Sunday in the gloomy
month of November " in Irving's paragraph above. Or
it may be suggested by details which together produce
the dominant tone:

Under a heaven of exquisitely tender blue, the whole smooth
sea has a perfect luminous dove color, the horizon being filled
to a great height with greenish-golden haze, — a mist of un-
speakably sweet tint, a hue that, imitated in any aquarelle, would
be cried out against as an impossibility. As yet the hills are
nearly all gray, the forests also inwrapping them are gray and
ghostly, for the sun has but just risen above them, and vapors
hang like a veil between. Then, over the glassy level of the
flood, bands of purple and violet and pale blue and fluid gold
begin to shoot and quiver and broaden ; these are the currents
of the morning, catching varying color with the deepening of
the day and the lifting of the tide.'

134. Unity in Narration. — In narration the simplest
sort of unity is that^of a si ngle speech . For this reason a
hew paragraph begins whenever there is a change of
speaker. Units are also formed by changes in time,

* Washington Irving, "The Stout Grentleman," in Bracdmdge HaU,
«See also College Readings, p. 393 (C. L. Morgan, "The Walrus");

p. 399 (C. Kingsley, "Sir Richard Grenville'*); p. 372 (J. Ruskin.

"English Cottages" ) ; pp. 358-9 (S. E. White, "A Grove of Sequoias").
' Lafcadio Heam, Tv)o Years in the French West Indies, See College

Readings, p. 340.

218 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

action, place, character, mood, and point of view. In-
deed, there are innumerable causes which may determine
the length and number of paragraphs in a story. Note
the way in which the paragraphs in this extract from
A Gala Dress form distinct steps :

The Babcock sisters guarded nothing more jealously than
the privacy of their meals. The neighbors considered that
there was a decided reason for this. "The Babcock girls have
so little to eat that they're ashamed to let folks see it," people
said. It was certain that the old women regarded intrusion at
their meals as an insult, but it was doubtful if they would not
have done so had their table been set out with all the luxuries
of the season instead of scanty bread and butter and no sauce.
No sauce for tea was regarded as very poor living by the village
women.

To-night the Babcocks had tea very soon after the lace was
sewed on the dress. They always had tea early. They were
in the midst of it when the front-door opened, and a voice was
heard calling out in the hall.

The sisters cast a dismayed and indignant look at each other ;
they both arose ; but the door flew open, and their little square
tea-table, with its green-and-white china pot of weak tea, its
plate of bread and little glass dish of butter, its two china cups,
and thin silver teaspoons, was displayed to view.

"My!" cried the visitor, with a little backward shuflfle.
"I do hope you'll 'sense me! I didn't know you was eatin*
supper. I wouldn't ha* come in for the world if I'd known.
I'll go right out ; it wa'n't anything pertickler, anyhow." All
the time her sharp anil comprehensive gaze was on the tea-table.
She counted the slices of bread, she measured the butter, as she
talked. The sisters stepped forward with dignity.

"Come into the other room," said Elizabeth; and the visitor,
still protesting, with her backward eyes upon the tea-table, gave
way before her.

PARAGRAPHS 219

But her eyes lighted at seeing something in the parlor more
eagerly than they had upon that frugal and exclusive table.
The sisters glanced at each other in dismay. The black silk
dress lay over a chair.^

Although many acts may rapidly succeed each other in
a narrative paragraph, they may be unified by emphasizing
their purpose or meaning; they may contribute to a
distinct eflFect, as in Stevenson's account of his being
thrown out of a canoe:

I do not know how long it was before I scrambled on to the
tree to which I was left clinging, but it was longer than I cared
about. My thoughts were of a grave and almost sombre char-
acter, but* I still clung to my paddle. The stream ran away
with my heels as fast as I could pull up my shoulders, and I
seemed, by the weight, to have all the water of the Oise in my
trouser pockets. You can never know, till you try it, what a
dead pull a river makes against a man. Death himself had me
by the heels, for this was his last ambuscado, and he must now
join personally in the fray. And still I held to my paddle.
At last I dragged myself on to my stomach on the trunk, and
lay there a breathless sop, with a mingled sense of humour and
injustice. A poor figure I must have presented to Burns upon
the hill-top with his team. But there was the paddle in my
hand. On my tomb, if ever I have one, I mean to get these
words inscribed : "He clung to his paddle." ^

Here the ingenious reiteration of " I clung to my paddle "
binds all the facts together. Anothe r device for composing
i nciden ts to produce unity is climax.

The girl rose to her feet and turned toward the newcomers.
She moved all of a piece; and shame and exhaustion were

1 Mary Wilkins Freeman, A Gala Dress, See College Readings,
pages 526-7. * R. L. Stevenson, An Inland Voyage,

220 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

expressed in every line of her fresh young body; and she held
her head down and kept her eyes upon the pavement, as she
came slowly forward. In the course of her advance, her eyes
fell upon Denis de Beaulieu's feet — feet of which he was justly
vain, be it remarked, and wore in the most elegant accoutrement
even while travelling. She paused — started, as if his yellow
boots had conveyed some shocking meaning — and glanced
suddenly up into the wearer's countenance. Their eyes met;
shame gave place to horror and terror in her looks ; the blood
left her lips ; with a piercing scream she covered her face with
, her hands and sank upon the chapel floor. ^

Transitional paragraphs are often needed to suggest the
passing of time; they may be long or short, but short
ones with sweep of phrase are most eflFective.

And dusk gathered over Paris, and the lights sprang out, and
the tense hours crept away.*

COHERENCE

136. Coherence in Exposition and Argument, -f- There
should be steady progression in a paragraph from beginning
to end. I We should always feel that we are " getting on."
The internal arrangement of a paragraph cannot be man-
aged by any set rules, because paragraphs are not
machine-made' entities. Many wdys there are of making
the parts, that is, the sentences, of a paragraph cohere,
but these ways depend on the nature of our thought and
purposes. Observation of the work of the best writers

1 R. L. Stevenson, "The Sire de MaUtroit's Door," C(^e Readings,
p. 511.

> Leonard Merrick, "The Assault in the Rue des Cendres," in The
Man Who Understood Women.

PARAGRAPHS l21

shows that the many methods of gaining coherence may
be grouped under the three heads of order, parallel con-
structions, and connectives.

136. Order. — You should choose whatever order of
development best brings out your idea. If it is a process
you are explaining, the order will naturally be chronologi-
cal, as in this instance :

In a wooded country you will not take the time to fool with
tent poles. A stout line run through the eyelets and along
the apex will string it successfully between your two trees.
Draw the line as tight as possible, but do not be too unhappy,
if, after your best efforts, it still sags a little. That is what
your long crotched stick is for. Stake out your four corners.
If you get them in a good rectangle and in such relation to the
apex as to form two isosceles triangles of the ends, your tent
will stand smoothly. Therefore, be an artist and do it right.
Once the four comers are well placed, the rest follows naturally.
Occasionally in the North Country it will be found that the soil
is too thin, over the rocks, to grip the tent-pegs. In that case
drive them at a sharp angle as deep as they will go, and then
lay a large flat stone across the slant of them. Thus anchored,
you will ride out a gale. Finally, wedge your long sapling
crotch under the line — outside the tent, of course — to tighten
it. Your shelter is up. If you are a woodsman, ten or fifteen
minutes has sufficed to accomplish all this.^

If the subject of the paragraph falls easily into divisions,
you announce the divisions and take them up in order:

Such is the general distribution of the reef-building corals,
but there are some very interesting and singular circumstances
to be observed in the conformation of the reefs, when we con-

1 Stewart Edward White, "On Making Camp," in The Forest,
College Readings, p. 22. See also College Readings, 87-88.

222 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

sider them individually. The reefs, in fact, are of three diflFerent
kinds ; some of them stretch out from the shore, almost like a
prolongation of the beach, covered only by shallow water, and
in the case of an island, surrounding, it like a fringe of no con-
siderable breadth. These arc termed "fringing reefs." Others
are separated by a channel which may attain a width of many
miles, and a depth of twenty or thirty fathoms or more, from
the nearest land; and when this land is an island, the reef
surrounds it like a low wall, and the sea between the reef and
the land is, as it were, a moat inside this wall. Such reefs as
these are called "encircling" when they surround an island;
and "barrier" reefs when they stretch parallel with the coast of
a continent. In both these cases there is ordinary dry land
inside the reef, and separated from it only by a narrower or a
wider, a shallower or a deeper, space of sea, which is called a
"lagoon," or "inner passage." But there is a third kind of
reef, of very common occurrence in the Pacific and Indian
Oceans, which goes by the name of an "Atoll." This is, to all
intents and purposes, an encircling reef, without anything
to encircle ; or, in other words, without an island in the middle
of its lagoon. The atoll has exactly the appearance of a vast,
irregularly oval, or circular, breakwater, enclosing smooth water
in its midst. The depth of the water in the lagoon rarely exceeds
twenty or thirty fathoms, but, outside the reef, it deepens
with great rapidity to 200 or 300 fathoms. The depth immedi-
ately outside the barrier, or encircling, reefs, may also be very
considerable; but, at the outer edge of a fringing reef, it does
not amount usually to more than twenty or twenty-five fathoms ;
in other words, from 120 to 150 feet.^

If your purpose is to give instances and examples in sup-
port of a general statement, use a topic-sentence either

^T. H. Huxley, "On Coral and Coral Reefs," in Critiques and Ad^
dresses. For other examples see College Readings, 1, 85-87, and 221. ^

PARAGRAPHS 223

at the beginning or the end and arrange the instances
in the order of time or climax :

This tendency has modified the attitude of orthodox churches
toward Unitarians in a large degree. It has promoted a spirit
of tolerance and friendly co-operation. It was not always so.
Jefferson, though a sincere student of the teachings of Jesus
and a Unitarian, was denounced as an atheist. We know the
contumely, insult, and mob violence to which Priestley was
subjected in England. Franklin, the Adamses, and Fillmore
were really Unitarians, but they were looked at askance. Lin-
coln, one of the most deeply religious men, was clearly Uni-
tarian in his faith. In spite of all these illustrious examples,
rehgious prejudices have been played upon in politics to defeat
Um'tarians and upholders of Hberal Christianity and in very
recent years ; but even in the time my Hfe compasses, I can see
a great change for the better.^

In argument the foregoing method is the usual one : the
proposition is the topic-sentence and the proof furnishes
the details. In this respect, exposition and argument are
identical; or rather, e xposition is argument. ^ For when
we adduce instances lo support a statement, as in the
paragraph above, we are trying to convince our readers
that the statement is true. Paragraphs composed of
proposition and proof are usually built on a very careful
plan, as may be seen by comparing part of a paragraph
by Macaulay with an outline of it :

Still more important is the benefit which all orders of society,
and especially the lower orders, have derived from the mollify-
ing influence of civilization on the national character. The
groundwork of that character has indeed been the same through
many generations, in the sense in which the groundwork of the

^ W. H. Taft, The Religious Cormctions of an American Citizen.

224 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

character of an individual may be said to be the same when he
is a rude and thoughtless schoolboy and when he is a refined
and accomplished man. It is pleasing to reflect that the public
mind of England has softened while it has ripened, and that
we have, in the course of ages, become not only a wiser, but also
a kinder people. There is scarcely a page of the history or
lighter literature of the seventeenth century which does not
contain some proof that our ancestors were less humane than
their posterity. The discipline of workshops, of schools, of
private families, though not more efficient than at present,
was infinitely harsher. Masters, well born and bred, were in
the habit of beating their servants. Pedagogues knew no way
of imparting knowledge but by beating their pupils. Husbands,
of decent station, were not ashamed to beat their wives. The
implacability of hostile factions was such as we can scarcely
conceive. Whigs were disposed to murmur because Stafford
was suffered to die without seeing his bowels burned before his
face. Tories reviled and insulted Russell as his coach passed
from the Tower to the scaffold in Lincoln's Inn Fields.^

Proposition: Still more important is the benefit which all
orders of society, especially the lower orders, have derived from
the mollifying influence of civilization on the national character.
I. There is scarcely a page of the history or lighter literature
of the seventeenth century which does not contain
some proof that our ancestors were less humane than
their posterity.
A. The discipline of workshops, of schools, of private
families, though not more efficient than at present,
was infinitely harsher.
1. Masters, well bom and bred, were in the habit
of beating their servants.

1 T. B. Macaulay, The History of England, Ch. iii.

PARAGRAPHS 225

2. Pedagogues knew no way of imparting knowledge

but by beating their pupils.

3. Husbands, of decent station, were not ashamed to

beat their wives.
B. The implacability of hostile factions was such as we
can scarcely conceive.

1. Whigs were disposed to murmur because Stafford

was suffered to die without seeing his bowels
burned before his face.

2. Tories reviled and insulted Russell as his coach

passed from the Tower to the scaffold in Lincoln's
Inn Fields.

The continual use of the proposition-proof method in
argument becomes monotonous, as has been pointed out
before. Variety may be gained by putting the proof first
and the proposition last. An example of this is given on
page 214.

If, again, your purpose is to set off one phase of your
subject against another, you may employ contrast:

Most people in this world seem to live "in character" ; they
have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and the three are con-
gruous one with another and true to the rules of their type.
You can speak of them as being of this sort of people or that.
They are, as theatrical people say, no more (and no less) than
"character actors." They have a class, they have a place, they
know what is becoming in them and what is due to them, and
their proper size of tombstone tells at last how properly they
have played the part. But there is also another kind of life
that is not so much living as a miscellaneous tasting of life.
One gets hit by some unusual transverse force, one is jerked
out of one's stratum and lives crosswise for the rest of the time,
and, as it were, in a succession of samples. That has been
my lot, and that is what has set me at last writing something
Q

226 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

in the nature of a novel. I have got an unusual series of im-
pressions that I want very urgently to tell.^

137. Parallel Constructions. — You may hold together
the thought of a paragraph by making the sentences all
march in the same direction. The repetition of sentence-
forms will accomplish this purpose. A series of sentences
may begin in the same way, or may be parallel to each
other in construction :

Two men I honor, and no third. First, the toil-worn Crafts-
man that with earth-made Implement laboriously conquers
the Earth, and makes her man's. Venerable to me is the hard
Hand; crooked, coarse; wherein notwithstanding lies a cun-
ning virtue, indefeasibly royal, as of the Scepter of this Planet.
Venerable too is the rugged face, all weather-tanned, besoiled,
with its rude intelhgence ; for it is the face of a Man living man-
like. O, but the more venerable for thy rudeness, and even
because we must pity as well as love thee! Hardly-entreated
Brother! For us was thy back so bent, for us were thy
straight limbs and fingers so deformed ; thou wert our Conscript,
on whom the lot fell, and fighting our battles wert so marred.
For in thee too lay a god-created Form, but it was not to be
unfolded; incrusted must it stand with the thick adhesions
and defacements of Labour : and thy body, like thy soul, was
not to know freedom. Yet toil on, toil on : thou art in thy duty,
be out of it who may ; thou toilest for the altogether indispen-
sable, for daily bread.^

138. Connectives. — Often the relation of ideas within
a paragraph needs to be made clear by the use of connective

1 H. G. Wells, Tono-Bungay, Bk. I, Ch. i. There are other instances
in College Headings, 10, 11, 13, and 125-126.

2 Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Reaartus, Bk. Ill, Ch. iv. And see also
College Readings, 16-17, 187-188, 290-291.

PAEAGRAPHS 227

words and phrases, such as conjunctions, pronouns, etc.
Note the connectives in the paragraph on coral reefs (p.
222) : " in fact," " these," " others," "such reefs as these,"
** in both these cases," " but there is a third kind," " this
is." The repetition of a word, or echo, is another eflFective
way of linking sentences together :

. . . The stumps were left to dot the fields of grain and
Indian com. The com in especial was the stand-by and invari-
able resource of the western settler. . . . ^

. . . Perhaps the most profoundly thrilling of all Scott's
situations is that in which the family of Colonel Mannering
are waiting for the carriage which may or may not arrive by
night to bring an unknown man into a princely possession. Yet
almost the whole of that thriUing scene consists of a ridiculous
conversation about food, and flirtation between a frivolous
old lawyer and a fashionable girl. We can say nothing about
what makes these scenes, except that the wind bloweth where
it listeth, and that here the wind blows strong.^

In the following admirable paragraph of Macaulay's, the
ideas are echoed by synonyms. The coherence of this para-
graph is so fine at all points that you should memorize it.

Such were Addison's talents for conversation. But his rare
gifts were not exhibited to crowds or to strangers. As soon as
he entered a large company, as soon as he saw an unknown face,
his lips were sealed, and his manners became constrained. None
who met him only in great assemblies would have been able to
believe that he was the same man who had often kept a few
friends listening and laughing round a table from the time when,
the play ended till the clock of St. Paul's in Co vent Garden
struck four. Yet even at such a table he was not seen to the

1 Theodore Roosevelt, The Winning of the West, Vol. I, Ch. v.

2 GUbert K. Chesterton, "Sir Walter Scott," in Varied Types.

228 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

best advantage. To enjoy his conversation in the highest perfect
tion, it was necessary to be alone with him, and to hear him, in
his own phrase, think aloud. "There is no such thing," he
used to say, "as real conversation, but between two persons,** ^

139. Transitions between Paragraphs. — Thus far we
have been dealing with the single paragraph. When
paragraphs are in a series, as is usually the case, their
relation to each other must be shown clearly. They must
be linked together coherently. A good transition is like
the statue of the god Janus : it looks before and after.
It refers in some swift way to what has preceded and an-
nounces what is to follow, thus :

When we turn from the aspects of Nature to the cities of men,
the uniformity is even more remarkable.*

From this illustration it would appear that taxes are private
property taken for public purposes.'

The forward-looking statement in the transition is, as you
will perceive, the topic-sentence. Other instances appear
in the paragraphis on pages 212-214 of this book. You
have an opportunity to practice great ingenuity in framing
transitions. You may use a brief summarizing phrase,
an echo, a demonstrative pronoun, or an appropriate
connective. In certain cases it may be enough to number
your paragraphs by saying " secondly," ** thirdly," etc. ;
but this is so mechanical a method that you should avoid
it. Flexibility and variety should be your aim. How

^T. B. Macaiilay, Essay on Addison, For further illustrations see
College Readings, 1, 43 ff., 99 S,

2 James Bryce, The American Commonwealth,

* John Fiske, CivU Government in the United States. For other in-
stances see College Readings, 40-41, 44-45, 55-57, 99 ff.

PARAGRAPHS 229

great the range may be you will see from these transitions
of Stevenson :

Another portrait which irresistibly attracted the eye was . . .
At the same time and step by step with this increase . . .
One thing, at least, comes very clearly out of these consider-
ations . . .

Now to be properly enjoyed a walking tour must . . .

140. Coherence in Description.^ — In descriptive para-
graphs you should be on guard against confusing the
reader by throwing in details of sight or sound or what not
in a helter-skelter manner. When you have determined
on the point of view or the dominant tone, you should
introduce details in the most natural way under the cir-
cumstances. Usually the most natural order is the order
in which the eye takes in the various objects — the most
striking first and then the less striking. Observe the
order in Irving's view of the stable yard from his window :
first the general eflFect of wetness — " littered with wet
straw," " a stagnant pool of water " ; then he begins to
take in particulars — " the half-drowned fowls." His
attention is centered for a moment on the cock, and he
now describes him minutely. If you are surveying a
landscape, you may proceed from near to far or from far
to near. Adopt whatever method will make it easy for
the reader to receive the various sense-impressions which
you want him to receive.*

141. Coherence in Narration. — Paragraphs,* as we
have seen, play so many parts in the development of a
story — being sometimes exposition, sometimes descrip-
tion, and frequently nothing but speeches — that it is

» Cf. § 83. « See College Readings, S42, 366.

230 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

impossible to classify the various methods of internal
arrangement. The time order is the natural order in a
purely narrative paragraph. Act follows act, as in the
paragraph on pages 219-220. Your feeUng for the sequence
of events will make you coherent.

EMPHASIS

142. Emphasis in Exposition and Argument. — There
are two chief ways of making a paragraph emphatic in
structure. I You should place the important ideas in im^
portant positions — the beginning and the end ; and you
should give to each subordinate idea an amount of space
proportionate to its value. I The principle of emphasis is
closely bound up with the prmciple of unity. Usually, what
you do to secure unity will also secure emphasis. The
topic-sentence serves both purposes. Again, the sum-
marizing sentence at the end, which helps to frame the
paragraph, also enforces its main idea. Since the end
is the more eflFective position, this summarizing sentence
ought to be phrased very forcibly. It should snap the
whip. Note the rousing finale of this paragraph by Ber-
nard Shaw :

Again, they tell me that So-and-So, who does not write pref-
aces, is no charlatan. Well, I am. I first caught the ear
of the British public on a cart in Hyde Park, to the blaring of
brass bands, and this not at all as a reluctant sacrifice of my
instinct of privacy to political necessity, but because, like all
dramatists and mimes of genuine vocation, I am a natural-bom
mountebank. I am well aware that the ordinary British citizen
requires a profession of shame from all mountebanks by way of
homage to the sanctity of the ignoble private life to which

PARAGRAPHS 231

he is condemned by his incapacity for public life. Thus Shake-
speare, after proclaiming that Not marble nor the gilded monu-
ments of Princes should outlive his powerful rhyme, would
apologise, in the approved taste, for making himself a motley
to the view; and the British citizen has ever since quoted the
apology and ignored the fanfare. When an actress writes her
memoirs, she impresses on you in every chapter how cruelly
it tried her feelings to exhibit her person to the public gaze;
but she does not forget to decorate the book with a dozen por-
traits of herself. I really cannot respond to this demand for
mock-modesty. I am ashamed neither of my work nor of the
way it is done. I like explaining its merits to the huge majority
who don't know good work from bad. It does them good ; and
it does me good, curing me of nervousness, laziness, and snob-
bishness. I write prefaces as Dryden did, and treatises as
Wagner, because I can; and I would give half a dozen of Shake-
speare's plays for one of the prefaces he ought to have written.
I leave the delicacies of retirement to those who are gentlemen
first and literary workmen afterwards. The cart and trumpet
for me.^

Here are several pungent endings of paragraphs :

England cannot do without its Irish and its Scots to-day,
because it cannot do without at least a little sanity.^

Briefly, the philosophy of John BvU's Other Island is quite
effective and satisfactory except for this incurable fault: the
fact that John Bull's other island is not John Bull's.'

There were gentlemen and there were seamen in the navy
of Charles the- Second. But the seamen were not gentlemen,
and the gentlemen T^ere not seamen.*

^ George Bernard Shaw, Three Plays for Puritans, Preface.

* George Bernard Shaw, John BuWa Other Island, Preface.

• Gilbert K. Chesterton, George Bernard Shaw.

« T. B. Macaulay, The History of England, Ch. iii.

232 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Read also the endings of the paragraphs by Colonel
Roosevelt (p. 213), Lincoln (p. 106), and Maeaulay
Cp. 228).^ In argument the swift driving home of a point
by means of an apt illustration, an epigram, an antithesis,
a surprise, has both convincing and persuasive power.
j The second means of gaining emphasis in structure is
proportion.l If there are five subordinate ideas in a para-
graph and the third of these is most important, it should
be given the greatest space. A good illustration is a
paragraph in Lord Bryce's American Commonwealth,
in which he mentions several cities as exceptions to the
general fact that American cities are monotonous. He
names ten in all, but gives one half, and that the
latter half, of the paragraph to one of them. New Orleans,
because it is the most striking exception.

This example illustrates also a third meth od of s ecuring
emphasis — climax. Whenever possible, ideas should be
presented on an ascending scale of interest. Coherence has
the right of way, however, in the matter of arrangement.
You must be clear ; you may b^ emphatic if you can.

143. Emphasis in Description. — Dominant tone, again,
is perhaps the best means of securing emphasis in a descrip-
tive paragraph. Whether you merely suggest the mood
at the beginning by significant details, or whether you
announce it vigorously, depends on your purpose and
material. However you may have begun, you should
leave a distinct impression on the reader at the end. Em-
phatic both in beginning and ending is Irvil^'s paragraph
about the stable yard on a rainy day. " flp^S' a rainy
Sunday," it opens. It draws to a close witlj a swift sum-
mary, ** Everything was comfortless and forlorn," then

^ Other examples : College Readings, 140 and 142.

PARAGRAPHS 233

adds one exception, the " crew of hardened ducks," which
humorously emphasizes the wetness of the scene and leaves
the impression of saturation, — "assembled like boon
companions round a puddle and making a riotous noise
over their liquor." Look up the endings of the paragraphs
in the models of description in College Readings.

144. Emphasis in Narration. — In narrative paragraphs
as distinguished from speeches in dialogue, you are free to
use any methods you please to be emphatic. The be-
ginning of a paragraph should show — often by merely a
word or hint — what is the change in time, action, place,
character, which causes it to be a new paragraph.
Observe how this is done in the extract from A Gala
Dress (p. 218). The end is simply the natural conclusion
of the act or series of acts which have been narrated. Try
to make the end a climax if you can, or, in other words,
make it a strong accent.^

EXERCISES

1. Write several topic-sentences from which expository para-
graphs could be developed.

2. Write several topic-sentences from which argumentative
paragraphs could be developed.

3. Write several topic-sentences from which descriptive para-
graphs could be developed.

4. Write several topic-sentences from which narrative para-
graphs could be developed.

5. Write paragraphs on the topic-sentences in Exercises 1-4,
developing the ideas by any of these means :

chronological order contrast

division parallel constructions

instances and examples connectives

* See examples on pages 219-220.

234 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

6. Underline all connective words and expressions in this
passage :

The larger veins are nearly all provided with valves which
open to allow the blood to pass on toward the heart, but cTose
against the blood if it endeavors to return back toward the
capillaries. Now, the larger veins are imbedded in muscles,
solhat the effect of muscular contractions is to compress num-
berless veins now in one part and now in another part of their
length ; and, as each vein is thus compressed, its contained fluid
is, of course, driven forward from valve to valve. Heijce, as
all the veins of the body end in the heart, the total effect of
muscular activity is greatly to increase the flow of venous blood
in the heart. The heart is thus stimulated to greater activity
ii^^der to avoid being gorged with the unusual inflow of blood.
So great is the increase of the heart's activity that is required
to meet this sudden demand on its powers of propulsion, that
every one can feel in his own person how greatly muscular exer-
cise increases the number of the heart's contractions. Now,
the result of this increase of the heart's activity is, of course, to
pump a correspondingly greater amount of blood into the arteries,
and..S0 to quicken the circulation all over the body. This, in
turn, gives rise to a greater amount of tissue-change — oxygena-
tion, nutrition, and drainage — which, together with the in-
creased discharge of carbonic acid by the muscles during their
time of increased activity, has the effect of imduly charging
the blood with carbonic acid and other effete materials.

7. Supply connectives in the following paragraphs in the
places indicated by carets :

a. To transport fifty men, yy, without a trial, is bad
enough. ^ let us consider, in the first place, that some of
these men were taken in arms against the government and that
it is not clear that they were not all so taken. /^ , Cromwell
or his officers might, according to the usages of those unhappy

PARAGRAPHS 235

times, have put them to the sword, or turned them over to the
provost-marshal at once, y^, y^, is npt a complete vindica-
tion; for execution by martial law ought never to take place
but under circumstances which admit of no delay ; and if there
is time to transport men, there is time to try them.

h. We live in an age in which no achievement is to be
cheaply had. All the cheap achievements, open to amateurs,
are exhausted and have become commonplace. Adventure,
/^ , is no longer extraordinary : which is another way of saying
it is commonplace. Any amateur may seek and find adventure ;
but it has been sought and had in all its kinds. Restless men,
idle men, chivalrous men, men drawn on by mere curiosity and
men drawn on by love of the knowledge that lies outside books
and laboratories, have crossed the whole face of the habitable
globe in search of it, ferreting it out in corners even, following
its bypaths and beating its coverts, and it is nowhere any longer
a novelty or distinction to have discovered and enjoyed it. The
whole round of pleasure, /y , has been exhausted time out of
mind, and most of it discredited as not pleasure after all, but
just an expensive counterfeit; so that many rich people have
been driven to devote themselves to expense regardless of
pleasure. No new pleasure, /y , has been invented within the
memory of man. For every genuine thrill and satisfaction,
A , we are apparently, in this sophisticated world, shut in to
work, to modifying and quickening the life of the age. If
college be one of the highways to life and achievement,' it must
be one of the highways to work.

8. Rewrite the following paragraphs so that they shall be
coherent and emphatic :

a. General Wheeler was popular. Everybody liked him.
He was the idol of the Confederate troops. He was popular
in the Cuban campaign. He was a small man, never weighing
more than 120 pounds.

236 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

b. When in his seat in the Senate, listening to proceed-
ings, his feet were usually employed in holding down the desk,
and his hands, whittling a pine stick, a supply of which he
engaged the sergeant-at-arms to furnish him. He was a regu-
lar attendant at church, and during service he * ^improved the
occasion" in whittling out little articles to give children, among
whom he had many friends. Some of these pine souvenirs of
Sam Houston are to this day treasured by men and women to
whom he gave them as children.

c. We have new evidence of the treacherous character of
the Sioux Indians in the tragedy at )Vounded Knee Creek. It
has been the Government policy to treat the Indian as a spoiled
child rather than as the dangerous brute that he is. He must
be very wily about shedding blood, but is nothing but a "squaw"
until he has a scalp at his belt. The events of the present
Indian outbreak have made it clear that the policy of gentleness
is disastrous both to the country and to the Indian. The Sioux
lad is taught that duplicity, lying, treachery, theft, and blood-
shed are the manly attributes. When he gets worked up to
the proper pitch of frenzy he wants to kill somebody if he is
not killed himself. When their surroundings are considered
their treachery is not a subject for wonder.

d. The statement is made from time to time that we are
admitting great masses of socialists. But train bright young
men among these immigrants to know what their duties are,
teach them their rights, put at their disposal arguments with
which to meet the specious assertions of self-styled and talka-
tive leaders, and the much-vaunted dangers of socialism will
disappear. Nobody has furnished their hearers with arguments
or taken steps to teach them that in America, where conditions
are fairly equal, no necessity exists for the violent agitation of
these questions. The number is exaggerated, and more impor-
tance is attached to the utterances of these than they deserve.
But they are permitted to go among their fellows to inoculate
them with whatever doctrines they choose, and there is nothing

PARAGRAPHS 237

to oppose them. It must be admitted, however, that some of
them know just enough to be dangerous.

e. In many ways a large correspondence is a great benefit
to a person, but it may also be considered a great burden. It
is always a pleasure to receive letters from friends, but to most
people it is not such an easy task to answer them. In getting
letters we often receive information which we should not other-
wise obtain. In writing to some people it is very hard to make
the letter interesting as very little is held in common between
the people. Yet the letter may be interesting, as neither of them
know what to expect. Writing letters of this sort is perhaps
the best practice as so much thought has to be given to the com-
position. On the other hand a large correspondence requires
a great deal of time, which in many cases might be spent more
profitably. Oftentimes letters are written hurriedly no thought
being given to the punctuation or spelling and the substance of
the letter is very little considered. Letter-writing, then, may
be made profitable and it is very good training when care is
taken in the writing and thought given to the composition.

CHAPTER VII

SENTENCES
UNITY

I To have unity a sentence must express one central
idea.! This central idea may indeed be accompanied
by ideas of subordinate importance which modify it in
various ways, but all parts should be fused together to
produce the effect of one thing. A sentence should be
a unit both in thought and in expression, or form.

145. Unity of Thought. — j Unity of thought requires
that two or more unrelated ideas should not be grouped
together in one sentence. | If they are thus grouped, the
result is almost always liidicrous, for example :

Steele was often at Button's Coffee House with Addison and
they both wore flowing wigs.

Every'one laughs at such a sentence. It hardly needs

to be said that the two thoughts here should be divided

at once into separate sentences :

Steele was often at Button's Coffee House with Addison.

We are to picture them wearing the flowing wigs of the day.

Lack of unity in substance is characteristic of the sen-
tences of uneducated people. With them speech flows on
endlessly.

238

SENTENCES 239

"It's this as has brought me, good gentlemen ; a gold wedding
ring in the Brixton Road. It belongs to my girl Sally, as was
married only this time twelvemonth, which her husband is
steward aboard a Union boat, and what he'd say if he come 'ome
and found her without her ring is more than I can think, he
being short enough at the best o' times; but more especially
when he has the drink." ^

In exposition and argument, where clearness is of prime
importance, rambling sentences will cloud your meaning.
Say one thing at a time, as crisply and compactly as you
can. If your material is complicated, break it up into
neat, clear units. Indeed, exposition is just that process
of making each step clear, one at a time.

One offence against unity of substance is common
enough to deserve special notice. A sentence which makes
a general statement to be followed by a series of instances
often includes one or more of these instances :

There are several reasons why Shakespeare's characters are
more like real persons than Milton's : in the first place the char-
acters in Comus are meant to resemble traits. In the second
place, etc.

Unity demands that either all or none of the reasons should
appear in the same sentence with the general statement.
It is better to let the statement stand by itself. This
nijatter has special bearing on the writing of argument.
s ; 146. Unity of Expression. — You should look at the
siEibstance of a sentence from one point of view, and phrase
it so that the parts all move in the same direction. You
should avoid any shift in construction, such as change of
subject, or change of voice in the verb.

^ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet, Ch. v.

240 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

I rushed to the window and the soldiers were seen marching
down the street.

In this case the writer, perhaps because he dislikes to
keep on using the first person, perhaps because he is just
heedless, shifts his subject to the " soldiers." That
change causes a shift from the active to the passive voice,
" were seen.'* Furthermore, the result is ambiguous :
the soldiers might have been seen by some one on the street
comer for all we know. This ambiguity can be cleared
up by adding " by me " — most clumsy of constructions.
After all, why didn't the writer say : ^

I rushed to the window and saw the soldiers marching down
the street.

But inexperienced writers seem to be hypnotized by the
very perversity of the shift in construction. In theme
after theme this sentence grins at us :

I ran across the Yard and a subway car was taken by me.

The rule to follow is: Carry on the construction with
which you begin. Compound sentences are of ten written
because, though no new verbal idea is introduced, a
synonymous verb leads the writer astray. For instance :

(1) An interest in education and school methods (2) springs
up, and (3) a commimity pride in children as well as in cattle
and hogs (4) is aroused.

Here (4) is aroused expresses almost the same idea as (2)
springs up. The sentence, therefore, would better have
consisted of two subjects, (1) and (3), with one verb —
either (2) or (4).

147. Unity in Description. — In description unity of
thought is just as important as in exposition. The fact

SENTENCES 241

that you are giving many details of landscape or many
sense impressions should not prevent you from composing
these details or impressions so that in each sentence you
achieve unity of eflFect. For instance :

There were still, hot hollows surrounded by wet rocks where
he could hardly breathe for the heavy scents of the night flowers
and the bloom along the creeper buds; dark avenues where
the moonUght lay in belts as regular as checkered marbles in
a church aisle; thickets where the wet young growth stood
breast-high about him and threw its arms round his waist;
and hilltops crowned with broken rock, where he leaped from
stone to stone above the lairs of the frightened little foxes.^

The tropical night is the central idea here, just as security
from cold is the unifying idea in the next case :

Now play-goers get cold feet, and invalids stop up every
crevice in their rooms, and make themselves worse; and the
streets are comparatively silent; and the wind rises and falls
in moanings ; and the fire bums blue and crackles ; and an easy-
chair with your feet by it on a stool, the lamp or candles Ti little
behind you, and an interesting book just opened where you
left off, is a bit of heaven upon earth.*

As a rule, however, descriptive sentences are shorter than
these :

The adobe walls and sparse brick sidewalks of the drowsing
town radiated the heat in an oily, quivering shimmer.'

148. Unity in Narration. — In narration, there is
endless variety in eflfect. Sentences should be short, if
the story is to move rapidly, and each should have its

^ Rudyard Kipling, "The Spring Running," in The Jungle Booh
* Leigh Hunt, "A *Now* Descriptive of a Cold Day," in Essaya.
« Prank Norris, The Octopus, Ch. vi.

242 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

own unity. Often several related acts may be grouped
together, thus:

Unfortunately, as he turned to beat a retreat, his foot rolled
upon a pebble ; he fell against the wall with an ejaculation, and
his sword rang loudly on the stones.*

COHERENCE

You may make your sentences coherent — that is,
you may make the internal arrangement clear — b y paying^
attention to the order of words, t he grammatical form ,
and the use of cnnn<fqt] |v^s .

149. Order. — The first law of coherence, as of house-
keeping, is " Keep together things that belong together."
Failure to follow this law produces sentences like this :

Comus is about to force some julep which he has in a glass
on their sister.

When the words are rearranged in their proper places,
we have:

Comus is about to force on their sister some julep which he
has in a glass.

A troublesome fault in order is the misplacing of " only."
To realize the changes in meaning which the position of
this word causes, try it in all the blanks of this sentence :

I borrowed my brother's watch.

Note the diflFerences in meaning here :

Wrong : At an early age we are told that Poe . . .
Better : At an early age, we are told, Poe ...

or
Better : We are told that at an early age Poe . . .

1 R. L. Stevenson, The Sire de M(Mroit*8 Door.

SENTENCES 243

160. Grammatical Form. — The most serious errors in
grammatical form may be classified under the headings of
dangling modifiers, reference, and parallel construction.

161. Dangling Modifiers. — The dangling participle
is perhaps responsible for more amusing blunders than
almost any other misconstruction :

Having eaten our lunch, the steamboat departed.

The fault is that the participle does not modify the subject
of the main clause, but agrees with a subject unexpressed,
" we." There are two ways of correcting this sentence.
We may make " we " the subject of the main clause, so
that the sentence will read :

Having eaten our lunch, we departed on the steamer.

or we may make " we " the subject of an introductory
clause :

After we had eaten our lunch, the steamboat departed.

The " squinting " phrase or clause {i,e, the phrase or
clause that may be looking one way or the other — you
can hardly tell which) is Uable to occur at the point
where a subordinate clause joins the main part of the
sentence.

After I had told him that he must hurry in spite of hia other
engagements he finished his work in a week.

Although he at first improved gradually he became more
careless.

It is usually best, when the subject of the clause has a
modifier, to put the simple (immodified) subject as the
first word in the main clause and to put the modifier
later in the clause.

244 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

When a subordinate clause precedes the main clause,
it is advisable to begin the main clause with its subject :
if the main clause is allowed to begin with an adverb or
a phrase indicating time, place, etc., there is great danger
that this adverb or phrase may seem to point back to the
subordinate clause instead of forward to the main clause.

Incoherent: When we had arranged to have Joe look after
the camp in company wUh the other guide we started up the river.

The italicized words are dangerously near the subordinate
clause ; they had better be at the end of the main clause.
162. Reference. — The noun to which a pronoun refers
must be clearly expressed.

His lands were broad and fruitful but rather than share it
with the common folk of the village it was left in the fields to
rot.

The buried antecedent of " it " is " fruit " in the adjective
" fruitful." An adjective should not be referred to as if
it were a noun.

Comus is long, artificial, and didactic, all of which are serious
faults in a poem.

153. Parallel Constructions. — Ideas that are parallel
in value should be expressed in parallel constructions.
Note these " unequal yokefellows in defective double
harness " : ^

Scott's poems appeal to me because they are quite probable,
good rhythm, and sound plot.

Here the qualities of Scott's poems, which are parallel in
value, are expressed partly in nouns, partly in adjectives.

1 The King's English, Oxford, 1906, pp. 311 flF.

SENTENCES 245

The reason for this error is that the writer forgot how he
had begun the sentence and then ran oflF the track. We
may express the idea in parallel adjectives, thus :

Scott's poems appeal to me because they are
or in parallel nouns, thus :

Scott's poems appeal to me because they have

probable
rhythmical
sound in plot

probability

rhythm

plot

Parallelism may exist in a series of words, or phrases, or
clauses.

^ A, Single words.

1. Adjectives: It was a (1) convenient, (2) spacious,

and (3) inexpensive house.

2. Nouns: The (1) convenience, (2) spaciousness, and

(3) inexpensiveness of the house united to commend

it.
^ B. Phrases.

1. Prepositions: (1) Of the convenience of the house,

(2) of its spaciousness, and (3) of its inexpensiveness,

there could be no doubt.
St. Infinitives : (1) To be convenient, (2) to be spacious,

and (3) to be inexpensive, a house must be very

carefully planned.
\^ C Clauses.

1. Substantive : (1) That it was convenient, (2) that it

was spacious, and (3) that it was inexpensive ad-
mitted of no doubts.

2. Concessive: (1) Although it was convenient, (2)

although it was spacious, and (3) although it was
inexpensive, we did not buy the house.

246 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Take the following sentence, for example :

(1) Although he was^poor and (2) in spite of his bashfulness,
he was very popular.

This is an imperfect set, because it consists of a concessive
cUmse (1), and a 'prepositional phrase (2), a confusion of
Class B 1 and Class C 2. It may be made coherent in
two ways:

(1) by reducing both parts to the pattern of B 1,

In spite of his poverty and [in spite of] his bashfulness, he
was extremely popular.

(2) by reducing both parts to the pattern of C 2,

Although he was poor and [although he was] bashful, he was
extremely popular.

To see just what are the means and the effects of parallel
phrases and clauses in the sentence, we may turn back
to any of the great prose writers of the eighteenth century
— the golden age of parallel construction. Take Pope,
for example, who begins the preface of his works with this
paragraph :

I am inclined to think that both the writers of books and the
readers of them are generally not a Httle unreasonable in their
expectations. The first seem to fancy that the world must
approve whatever they produce, and the latter to imagine that
authors are obliged to please them at any rate. Methinks, as,
on the one hand, no single man is born with a right of controlling
the opinions of all the rest; so, on the other, the world has no
title to demand that the whole care and time of any particular
person should be sacrificed to its entertainment. Therefore, I
cannot but believe that writers and readers are under equal obli-
gations for as much fame or pleasure as each affords the other.

SENTENCES 247

How thoroughly coherent in form this is we vaguely
realize as we read it. It is particularly easy to understand
and to read aloud. The secret of this smoothness is that
the parallelism in thought is carried out into admirably
parallel constructions. Suppose we rewrite a part of the
paragraph so as to bring out this point a little more
clearly.

I am inclined to think that
both (1) the writers of books
and (2) the readers of them

are generally not a little imreasonable in their
expectations.
(8) The first seem to fancy that the world must approve

whatever they produce and
(4) the latter {seem, understood) to imagine that authors
are obhged to please them at any rate.

Of these constructions, (1) and (2) are strictly parallel
in form as in matter. In fact, they contain the same
words, so far as that is possible, with the single exception
that in (2) we find instead of the noun " books " a pronoun
referring to " books." Constructions (3) and (4) are
similar, of course, in idea. They are an amplification of
the point briefly made in (1) and (2). Construction (3)
takes up the unreasonableness of authors in thieir attitude
toward the public ; construction (4) the unreasonableness
of the public toward authors. Now see how the par-
allelism of form in (3) and (4) is achieved. " The first *'
in (3) corresponds exactly to " the latter ** in (4) ; " seem "
in (3) is to be supplied in (4) ; " to fancy " in (3) is the
mate of " to imagine " in (4) ; the substantive clause
beginning with " that the world " in (3) is precisely similar

248 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

to the substantive clause beginning '' that authors are
obliged " in (4).
As we study this passage we perceive that

1. The conjunction " and," which does so much harm
when it is misused, may, when correctly used, be a great
aid to parallelism; e,g,y the " and " between construction
(1) and construction (2).

2. Grammatical resemblance is of capital importance.
For instance, take again constructions (1) and (2). As
far as expressing the idea is concerned, there is, in either
construction, practically nothing to choose between

" writers,'* " writers of books," and " those who write
books." But suppose that we rewrite Pope in this way :
" Both writers and those who read books," or " Both
readers and those who \^rite books," and we have clearly
injured the parallelism of form by neglecting the very
important principle that parallel sets of ideas should be
expressed in constructions which are grammatically alike.

3. Such introductory phrases as " the first," " the
second," are, especially for long clauses, sentences, or
paragraphs, indispensable aids to parallelism. But the
assistance of these aids should not be invoked too often,
for they are external aids^ and as such are less admirable
than those connecting phrases which are more deeply
inwrought into the sentence. In other words, such
connectives as " the first," " the second," are merely the
I's and 2's of the plan, written out. Everybody knows
the proverbial fondness of the old-time clergyman for
his "firstly," "secondly," "thirdly." That we smile
at the clergyman for using these, and nothing else, to tie
his discourse together, is because we feel the uselessness of
attempting to join together by merely external connectives

SENTENCES 249

material which in thought is not particularly well con-
nected.

You have probably observed the frequency with which
careful writers of prose, especially when they are attempt-
ing parallel constructions which are at all elaborate, make
use of the " magic number three." Three adjectives,
three phrases, three clauses — over and over again you
will find that the best prose is built up in this way. And
after all, three is an excellent number for this purpose.
It is just enough, and not too much. It neither wearies
you nor lets you down too soon. It gives you a beginning,
a middle, and an end. Ask yourself if your own prose
cannot make use, now and then, of this magic number.

164. Connectives. — The proper relation of ideas to
each other should be shown by the use of connectives.
It is only in immature minds that all ideas pass along on a
dead level like this :

The play was over and I started to take a car for home but
found that I had no money and the only thing left for me was to
walk.

The mature mind realizes that not all facts are of equal
importance, that certain facts influence others and stand
in various relations to others. These relations can be
represented by subordinating the less important facts.

When the play was over, I started to take a car for home,
but since I found that I had no money, I was obliged to walk.

A list of the many kinds of subordinate clauses showing
various relations between facts, and the connectives
introducing them, will indicate how easy it is to escape
from the monotony of " and " and ** but " sentences.

250 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

1. Locative (place) where

2. Temporal (time) when, while

3. Causal (cause) since, for, because

4. Concessive (concession) although

5. Purpose in order that

6. Result so that

7. Conditional if

8. Comparison as ... as

9. Relative who, which, that

In exposition dud argument, the complexity of the material
necessitates the constant use of all sorts of subordinate
clauses.

156. Coherence in Description and Narration. — In
description and narration the details with which sentences
deal stand in simpler relations to each other than is the
case in exposition and argument. The relations are chiefly
those of place and time. Furthermore, compound sen-
tences are more numerous than in the analytic kinds of
writing. Parallel constructions are eflfectiye in both
description and narration.

Dyke, his hand on the grip of the valve that controlled the
steam, his head out of the cab window, thundered on. He was
back in his old place again ; once more he was the engineer ;
once more he felt the engine quiver under him ; the familiar
noises were in his ears; the familiar buffeting of the wind
surged, roaring at his face ; the familiar odors of hot steam and
smoke reeked in his nostrils, and on either side of him, parallel
panoramas, the two halves of the landscape sliced, as it were, in
two by the clashing wheels of his engine, streamed by in green
and brown blurs.^

^ Frank Norris, The Octopus.

SENTENCES 251

The evening sky opened calm and benedictive, and the
green country flowed on, the boat passed by ruins, castles and
churches, and every day was alike imtil they reached the
Shannon.^

EMPHASIS

Sentences written according to the principles of unity
and coherence will undoubtedly be clear and correct, but
they may be dull and flat. Clearness is not enough:
you must arouse interest, hold the attention, and drive
home your point; in short, be emphatic. The use of
vigorous language, specific words, and vivid figures is
naturally the simplest way of being emphatic. For the
present, however, we are dealing not with the choice of
words (see p. 286), but with the structure, the architecture,
of sentences. There are many structural devices for
securing emphasis, — length, repetition, subordination,
position, inversion, periodic form, climax, and balance.
^166. Length. — If a sentence is noticeably longer or
shorter than other sentences near it, it makes the idea
stand out conspicuously. The mere bulk of a sentence
gives weight and momentum to the thought. (See the
sentence by Bernard Shaw, p. 258.) On the other hand, a
very short sentence flashes out a thought with sudden
brilliancy. Note the surprising force of the last sentence
in this little article, which is the briefest dramatic criticism
on record :

Jerome K. Jerome's new piece, Robina in Search of a Hus-
band, was produced last night. It is described on the program
as an absurd play. It is. — London Daily Express.

1 George Moore, The UrUiUed Field.

252 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

A crisp, compact sentence is effective in introducing a
subject, as

Good English is exact English. — G. H. Palmer.
or in summing up a subject, as

Who raises woman raises mankind. — C. W. EiiOT.
The cart and trumpet for me. — Bernard Shaw.

Adages, pithy comments on life, witty saying, epigrams,
are more emphatic the briefer they are :

Hitch your wagon to a star. — Emerson.

All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy.
No man does. That is his. — Oscar Wilde.

A sword, a spade, and a thought should never be allowed to
rust. — James Stephens.

Several short sentences together stir the feelings: they
are particularly effective in persuasion and narration.

^67. Repetition. — One of the simplest methods of
gaining emphasis is to repeat a word or phrase which you
wish to echo in your reader's mind.

The drowsy diligence lumbers along, amid drowsy talk of
politics. — Carlyle.

Men are born into the State, are members of the State, must
obey the laws enacted by the State, in time of danger must
come to the defence of the State, must, if necessary, hazard
their lives for the State. — Lyman Abbott.

Repetition is so powerful a weapon that you should not
dull its edge by repeating words aimlessly just because your
vocabulary is limited.

^ 168. Subordination. — You should be on guard against
the continual use of compoimd sentences. Nothing is more

SENTENCES 253

irritating than such a primer-like style. The various
parts of a sentence are not of equal importance, as was ex-
plained in the section on connectives. The most impor-
tant idea in a sentence should be expressed in the main
clause, and the less important ideas should be put into
dependent clauses, or participial or other phrases. By
this means the construction of the sentence will emphasize
the chief idea. Reread Section 154 now, and note the
list of subordinate clauses by means of which various
relations of place, time, cause, etc., may be made clear.
Compare these forms:

Baseball is one of my favorite sports, and every Saturday I
go to the Braves Field to see a game.

Since baseball is one of my favorite sports, I go to the Braves
Field to see a game every Saturday.

In the first sentence, made up of co5rdinate clauses,
neither idea is thrown into relief. In the second, the cause
is properly subordinated to the effect.

The use of participial phrases in subordination calls for
special attention. When a part of a sentence which de-
serves to be put into the main clause has been put into
a phrase, the sentence, though it may be grammatically
correct, is faulty in emphasis. For example, let us take
this sentence:

The rain increased, driving the people indoors.

Here the main idea would seem to be " the rain in-
creased " ; that the people were driven indoors would
appear to be an incidental or minor fact accompanying
the main action. But in all probability that is not what
the writer meant. He probably meant to lay the emphasis

254 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

upon the fact that the people were driven indoors. If he
did, he made a great mistake in putting that idea into a
participial phrase. He should have said, " The increasing
rain drove the people indoors." Here the form of the
two ideas is made exactly the opposite of what it was in
the original sentence. The participial phrase, then, is
not the appropriate form for one of the main ideas in the
sentence. The chief kinds of ideas which should find their
way into participial phrases are :

1. Causes, In this sentence, " Opening the window, he
soon cooled oflf the room," we have the participle properly
used to express cause or means. Notice that to put the
result of the action in a participial phrase (" He opened the
window, cooling oflf the room ") would misrepresent the
values of the ideas and destroy the emphasis.

2. Minor Accompanying Actions. The chief oflSce of
the participle is to express the action which (a) precedes
or (b) accompanies the main action. Of the former sort
(a) the following sentence will serve as an example:
" Opening the book, he began to read aloud." Of the
latter (6) an example is, " Lying upon the sofa, he read
all the morning." Note in the next sentence how illogical
and weak it is to put the events that happen ajter the
main action in the trailing participles " catching " and
" holding " : " Arnold mounted a horse and galloped after
the animal, catching him by a tender part of the nostrils
and holding him until he was tied." Common sense,
therefore, assisted by the constant recollection that the
participle has always the oflSce of an adjective, will enable
you to avoid marring the emphasis of your sentences by
putting into participial phrases ideas which deserve to
be put into clauses.

SENTENCES Z55

169. Position. — Try to place important words in
positions where they will catch the eye, — that is, at the
beginning and the end. An interesting illustration of the
eflFect of this principle is a sentence which Professor Wen-
dell ^ tells us he wrote only to find that it violated the very
rule it expressed :

Be sure that your sentences end with words that deserve
the distinction you give them.

On looking over the sentence he discovered that the un-
important words " be " and " them " were in the most
emphatic positions. What were the most important
words ? he asked himself. Clearly, " end " and " distinc-
tion." Consequently, he struck out unnecessary words
and rearranged the rest so that " end " and " distinction "
should have proper emphasis :

End with words that deserve distinction.

The ideal expressed in this sentence you should always
have in mind. In practice, however, there is often a
conflict between this ideal and the idiom of the language.
Since English in an uninflected tongue, it is sometimes
impossible to put words in the most important positions.
Idiom has the right of way. But after all, it is surpris-
ing to find how often idiom and emphasis go hand in hand.

1. The notable fact about the applause was its genuineness.

2. The thing that he least expected was ridicule.

3. Great as was the affection in which he was held, the affec-
tion which his father inspired was even greater.

4. If you want to see a big dog, you should see mine.

1 Barrett Wendell, English Composition, pp. 102-103.

256 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

5. Now is the accepted time.

6. Everywhere he found the same result.

7. The plan is to be estimated by its results.

160. Inversion of the natural order of a sentence is an
effective means of securing emphasis by position. Take
the familiar Biblical sentence :

By their works ye shall know them.

Here, " works,'* although it lies in the middle of the
sentence, is clearly the most emphatic word. The normal
order of this sentence (" Ye shall know them by their
works"), although it would bring " works " at the end of
the sentence, would confer less distinction upon it than
does the inverted order. The normal order of a sentence is
(1) the subject, preceded or followed by its modifiers ; (2)
the verb ; (3) the object of the verb ; and (4) the predicate
modifiers. To change this order is to emphasize whatever
words in the sentence you may choose to remove from their
normal position.

Vivid creature that she was, she must not lie forgotten.
— G. H. Palmer.

Dear to their tender hearts as old china is a bad man they
are mending. — George Meredith.

iei.'^The Periodic Sentence is another device for gain-
ing emphasis by position. All sentences are either periodic
or loose. If a sentence suspends the complete se nse until
the end, it Is called periodic. Tf it does not suspend the
complete senseuntil the end, it is called loose. An idea
may be expressed in either form ; but study of the follow-
ing sentences will show that the periodic form chains the
reader's attention to the end.

SENTENCES

257

Loose

Periodic

He returned in the afternoon. In the afternoon he returned.

Paddling a canoe is difficult, Unless one has had experience,
unless one has had experience, paddling a canoe is difficult.

General Grant was brilliant in
planning campaigns, and he
was persistent in bringing
them to a victorious conclu-

He made repeated efforts to
obtain work, but the end of the
day foimd him still unsuccess-
ful.

General Grant was not only
brilliant in planning cam-
paigns, but was persistent in
bringing them to a victorious
conclusion.

Although he made repeated
efforts to obtain work, the end
of the day still found him un-
successful.

In case a sentence is long and has many modifiers, the
periodic form prevents the reader's attention from wander-
ing. In this loose sentence, find out how many times you
can stop before reaching the end :

I wish you to see that both well-directed moral training
and well-chosen reading lead to the possession of a power over
the ill-guided and illiterate, which is, according to the measure
of it, in the truest sense, kingly; conferring indeed the purest
kingship that can exist among men : too many other kingships
(however distinguished by visible insignia or material power)
being either spectral, or tyrannous ; — spectral — that is to
say, aspects and shadows only of royalty, hollow as death, and
which only the "likeness of a kingly crown have on"; or else
tyrannous — that is to say, substituting their own will for the
law of justice and love by which all true kings rule.^

^ John Ruskin, Sesame and Lilies, Lecture 11.

258 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Contrast this with a long periodic sentence :

If the Socialists did not know the difficulties of Socialism
better than their opponents, and were not therefore far sterner
Tories than the tariff reformers and far sounder Liberals than
the free-traders ; if all decent men were not nine-tenths Socialists
to begin with, whether they know it or not ; if there were any
possibility of controversy as to the fundamental proposition of
Socialism that whoever does not by the work of his prime repay
the debt of his nurture and education, support himself in his
working days, and provide for his retirement, inflicts on society
precisely the same injury as a thief, then indeed the prospect
would be black for civilization.^

As you observe, in a periodic sentence the subordinate
clauses and phrases come first and the main clause comes
last. Consequently, proper subordination plus periodic
form will prove the best remedy for a weak and straggling
style.

162. Climax. — The arrangement of words, phrases,
and clauses in the order of climax — that is, in an ascending
series, or " ladder " — makes a sentence very emphatic
by causing a continual heightening of interest.

One flower, one tree, one baby, one bird singing, or one little
village would move her to love and praise as surely as a garden,
a forest, a university, an orchestra, or a great city. — C. W.
Eliot.

A philosopher is like a blind man in a dark cellar hunting for
a black cat that is not there.

The notice which you have been pleased to take of my laboiu:s,
had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till
I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and

^ George Bernard Shaw, Socialism and Superior Brains.

SENTENCES 259

cannot impart it ; till I am known, and do not want it. — Dr.
Johnson.

So great is our craving for the boom of a bass drum at
the end that an anti-climax disappoints and irritates us.
You may, however, intentionally use anti-climax to pro-
duce a humorous effect. Sometimes, too, you may deliber-
ately employ the siu*prise of an anti-climax to shock your
readers into emotion.^

^ 163. Balance. — Parallel structure, which we found so
valuable a means of securing coherence (see § 153), is also
a vigorous way of securing emphasis. When you arrange
words, phrases, or clauses in one part of a sentence, and
then repeat this arrangement in another part, the ex-
pressions which are thus balanced receive a strong accent.
If the ideas in these balanced expressions are in contrast,
the device is called antithesis (that is, " the setting of
one thing over against another "). In this way the con-
trasted ideas are made to stand out from their frames with
memorable distinctness.

To err is human; to forgive, divine. — Pope.

A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the
value of nothing, — Oscar Wilde.

I sighed as a lover; I obeyed as a son. — Gibbon.

What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because
I believe it helps to save the Union ; and what I forbear , I for-
bear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. —
Lincoln.

Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make
war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would
accept war rather than let it perish, — Lincoln.

^ See the sentence by Senator Lodge on page 105.

260 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Books are the best of things, toell lued; abuaedy among the
worst. — Emerson.

If the flights of Dryden therefore are higher, Pope continues
longer on the vying. If of Dryden*s fire the blaze is brighter, of
Pope's the heat is more regular and constant. Dryden often
surpasses expectation, and Pope never falls below it. Dryden
is read with frequent astonishmeni, and Pope with perpetual
delight. — Db. Johnson.

164. Emphasis in Description and Narration. — In
description, where many details of sight or sound cry for
simultaneous expression in a sentence, it is necessary
that you give the most significant ones the strongest
accent. In narration, where the time order of events
may often tempt you to string out your statements in
compound sentences, variety of construction will save you
from monotony. In using various subordinating clauses
and phrases, however, you should beware of the danger
of putting main ideas into dependent clauses, or of giving
false emphasis to less important ideas by placing them in
main clauses.

VARIETY

When you are engaged in writing sentences, the piupose
and nature of the composition and your own mood and
temperament will influence the way in which you apply
the structural principles of unity, coherence, and em-
phasis. Students are often made to feel that they should
all write alike, that every sentence should wear the same
uniform, that every composition should be as conven-
tionally dressed as men in evening clothes. Consequently,
instead of trying to be individual, every one tries to look

SENTENCES 261

like every one else to escape attention, and is delighted if he
is mistaken for some one else. Writing should not have
negative virtues. You should not expect to be praised
just because you don't do things. Have positive virtues,
" be different," and flavor your writing with the spice of
variety. There are many methods of gaining variety, of
giving sentences their own tang, charm, or surprise.

166. Vary the Length of Sentences. — One of the most
unpleasant forms of monotony is the succession of sen-
tences which seem to be measured off by a foot-rule. Too
many long sentences make a style ponderous ; too many
short ones make it choppy. Short sentences (see
§ 156) are very emphatic, particularly in enforcing an
idea which has been fully developed. They are highly
effective in narration, where they aid rapidity of move-
ment. Use long, short, and medium-length sentences
according to the nature of the thought, and the purpose
you have in mind.

166. Don't Repeat Words Aimlessly. — It is annoying
to find the same words repeated indiscriminately in many
sentences of a composition. This serious fault is caused
by an impoverished vocabulary. Inexperienced writers
use half a dozen adjectives or half a dozen verbs to express
any idea on any subject. You should repeat words only
when you have a definite purpose in doing so, such as
securing clearness and coherence, or reiterating an idea
emphatically.

167. Don't Use Compound Sentences Continually. —
The so-called " and " and " but " sentences result in a
primer-like style which becomes intolerably monotonous.
Frequently such sentences do not show the proper relations
between ideas. Learn to use subordinate clauses of various

262 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

kinds (see p. 250 for a list). By writing all sorts of complex
sentences you will make your style flexible.

168. Mingle Loose and Periodic Sentences. — The
continual use of the periodic form causes stiffness and
artificiality. On the other hand, too many loose sentences,
especially if they are long, produce the effect of straggling
weakness. If you need to make a sentence long, you had
better make it periodic. You can keep a loose sentence,
firmly in hand by means of parallel structure or balance
(see the sentence by Ruskin, p. 257).

169. Don't Harness an Adjective with Every Noun. —
This mannerism is very irritating. For example:

The mid-day sun poured down his blazing rays in perpendicular
shafts far and wide upon the baked alkali plain in centred Arizona.
As I looked far ahead into the furnace-like heat lying over the
shimmering sand, I cruelly jabbed a wicked Mexican spur into
the flank of my jaded bronco to urge him out of his anail-lihe
pace.

The continual recurrence of adjectives not only causes a
monotonous tom-tom beat in a sentence, but diminishes
the force of both adjective and noun.

170. Vary the Beginnings of Sentences. — It is tedious
to read sentence after sentence beginning with the subject,
as in this case :

On his journey to Northumberland, Francis Osbaldistone
spends Simday at an inn. A timorous fellow traveller is there,
named Morris. They are joined by a Scotch drover, by name
Campbell. His appearance is interesting to the reader. He has
strength of character very plainly to be seen and felt by the
entire party. Everyone feels that he is not what he appears
to be. The reader feels this, and is thereby interested to follow

SENTENCES 263

him further. Osbaldistone has some conversation with Camp-
bell and Morris, his fellow traveller. Morris has a fancy that
Osbaldistone is planning to rob him of the treasure he is carry-
ing to Scotland. He prevails on Campbell to travel with him,
to protect himself. Campbell is very unwilling to do this, but
finally accedes to his request.

The monotony and abruptness of these sentences can be
remedied by inversion, subordination, and condensation.

At the inn where he spent Sunday on his journey to North-
umberland, Francis Osbaldistone fell in with a timorous traveller
by the name of Morris. At the same inn was a Scotch drover
named Campbell, a fascinatingly mysterious person of strong
character who gave an impression of being more than he seemed.
Since Morris fancied that Osbaldistone was planning to rob him
of the treasure which he was carrying to Scotland, he prevailed
upon Campbell, in spite of the latter's imwillingness, to travel
with him as protector.

RHYTHM

171. The Rhythm of Prose. — Prose hath her melodies
no less renowned than verse. In poetry the rhythm is
regular — that is, the arrangement of accented and un-
accented syllables can be measured oflF into uniform feet,
or meter. In prose the rhythm is irregular and has variety
of accent. The presence of regularity of beat in prose is
always regarded as a blemish. If a writer's emotions are
so strong that they express themselves in a well-defined
pulse and throb, he should be writing poetry, not prose.
The eflfect of falling into singsong is illustrated by these
examples : the first from Dickens's account of the death of
Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop:

264 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

When Death strikes down the innocent and young,
for every fragile form from which he lets

the panting spirit free,

a hundred virtues rise,
in shapes of mercy, charity, and love,
to walk the world and bless it.

the next from Blackmore's Loma Doone:

For certain and for ever this I knew, as in a glory,

that Lorna Doone had now begun and would go on to love me.

this from a speech on the Payne tariff bill by a young
Congressman — which so amused the editor of the Satur-
day Evening Post ^ that he set it forth " in its real and
ravishing metrical magnificence " :

I know that history sings of Emperors,
Of Senators and Presidents,

Of commanders of eloquence, of industry and arms ;
Of temples, monuments and capitols ;
Of wars, crusades, intrigues ;
Of forums, congresses and courts.
It tells of rulers, not the ruled ;
Of leaders, not the led.
It tells of statesmen, not the mass
Who made them ; of warriors bold.
Not the nameless myriads who died
To build another's fame.
It tells of pyramids, not the sodden serfs
Who built them ; of palaces.
Not the weary hands that reared them up.
It tells of captains of mighty industry.
Not the faces at the loom ; nor yet
The muscles at the anvil and the plow ;
Not the fingers on the throttle and the brake.
1 May .15, 1909.

SENTENCES 265

Contrast with this monotonous singsong an example of
good prose rhythm which has variety of beat :

\y \^ \^ \j -__«^ \^

KJ \j \j Ky v^ \j \j \y \j

which is neither bees, | nor falling | water, | nor the wind |

y \j \j \j w v^ Kj \j \j

in tree-tops, | but the purring | of the warm, | happy world. | *

Read this aloud and note how the melody of it pleases the
ear. The secret of this effect is that Kipling continually
changes the arrangement of accents. To be sure, the
same measure may be repeated once or twice as in the
beginning ^\j\j \ ^\j\j \ or at the end »^w— | v-^w— | ;
but the author stops before the repetition of the measure
becomes noticeable. There are no rules for being rhythmi-
cal ; the only guide is a musical ear. A few devices may
be mentioned, however, which will enable you to secure
good rhythmical effects.

172. Parallel Structure. — Parallel structure, or bal-
ance, which we have found so valuable in making sentences
both coherent and emphatic, will also help to make them
rhythmical. Balance itself is an agj'ceable kind of melody.
When the ear has heard a thought expressed in a certain
form, it is pleased to hear an accompanying or contrasting
thought expressed in an echo of that form. Read aloud
the balanced sentences on page 259. If the second part
of the balance contains the same arrangement of accents
as the first, the pleasure is heightened. Take Thackeray's
description of Beatrix Esmond : ^

Kj \j \j \j

. . . whose eyes | were fire, | whose look | was love |

iRudyard Kipling, "The Spring Running," in The Jungle Book.
» Henry Esmond, Bk. II, Ch. vii.

266 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

If, however, this measure were repeated too many times,
the result would be singsong; consequently, Thackeray
shifts the order and number of beats in the next balancing
member :

whose voice | was the sweetest | low song |

A few lines later he changes to another series of balanced
phrases :

agile as | a nymph, | lofty as | a queen |
and then to vary the rhythm changes to yet a third series :

now melting, | now imperious, | now sarcastic |

A sentence by Stevenson admirably illustrates this prin-
ciple of variety in parallel structure :

And there are still others, less pliable, less capable, less for-
tunate, perhaps less base, who continue, even in these isles of
plenty, to lack bread.^

In the series of parallel phrases, the first three have the
same accent :

less pliable, | less capable, | less fortunate |

Stevenson has a fourth idea to add, but realizing that his
repeated accents are coming perilously near to a metrical

tune, he breaks the rhythm, and instead of saying " less

^— \j \j \j

base perhaps," he adroitly shifts the beat to " perhaps

less base." This change also throws the emphasis on
" base " and makes it the top of the climax.

1 R. L. Stevenson, The Ebb-Tide, Ch. i.

SENTENCES 267

173. Rise and Fall. — The foregoing example illustrates
another device for securing rhythm, namely, rise and fall.
The sentence moves in a beautiful curve, which may be
compared to the graceful glide of an airplane. It rises
from the ground in a gradual ascent, reaches a certain
height (in this case at the words " perhaps less base "),
maintains its flight at this level for a time (to the words
" isles of plenty "), and then sweeps down to the ground
again (with the phrase " to lack bread ")• This gentle
fall at the end is called a cadence. You should be very
careful that a sentence which has been winging its way
happily does not break its wings by falling to the earth
abruptly. Take another example, a famous sentence by
Su- William Temple :

When all is done, human life is, at the greatest and the best,
but like a froward child, that must be played with and humoured
a little to keep it quiet till it falls asleep, and then the care is
over.

Read this aloud and note that the rise, level flight, and
fall give the sentence a melody of itself quite apart from
the pleasing variation in the beats. The cadence "and
then the care is over " has been praised for many genera-
tions as one of the finest in the language. Another
illustration :

The air was temperate, the sky was serene, the silver orb of
the moon was reflected from the waters, and all nature was
silent. — Gibbon.

174. The Magic Number Three. — A very attractive
device is the three-part sentence, or triad, that is, a sen-
tence composed of three clauses. The number three pro-

268 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

duces a satisfying effect of finish, and rounds out the sen*
tence with an ample swing.

No plan of study was recommended for my use ; no exercises
were prescribed for his inspection; and, at the most precious
season of youth, whole days and weeks were suffered to elapse
without labour or amusement, without advice or account. —
Gibbon.

She [Elizabeth] rated great nobles as if they were schoolboys ;
she met the insolence of Essex with a box on the ear ; she would
break now and then into the gravest deliberations to swear
at her ministers like a fishwife. — J. R. Green.

If, as in these instances, the first two members are fairly
short and parallel in movement, and the third part is
longer and more elaborate, the sentence has a melody all
its own. Here climax and rhythm are bound up together.
One of the most famous sentences in literature, the last
sentence of Sir Walter Ralegh's History of the Worlds
owes its beautiful form to the " magic number three,**
to balance, and to " rise and fall."

O eloquent, just, and mighty Death! whom none could
advise, thou hast persuaded; what none hath dared, thou
hast done; and whom all the world hath flattered, thou only
hast cast out of the world and despised; thou hast drawn to-
gether all the far-stretched greatness, all the pride, cruelty,
and ambition of man, and covered it all over with these two
narrow words. Hie jacet.

First comes the prelude of three adjectives, forming a
miniature climax. The sentence sweeps on through two
absolutely balanced members, each of which has its own
internal balance:

SENTENCES 269

whom none could advise, thou hast persuaded;
what none hath dared, thou hast done;

The third member also balances these, but, to vary the
arrangement of beats, breaks into a larger movement and
has a marked " rise " :

and whom aU the world haXh jlattered, thou only hast cast out
of the world and despised;

The second half of this member is now balanced by a clause
which continues the upward flight to a grand climax;
then the sentence closes with an impressive cadence:

thou hast drawn together all the far-stretched greatness,
all the pride, cruelty, and ambition of man, and covered
it all over with these two narrow words. Hie jacet.

175. Polysyllabic Words. — The two vocabularies in
the English language — the short Anglo-Saxon words and
the many-syllabled, resonant Latin words — can be
woven together to produce attractive rhythmical effects.
As Pater says, " Racy Saxon monosyllables, close to us as
touch and sight, he will intermix with those long, savour-
some Latin words, rich in ' second intention.' " Milton,
for example, who was so fond of the " organ tone," uses
polysyllables after a series of short words to secure
majestic rhythm : speaking of the " scattered limbs of
Truth," he says :

We have not yet found them all, lords and commons, nor ever
shall do, till her master's second coming ; he shall bring together
every joint and member, and shall mould them into an immortal
feature of loveliness and perfection.

270 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

On account of their variety of accents and vowel sounds,
long words often combine into flowing, musical sentences,
thus:

They sprawl in palm-leaf verandas, and entertain an island
audience with memoirs of the music-hall. — Stevenson.

Try to substitute short words here — " and please a group
of islanders with tales of the music-hall " — and the beauty
vanishes. Often one long word well placed makes all the
diflFerence in the world. Take Thackeray's eloquent
close of the chapter in Henry Esmond which tells about the
death of the Duke of Hamilton in a duel :

Esmond thought of the courier, now galloping on the North
road to inform him, who was Earl of Arran yesterday, that he
was Duke of Hamilton to-day, and of a thousand great schemes,
hopes, ambitions, that were alive in the gallant heart, beating
a few hours since, and now in a little dust quiescent.

That last word is a master stroke. This adjective coming,
by inverted order, last, keeps the attention to the end,
and its lingering three syllables make a cadence of ex-
quisite beauty. Try a shorter word, " quiet," put it
in the normal order and note how pitifully flat the phrase
becomes : " and now quiet in a little dust." Then read
aloud, " and now in a little dust quiescent." One more
example, for this is a very important matter — a sentence
by Carlyle. Read it aloud first without the word " in-
discriminate," and then see the eflFect vnth it :

The very knives and forks they ate with have rusted to the
heart, and become brown oxide of iron, and mingled with the
indiscriminate elay.^

^ See also the sentence by Dp. Johnson on page 130.

SENTENCES 271

176. Rhythm in Synge's Works. — The writer who has
done more to revivify the English language than any
other modem author is the late John M. Synge, the Irish
dramatist. The racy idiom in which he wrote his plays
" tastes to the ear as a nut piques the teeth." Synge
dug his dialect from the soil. Living with the peasants,
he recorded their words and turns of phrase. He brought
to literature a fresh, vivid, and musical speech, full of the
echoes of early Celtic constructions.

When I was writing The Shadow of the Glen, I got more aid
than any learning could have given me from a chink in the
floor of the old Wicklow house where I was staying, that
let me hear what was being said by the servant girls in the
kitchen. This matter, I think, is of importance, for in coun-
tries where the imagination of the people, and the language
they use, is rich and living, it is possible for a writer to be
rich and copious in his words, and at the same time to give
the reality, which is the root of all poetry, in a comprehensive
and natural form.^

The words in our mouths and books to-day are mostly
dead, on account of constant use : they are like worn cop-
pers passed from hand to hand : they have little power
to quicken our imagination. But in Synge we get a sense
of what language was when it was new.

"I do be thinking in the long nights it was a big fool I was
that time, Michael Dara ; for what good is a bit of a farm with
cows on it, and sheep on the back hills, when you do be sitting
looking out from a door, and seeing nothing but the mists
rolling down the bog, and the mists again and they rolling up
the bog, and hear nothing but the wind crying out in the bits of

1 J. M. Synge, The Playboy of the Western World, Preface.

272 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

broken trees were left from the great storm, and the streams
roaring with the rain." ^

"That's a hard, terrible stick, Timmy; and isn't it a poor
thing to be cutting strong timber the like of that, when it's
cold the bark is, and slippy with the frost of the air ?" *

"And saying to myself another time, to look on Peggy Cav-
anagb, who had the lightest hand at milking a cow that wouldn't
be easy, or turning a cake, and there she is now walking round
on the roads, or sitting in a dirty old house, with no teeth in
her mouth, and no sense, and no more hair than you'd see on a
bit of hill and they after burning the furze from it." '

What flavor of words, what charm of primitive construc-
tion, what melody of cadence I Read Synge's plays —
read them aloud — and try to catch his rhythms when
you write. One of the two best love scenes in English
drama since Shakespeare occurs in his Playboy of the
Western World (the other is in Masefield's Tragedy of
Nan). The imaginative splendor and cosmic sweep of
images almost take our breath away. Christy says to
Pegeen :

"If the mitred bishops seen you that time, they'd be the like
of the holy prophets, I'm thinking, do be straining the bars
of Paradise to lay eyes on the Lady Helen of Troy, and she
abroad, pacing back and forward, with a nosegay in her golden
shawl."

EXERCISES
Unity

I. Write a short theme in which every sentence shall have
unity of substance.

1 J. M. Synge, The Shadow of the Glen.
« J. M. Synge, The Well of the Sainte.
» J. M. Synge, The Shadow of the Glen.

SENTENCES 273

n. Write a short theme in which every sentence shall have
unity of expression.

III. Reconstruct the following sentences. If necessary,
split them up into unified sentences.

1. Gareth*s duty was overt he had won his knighthood ^nd
the esteem and love of both Elaine and King Arthur.

2. His whole nature changed|instead of the kind, good, and
generous man, he became a harsh, tyrannical and imperious ruler.

3. Addison was born in 1672 he went to college, graduated,
travelled over nearly all Europe, and engaged in politics.

4. That day a young lady asked a bpon of the king; she
desired Lancelot to combat for her iwBr when Gareth asked
permission for this undertaking it was willingly granted*much
to the disgust of the maiden, Elaine.

5. Perhaps my most gratifying result was the reading of
several of Edgar Allan Poe's works, I like his style, his clear and
strong description.

6. When Macbeth was sent to the frontier to fight with
'the Norwegians, in absence of Duncan, he fought with the true

spirit of patriotism, though he could easily have sold the king-
dom into the hands of Norway, yet he remained faithful.

7. The bearing of Antonio in the Trial Scene, is so beautiful
that it seems rather above human, refusing to fawn and beg
mercy of the revengeful Jew, he prefers to take his punishment
and take it like a man.

8. The characters in Comus are too affected, too wooden,
they are not natural, especially the brothers, to act as they do,
would be impossible in real life.

9. The Johnson Club was a club composed of such men
as Johnson, Burke, Boswell, Goldsmith, Reynolds and others,
the purpose of it was to get together at a quiet social gathering
and discuss literary topics, and this kind of thing was in those
days as beneficial as the great libraries of to-day, because the
best wits of the- day gathered there and talked over the social
conditions, that prevailed at that time, and the fact that John-

274 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

son was a member ought to be sufficient evidence for any one
that it was a success, for nowhere in the history of the world,
was there ever a greater conversationalist than he.

10. Bassanio was the son of a gentleman and he was also
on the Rialto a great deal of the time.

11. There were two brothers and their sister walking through
a wood and in some way the sister became separated from her
brothers and met a man who offered to show her the way.

12. Addison was a stout Whig and he had an office, that
netted him about three hundred pounds a year, as secretary for
Ireland and Secretary of State but when Queen Anne came into
power she, being a strong Tory, threw out all the Whig members
of the Government.

13. The maiden wanders in the woods, and is tempted by the
surrounding evils, and is led astray from the enchantress Comus,
who offers her a drink, which if taken would change her into
the form of an animal like unto her many converts whom she
has foiled by the deluding liquor.

14. He finds her lost in the forest so makes her think that he
is a shepherd thus bringing her to his palace where he tempts
her in every way possible but she always gives him an answer
which he cannot overthrow.

15. She taught me to knit and I remember very well my first
lessons and the curious way the stitches had of getting them-
selves dropped or in some mysterious way vanishing altogether
and my strip of stitches would gradually grow narrower and
narrower.

16. On my return to America in 1899 I went to a private
teacher who gave me a great deal of work to do in English compo-
sition — besides the work of the Episcopal academy which I
was also attending.

17. Dear Madam : — Your letter received and what you ask
of me to make you a dress for New Years I will Be Very Glad to
do same and for a fact think it will be done for same time as
you state.

SENTENCES 275

18. Hawthorne was in the same class with Longfellow, at
Bowdoin and in the class above him was Franklin Pierce.

19. In order to find out whether there was any politics mixed
up with the affair I saw a lot more of the residents of the city
who were not connected specially with the school or the com-
mittee and I came to the conclusion that politics didn't have
anything to do with it, but I did determine that there were
a few jealous bodies here and there who were keeping up the
disturbance evidently for the purpose of bringing about certain
kind of results that would be pleasing to them, but which no-
body in particular could really tell what they was a drivin' at.

20. Because in recent years large football teams have failed
to make a good showing on account of experimenting on them
near the close of the season when there was not enough time to
become acquainted with them.

21. My bonnet fell off, and I picked it up by the crown and as
I hastened on, the streamers trailed in the dust and were ruined,
while on Sunday I wore my plain muslin baby's cap to church.

22. Only fruit trees grow within the town's limits, and John
S. Duss is its ruler.

23. So, after an adorable drive around that sapphire crescent,
the Bay of Naples, with Capri smiling at us from afar, an opal
in a turquoise setting, we climbed the steep hills of Posilipo,
past the castle of the Donna Anna, and stopped before a portal
where huge golden fish, dolphins, and mermaids wove themselves
into a sign which notified us that here one Trattoria dello Scoglio
di Frisio was to be reached by descending the narrow stone
steps that lead through an excavation like a grotto, and through
which we emerged to find ourselves looking out from a high
platform over the sea, which seems bluer than ever here, on
the long terrace overhanging the sea below the Strada Nuova
del Posilipo, forgetting the hunger gnawing at our vitals, almost
breathless at the beauty of the scene before us, the ruined castle
jutting out into the water on one side of us and the wonderful
gardens of a lovely villa dipping into it on the other.

276 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

24. We reached Boston about ten o'clock and the rest of the
morning was spent in shopping.

25. Like a sentinel he guarded the door, and every one, not
wearing an apron, was challenged.

26. We do not know all things, nevertheless some things are
known by us.

27. . . . A thing which I have often thought of doing, al-
though it has never been practiced by me to any extent.

28. What greater pleasure could anyone ask than to find
some sequestered nook and to forget everything, hear nothing
and see nothing except the page before you.

29. If it is too warm in the sun you can paddle into some cool
shade where one may read, talk, or sleep if you choose without
being dbturbed.

Coherence
Order

I. Write a theme in which every sentence shall have good
order.

n. Arrange in the smoothest possible order the parts of the
following sentences ;

1. Godfrey Cass was called away from a nice time where
his loved Nancy was* together with the doctor, by Silas Mamer
who had found Godfrey's daughter in his home instead of his
gold.

2. In the causes that S hyloc k gives for hating Antonio,
just before lending the money /if all j^d said was true, some
of the things that Antonio did was not quite like a gentleman,
although he may have been provoked to such an extent that
no human being could have contained himself.

3. The sun shone bright when I was dressing for the first
time, since my arrival.

4. The poultry stalls were decorated with game birds, bear,
elk, and deer, as well as the more common kinds of poultry.

SENTENCES 277

5. It is easy to see how it was possible for the Scotch to repel
the Romans and to for so long a time withstand England.

6. This stone is erected to the memory of Wm. Brown,
accidentally shot as a mark of affection by his brother.

7. To Elizabeth who wished to be beautiful without having
any beauty and to fascinate without having the power of fas-
cination, it was a deadly blow.

8. The storm broke just as we reached the shore with great
violence.

9. Do you ever expect to go again ?

10. I walked out into the night as the moon rose and wan-
dered through the grounds.

11. The cashier of the bank, whether large or small, is a very
busy man.

12. By protection is meant the levying of a duty on goods
when brought into a country for the purpose of protecting the
home industries.

13. 3he only saw a black eclipse bobbing up and down before
her eyes.

14. He made the above speech, whereof Francis only heard
the last two lines.

15. The Duchess only gives away her plays to the foreigners
of distinction who visit her kind little Court.

DangUng Modifiers

I. Reconstruct the following sentences :

1. While waiting in the court, a noble maiden named Lynette
entered and asked the king, to give her Sir Launcelot.

2. Although blest with a loving wife, she was too ambitious
for the welfare of her husband.

3. Having reared his daughter and having tried to inculcate
in her, the loftiest ideals of his race, it is sad to gaze upon him
after her elopement.

4. After serving as kitchen knave for a few months, his
mother relented and set him free from his promise.

278 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

5. He procured horses for the purpose of pursuing me, but
having the start of him by four or five hours he found it impossible
to overtake me.

6. While studying in my room yesterday, a large bumble-
bee came buzzing in through the open window.

7. Although not exactly a fault in English I find more trouble
with punctuation than any other thing.

8. In spite of the trouble he took with his argument it did
not affect his previous cutting.

9. William Gillette, reappearing in the six greatest characters
of his six greatest plays, is no ordinary announcement. Taken
by itself, without any amplifications, every playgoer will recog-
nize it as the most interesting and ingenious idea of the present
theatrical year.

10. Believing that the work of education in technical sub-
jects by means of correspondence may be made efficient and
helpful beyond what has hitherto been accomplished, arrange-
ments have been made so that the professors and instructors
of engineering of the faculty of the Armour Institute of Technol-
ogy will constitute a board of instruction, revision and examina-
tion for the American School of Correspondence.

11. While in a broker's office to-day, a little hunchbacked
vender entered.

12. Forced to fly her husband's roof by this insult, the coward
had pursued his revenge by taking her child from her.

13. So inquiring of the boy "where Mrs. Harris lived,"
he gave me full directions and a little of my aunt's history
besides.

14. While thus approaching, as all hoped, to convalescence.
Miss Briggs was the only victim admitted into the presence of
the invalid.

15. This is the Circular of the house I spoke to you about.
If interested further they will no doubt send their Catalogues
if you will write or call upon them.

SENTENCES 279

II. Make the following phrases depend coherently upon
main clauses :

1. Having arrived at the theater a few minutes early,

2. Glancing about the room,

3. Being the larger of the two books,

4. Floating here and there,

5. Being our nearest neighbors, ,

6. After lowering the window,

7. After riding all the afternoon,

m. Complete the following sentences by making a main
clause for each. In each case keep the same subject in both
clauses.

1. Although the woodman had abeady cut down two trees,

2. Although two trees had already been cut down by the
woodman,

3. When he had measured the distance with his eye,

4. As long as he remained satisfied with our work,

5. If John had arrived before you left,

Reference

I. Rewrite the following sentences :

1. While neighbors assisted in an effort to rescue the cows,
many of them were so badly burned that they had to be shot.

2. The water drizzled through my umbrella and I had some
thoughts of throwing it away when it stopped as suddenly as
it had begun.

3. The fox's keen scent and good hearing keeps him from
being shot many times by bounty seekers. One of their im-
portant characteristics is their faculty for aiding one another.

4. The conductor finally threatened to put the man off the
car, but the fellow was so good natured he didn't have the heart
to do it.

5. After Pope left Addison and the report reached him that

280 ENGLISH COMPOSITION^

his former friend gave aid to a man in getting out a translation
of Homer rivalling his own, he sent Addison some verses filled
with the bitterest condenmation. Having received these, he
said that Mr. Addison treated him very civilly ever after.

6. Every one should guard against localisms, as he is not
understood by a stranger if he or she uses localisms, and in many
cases the stranger would not form a good opinion of you.

7. Pope is much given to grots SLud finny tribe and tinkling rills.
But these were characteristics of his age and in these he excelled.

8. The employer listens to a nuijiber of idiotic questions,
and then provoked over his disobedience looks up the word
himself.

9. In a former report we pointed out how logically most of
the briefs had been constructed and how well they had analyzed
their subjects — with the exception of Mr. Brown ; but in this
error we must confess that they have not fulfilled the promise
of their previous work.

10. The Iliad and the Mneid were written in Latin and Greek.

Parallel Constructions

I. Write a theme which shall include at least four cases of
parallel structure.

11. Reconstruct the following sentences :

1. The Club served to make them acquainted with one
another also knit them together closely and to punish each other's
faults.

2. They see ahead of them a woman whom Red Murdock
says is crazy; that she wanders about through the forest;
that it would be better for the neighborhood if she were killed.

3. In spite of Johnson's rough, rude ways and although
he ate like a pig, he had many friends.

4. Our hatred is changed to compassion when we hear stem
Portia as judge declare that one-half his goods must be sur-
rendered to the state the other half to Antonio and his life to
lie on the mercy of the man against whom he has plotted.

SENTENCES 281

5. When Macbeth, valor's minion, was informed by the
witches of his being the future king and although the wording
gladly struck his ears, his first thought and pleasure was to
write his wife, so that she might share the happiness of such a
thought.

6. The following acts are forbidden by law : stealing ; that
one should kill his fellow man ; to lie in court.

7. He could make her cbme to him at any time and no matter
how far distant she was.

8. Not only should an automobile be kept clean for the looks,
but dirt is bound to injure the paint.

9. President Roosevelt to-day took notice of his return visit
to Massachusetts by delivering at Fitchburg another speech
on the trust question in order that he might fully answer his
critics and in order to more clearly define his attitude on that
subject.

10. By a description the writer's ideas are so expressed
as to make the picture realistic, and which will convey to your
thoughts some similar occurrence.

11. One of the ways of this professor was to glance around
the class and the first bright looking young lady who attracted
his attention he was sure to call upon to recite.

12. Ice-making is a science which is both still in its infancy,
and of great importance in the warm climates.

13. The most used of facings is sea-coal, which is a black
powder, very soft, and when smoothed out gives a glaze to the
mold.

14. A caller came to our back door — one of our townsmen
who had been in the West for years, and had come back to see
his relations.

15. His story of the "Mexican Situation" is not only the
story of an intelligent observer who lived in Mexico during the
administrations of Diaz, Madero, Huerta, down to the time of
Carranza and Villa, but as a plantation manager he came in
close contact with the laboring classes and has an intimate

282 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

and sympathetic knowledge of the condition and problems of
the conmion people.

in. Fill out the following sentences so as to make balanced
constructions :

1. It may be read either for pleasure or

2. It may either be read or

8. It may be either read or

4. He not only promised to do this bvi also

5. He promised not only to do this hut also

6. He promised to do noi only this hiA also

7. His first suggestion was a. failure; his second

8. His first suggestion was to compromise; his second

9. Our intention was not so much that you should do all
this yourself as

10. Plays are all too often not only miscast but

Connectives

I. Write a theme entirely of complex sentences.
n. Write a theme with no compound sentences.
in. Reconstruct the following sentences :

1. The possibilities of this copper company are exceptional
and it is in an exceedingly strong position and has a huge ore
tonnage already blocked out.

2. The dock was £cbout six feet above the surface and very
easy to climb out upon.

3. The duck splashed a few times in the water but soon she
appeared perfectly quiet and would never again enjoy a morn-
ing's swim but would instead be enjoyed at some dinner
table.

4. It was very cold this afternoon while we were out on the
river rowing and the cold greatly increased and snowflakes
came slowly passing by causing a general shudder.

5. I was going home and on the way I asked the baggage
master at the station and he told me the next train was on the

SENTENCES 283

branch line, but when the train arrived I found it was the main
line train and so I got on hoping to get home.

6. The story read in class to-day, though it was written very
smoothly and interestingly, represents Kaa as one of the most
intelligent among the animals.

7. Although a family greatly to be pitied, these deaf and dumb
people excite much sympathy and interest from the other
occupants of the car.

8. Although Portia's sense of filial devotion to her dead
father's memory bids her comply with his wishes, none of her
suitors please her fancy.

Emphasis

I. Write a theme in which every sentence shall end vig-
orously.

n. Write a theme which shall include one periodic sentence
of at least fifty words.

III. Write a theme which shall include four periodic sentences
of varying length.

IV. Write a theme which shall include four cases of climax.

V. Write a theme which shall include four cases of balance.

VI. Reconstruct these sentences so that they shall be em-
phatic :

1. We started on our way down Mt. Washington by the
carriage road instead of the path as it is a much easier way not
being so steep, when we had seen all the things on the top and it
was time to start back.

2. He is somewhat erratic, a good theme being followed by
a poor one in two instances.

3. Tom and Harry withdrew, as Tom discovered that he was
not a member of the athletic club from which the pair was en-
tered, having allowed his membership to lapse.

4. His tall figure, gray beard and snow-white hair make him
a conspicuous person to behold, as he walks along the street
looking at the little children.

284 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

5. The scene that met our eyes was one that would make a
strong man shudder and give an excitable person nervous
prostration.

6. I will continue my college course until I get a degree if
I can keep on making my college expenses, in part, at least.

7. A murder case in England will be disposed of in a day or
two that here will take three weeks or a month.

8. A market such as we have had for some months cannot
go on forever, "without these occasional setbacks, as we pointed
out a few weeks ago in this connection.

9. It was only reasonable to expect that this mining stock
would follow the general trend, considering the serious cause
responsible for the decline.

10. Frederick II, knowing six languages, was able to converse
freely with the great scholars of his court, thus deriving much
important and enlightening information.

11. Every momentous struggle between two great parties
produces its quota of remarkable personalities, the conflict
between the Empire and the Papacy during the medieval period
being no exception to this rule.

VII. Rewrite ten of the sentences on pages 273-282 with special
attention to emphasis.

Variety

I. Rewrite this letter of a girl guide. Avoid the passive
voice as far as possible.

Dressed in their neat navy blue costumes, the girls walked
two by two, under the guidance of their officers, a distance of
some two miles. Barr Beacon, their destination, • was reached,
and there a halt was called for rest. Keen appetites acted as
reminders that haversacks contained means of satisfying the
inner demands, but with the eatables drink was necessary, and
to prepare the tea and cocoa hot water was required. Search
parties were sent out for a supply of fuel, and, when sufficient
was brought in, it was stacked up. The application of a single

SENTENCES 285

match — a lesson in economy — resulted in a good fire, and
boiling water was soon ready.

It was delightful to see with what relish the food was eaten,
and scarcely a crumb remained; so keen was the appetite
stimulated by the march in the fresh air. Here was the simple
life with all the joys of youth. After tea, there was the usual
girl chat with plenty of fun and merriment, but this was brought
to an end by commands to business.

Locality was taught by observation of prominent landmarks,
and nominal prizes were awarded to those who first recognized
Walsall Town Hall, the different churches, and other con-
spicuous objects. Then followed some smart exercises in lift-
ing and carrying the wounded. Despatches were forwarded
to headquarters, and an examination of the wild plants, of which
each Guide collected only one specimen of each variety, proved
that nearly thirty flowering plants were blooming in the vicinity
of the camp. Organized games were on the programme, and a
game of hide-and-seek was the more enjoyable because the wind-
ing lanes and numerous bushes gave admirable cover.

Rest was called, and some happy moments were spent round
the camp fire, as one after another of the troop related her favour-
ite story. ** Fall in " was sounded and the return walk commenced.
The ruddy faces of the girls showed the beneficial effects of the
country air, and the chats with their friends afterwards proved
that much useful knowledge had been gained by experience.

Part IV
DICTION

CHAPTER VIII

CHOICE OF WORDS

177. Good Use. — The English language is made up
of a great many elements, each of which, as soon as it
has once secured its place, has as much right to be in the
language as any other. There is no reason why we should
prefer words of Latin origin (like oratory qiuyrum, vim, or
species) merely because they are of Latin origin, or words
of Anglo-Saxon lineage (like wanton^ ridge, or shield)
merely because they are of that descent. With entire
impartiality we take epaulette from the French, yacfU
from the Dutch, soprano from the Italian, and kinder-
garten from the German ; and we welcome them all.

Usage with regard to words is fixed, therefore, without
respect to origin: it depends upon Present, National,
and Reputable Usage.

178. Present Use. — The temptation is slight nowa-
days to commit the error of using words which should
— except perhaps in poetry — be relegated to the past.^
At present the temptation is rather to adopt words*
before they have really taken their place in the language.

^ Though such affectations as aneriif whilom, and withal now and then
appear.

^ Like enthuse, write-wp, phone, the adjective swell or the noun probe
(meaning investigation).

286

CHOICE OF WORDS 287

179. National Use. — National Use means American
usage as opposed to British use ; ^ and the usage of care-
ful writers and speakers all over America, as opposed to
the usage of a particular class or locality.

180. Reputable Use.^ — Rep utable Use mean s, not
the practice of a few purists who are unreasonably de-
voted to the past or to theory, but the custo mary jj igage of
such writers and speakers as are competent todi fp^^t thp
destinies of a living iaflguag^ Such usage is opposed to
slang, of which we now have a great deal. No careful
writer or speaker would use in describing a game of base-
ball such terms as Jans for spectators^ hags for hases^ gar-
den for outfield, or tivirler for pitcher. Of course, nearly
every one permits himself now and then to drop into
slang, but to be habitually or unwittingly slangy in
speech or in writing is to debase one's own style and mind
and also to assist in degrading the mother tongue.

The sources of authority are the dictionary, and the
speech and the writings of the masters. It is important
to remember that the dictionary, though it has many
notes on colloquial, vulgar, and archaic words, usually
indicates merely the boundary line between what is
positively wrong and what is merely allowable. But no
careful writer is content with what is merely allowable:
he wishes to know what is best. Only constant attention
to the work of the best writers and speakers will serve to
keep him informed.

Since the requirements of a good style are Clearness,

* Such as lift for devaior, carriage for car, com for grain, or different
to ioT different from,

' In connection with this paragraph, look at College Readingst pp.
1-2 and 14-16.

288 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Force, and Ease, it will be convenient to consider the
choice of words with reference to these three qualities.

181. Clearness. — To be clear, a word must not
merely be capable of meaning what we wish it to mean :
it must be incapable — in the context — of meaning any-
thing else; and it must carry its meaning not merely
to the writer, but to the reader. Some years ago a Bos-
ton newspaper printed this remarkable statement:
" Yesterday at Revere Beach, Lynn, three ice-cream
freezers were arrested for fighting. All were intoxicated."
The person who wrote this probably saw no reason why a
person engaged in freezing ice-cream should not be
called an ice-cream freezer. But at least one of his
readers joyfully interpreted the term in another sense.

Certain oflFenses against clearness may be called " ab-
surdities." Among these are the misuse of each in such
sentences as " Each outdid the other in generosity," the
omission of other in such a sentence as " Columbia is
larger than any American university," and the plausible
but meaningless statement that " between each house
was a small garden." Then there is the common fault
of trying to compare the incomparable : "He showed how
impossible it was." Of course he did no such thing:
he showed how diflScult it was, or perhaps he showed
that it was impossible. Nothing can prevent such
mistakes except a determination to say just what one
means.

182. Force. — The concrete is usual ly prefera ble to the
abstract. If your writing seemsl:b"^ag, see li you have
not used too many abstract nouns. Often they are nec-
essary ; but of tener they are not, and they have a habit of
travelling about with colorless verbs. " There was an

CHOICE OF WORDS 289

increase in the population " is a sluggish way of saying
" The population increased."

183. Connotation as well as denotation must be con-
sidered. Denotation is the actual meaning of a wnrH ;
connotation is th e suggestion that it r^fjim'pq Violin
SnSi fiddle have pretty much the same denotation; in
connotation they diflFer utterly. So do mix and mingle,
jewels and jewelry, percentage and part, careless and secure,
interminable and endless, soldier and warrior, sailor and
mariner, horse and steed. " Mercury," said one young
writer, " resents Juno's activity in his district, the ocean,
and restores the wrecked ships." We must know more
than the actual meaning of words if we are to use them
eflfectively.

184. Vagueness.* — We must avoid vague words. In
our discussion of definition (§ 25) we saw that to define
a thing it is necessary to say of it not merely that which
is true but that which is true of no other thing. The
ineflFectiveness of vague words consists not in the fact
that they say of a thing that which is not true of it,
but that what they say is also true of many other and
wholly diflFerent things. It is for this reason that there
is no specific force in strong, weak, fast, slow, large, small,
heavy, light, dark, tall, short, good, and bad. With these
there should be grouped interesting, attractive, inviting,
fascinating, and bewildering, which, in addition to being
vague, are highly subjective, for what is attractive to one
person may not be attractive to another. Into the inter-
pretation of nearly all words there enters the personal
equation, but these subjective adjectives are needlessly
indefinite in meaning. Like these are idea, affair, case,

1 Of. College Readings, 2 ff .
u

290 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

animal, buildingy and other enormously inclusive nouns.
Like them, too, are such words as go, walk, say, look,
think, and work. How did he go ? Did he stride, hobble,
scramble, loiter, rush, saunter, or push? So with all
vague words ; they include a score of specific variations,
and in the interests of force we must discard all except
the one that is best.^

186. Exaggeration. — Force oozes out of our speech
and writing whenever we permit ourselves — as we are
particularly liable to do in talk — to exaggerate. The
boy cried " wolf, wolf " when there was no wolf.
The neighbors came running in alarm, but, finding that
they had been deceived, they decided that the child
did not mean what he said. The consequence, it will
be remembered, was that one day the wolf came and
carried oflF the sheep. So when to indicate mild approval or
a comfortable experience of some sort we permit ourselves
to use such words as elegant, lovely, fine, grand, gorgeous,
wonderful, marvelous, ^perfect, beautiful, or splendid,^ we
may at first impress those who think that we mean what
we say. Finding that we do not, they cease to take us
seriously, and therefore when something happens that
is really splendid it turns out that the force has all gone
out of that. word. If elegance is really involved, let us
say elegant, and if splendor is really involved, let us say
splendid; otherwise, let us hold these powerful words in
reserve until something really big calls them out. The
same is the case when we wish to indicate disapproval or
discomfort. A cinder in the eye is annoying, certainly;

* Cf. College Readings, p. 627 (note on Stevenson's "Apology for
Idlers").

2 Cf. CdUege Readings, 559-560.

CHOICE OF WORDS 291

but it is not hideous, awful, terrible, horrid, abominable,
excruciating, ghastly, or infernal. We must learn to like
things without loving, adoring, or worshiping them, and
to dislike them without hating, detesting, loathing,
or abominating them.

All this amounts to saying that we must trust more in
the force of restraint. We must ask if the right adjective
in the positive degree is not better than the wrong one
in the superlative. We must make superlatives give an
account of themselves. We must strike out the very's
and absolutely^s and supremely*^ and completely^s. We
must remember that, whimsical exaggeration aside,^
it is best to depend not on bluster, but on the quiet force
of such diction as Webster's when he said of Dartmouth,
" It is a small college, sir, and yet there are those who
love it."

186. Imitation Jewelry. — Misguided persons who feel
that the homely facts of life are inelegant, try to disguise
these facts by tawdry diction. Man and woman seem
to these people too humble: they prefer gentleman and
lady. To "work" seems to them less dignified than to
" ei^age in commercial pursuits " or to " accept a re-
sponsible position." It is not to be expected that such
people should "get up" and " go to bed" : they " rise," often
from their " downy couch," and at the end of the day they
" retire " or perhaps permit themselves to " sink into
the arms of Morpheus." Instead of eating their meals
they " satisfy the inner man " by " partaking of," or
" doing full justice to," or even " discussing " either
" tempting viands," " dainty refreshments," or some-

^ Like Johnson "swallowing his tea in oceans" (Macaulay) and Tenny
son smoking "infinite tobacco" (Carlyle).

892 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

times " bountiful repasts." No wonder that after all
this " the table groans " !

187. Triteness must be avoided. It is a pity that,
having thought of a good phrase, we find that we must
throw it away because too many people have thought of
it before us ; but so it must be. Words, if they are the
right words, may be used singly for century after century
without being worn out. " If he ask for bread, will ye
give him a stone? " There is no reason why other words
for these things should ever be needed. But when words
gather into clusters, particularly if there is the slightest
suggestion of pretentiousness or silliness about the expres-
sion, they soon become as tiresome as a tune that is
played on every street piano. It accordingly becomes
necessary to know whether the expressions that we pro-
pose to use have been already spoiled. Let us note a few
that have been nearly or quite spoiled :

Academic: "obvious," "distinctly," "convincing,** "worth

while,** "institution,** "seat of learning,** "student body,"

"instructional force,** "interesting.**
Critical: ** in the last analysis,** "grips the reader,'* "cannot fail

to impress.*'
Epistolary: "Thanking you in advance," "hoping you are the

same."
Journalistic: "Managed to reply in a few well-chosen words,"

"sustained severe bruises about the head,'* "city fathers,**

"chief executive,** "representative of the press,** "beloved

and respected by all who knew him,** "a power for good

in the community."
Oratorical: "We are standing to-day,*' "each one of us here,"

"seldom equalled and never surpassed,** "it has been

well said."

CHOICE OF WORDS 293

Narrative: "an enjoyable time," "tired but happy," "sadder
and wiser," "poor but honest," "more forcible than polite,"
"no sooner said than done," "in less time than it takes to
tell it," "suiting the action to the words," "blissfully
ignorant," "with feverish haste," "blinding flash," "a
goodly number," "at one fell swoop," "put in an appear-
ance," "took his departure."

Descrijjtive : "gave the finishing touch to the picture," "reigned
supreme," "not a sound broke the stillness," "the devouring
element," "silhouetted against the sky," "severely simple,"
"more easily imagined than described," "stretched away
in the distance."

General: "mental picture," "worthy of a better cause," "last
but not least," "filled a long felt want," "order out of
chaos," " in touch with," "along this line."

Trite Comparisons, — Similarly ineflFective are compar-
isons that have been too often made. Some of them were
originally eflfective; some of them were never really
' good. So we must avoid

eyes bright as stars stiff as a poker

busy as a bee brave as a lion

red as fire cold as ice

white as snow hot as fire

white as a sheet hard as a rock

good as gold quick as a flash

heavy as lead quick as lightning

dark as Egypt clear as crystal

dark as a pocket ran like a deer

straight as a string stood like a sentinel

straight as an arrow wound like a silver ribbon

188. Figures of Speech. — Figures of speech, if they
are appropriate, are indispensable aids to vividness; if

294 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

they are not aptly used, they are ineflfective, and often
ludicrous. Of the most frequent, the simile and the
metaphor, the second is the bolder and generally the
more vivid. The principle of the simile and the metaphor
is simply that of illustrating the unknown by means of
the known. The illustration will be successful in propor-
tion to the appropriateness of the comparison and the
familiarity of the illustration. The eflFect of figures of
speech is sometimes to call up the wrong picture. Only
the other day a man said he thought that the expression
" to put a spoke in his wheel " meant " to- help." Why
not ? If my neighbor's wheel lacks a spoke and I supply
the spoke, do I not help him ? Yes ; but if my neighbor
is riding a bicycle and I shove a stick through the revolv-
ing wheel, I do not help him at all ; and it is this latter
picture, or something akin to it, that the expression is
intended to call up.

The great point about figures of speech is that we must
mean them. If we do, we shall not apologize for them
and we shall not be likely to mix them. We apologize
for them when we qualify them by such phrases as "so
to speak " or ** as it were." We mix them when in one
part of the figure we call up an image which conflicts
with that in another part. This is done in the following
cases :

Boswell is often described as hanging to Johnson's coat-tails,
pencil and notebook in hand.

My idea of a sub-plot is that it is a sort of additional link
that might be left out.

Gradually warming up in an ascending pitch, Defoe attacks
everything he meets.
• Poe was vested with a spark of genius.

CHOICE OF WORDS 295

Franklin was one of those who rent asunder the veil of bigotry
that had stopped the pulse of civilization.

His mind floats away on a side-track, and he does not hear the
lecture.

I realize that if I have any ambition to go to a university I
shall have to plow my way through on my own shoulders.

Blinded by his thirst for revenge, Shylock bit off his own nose.

The important point to note is that these writers failed
because they did not know what they meant or see what
they were saying. The writer of the first of the examples
above did not really mean that Boswell clung to John-
son's coat-tails : he merely meant that he attended him
closely; consequently, he saw no absurdity in saying
that he had his pencil and his notebook in his hand.

Emerson said of Carlyle that he had the devouring eye
and the portraying hand. A person who has these will
delight to use figures of speech and will not be liable to
confuse them. To use them well is such a pleasure and
such an embellishment to style that no one should deny
himself the enjoyment of experimenting with them.
When Stevenson spoke of windmills making " bread all
day long with uncouth gesticulations," when Emerson
told us that we must hitch our wagon to a star, when
Kipling said of an express train that it laid "" the miles
over [its] shoulder like a man peeling a shaving from a
soft board," the results were better than they could
possibly have been by the literal use of any word, however
excellent.

189. Elegance. — The " rough diamond " appears in
the world of style as in the world of people : just as a
person may be clear-headed and vigorous, yet crude, so
style may be clear and forcible, but inelegant. Such a

296 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

style, like such a person, is so good that it deserves to be
made better. To make it better there is no more useful
device than constantly to remember that words are meant
to be sounded and not merely to be looked at.^ Read
your work aloud, therefore, and all the faults mentioned
in this chapter will be more likely to reveal themselves for
your correction.

The person who wrote that " the fight at its height was
a most exciting sight " put down words with regard to
their meaning only ; he forgot that his readers had ears.
With the question of sound in mind, study the following
sentences :

It was an eartensive exposition of the transition from the
nineteenth to the twentieth century. *•

They decided to levy heavy taxes upon America.

The merit of the book is shown in the interesting manner in
which these incidents are interpreted.

His laugh jars on one's ear after seven score years.

Usually early reports are received.

It was printed for purely political purposes.

It was a typical topical outline.

Besides avoiding such alliteration, jingle, and harsh-
ness as these sentences reveal, we must be on our guard
against the opposite fault, — a tendency toward studied
cadences in which sound appears to have been considered
more than sense.

We must also shun the bony style which results when
structure becomes obtrusive, as it does if I say, "A good
style should have the following qualities : first, clearness ;

^ Cf. Stevenson, "On Some Technical Elements of Style.** (See the
note in College Readings, 626-627.)

CHOICE OF WORDS 297

second, force ; and third, elegance." Too frequent use of
such connectives as now^ hencCy then, or accordingly, as
well as of numerical devices for guiding the reader, may
make the path clear at the expense of smoothness.

Equally inelegant are such compounds as research
work, mind training, student body, viewpoint, sentence
unity, and a host of other ugly expressions in which a noun
is made to do the work of an adjective. A little care
will usually discover a substitute which conveys the same
meaning and is more agreeable to the ear.

It need hardly be said that elegance disappears when-
ever slang ^ or vulgarisms ^ are admitted.

No less important is variety in the length and pattern
of the sentences, and in the arrangement of words. Many
a page which seems unaccountably tiresome will turn
out — if read aloud critically — to have one adjective
paired with every noun, or perhaps two adjectives, or
too many sets of three (three phrases, three nouns,
three verbs, or three clauses), or too many long sentences
beginning with the subject, or too many short sentences,
or too many compound sentences. If that is the case,
the pattern must be deliberately varied.'

* like "diner" for "dining car," "phone" for "telephone," "take stock
in" for "believe," "deal" for "transaction," "posted" for "informed,"
and "proposition" for "task."

* Like "meaty," "brainy," and "tasty."
»See§§ 165-170.

CHAPTER IX ^
IMPROPRIETIES

190. Definition. — In rhetoric an impropriety has no
reference to that which is, in a moral or social sense,
" improper " ; it means the use of a word in a sense which
is,not the Enghsh sense; that is, the use of a word in a
sense which is not its own'} The study of improprieties,
then, is the study of accurate usage, as it is recorded in
the best dictionaries and exempUfied by the best writers.

Use of the Dictionary. — Whoever wishes to write or
speak with accuracy and range must learn to make use
of the dictionary. He must, furthermore, use it with the
idea, not of learning to spell, pronounce, or use the word
correctly on the immediate occasion only, but with the
idea of fixing something permanently in his mind. It
would be diflScult to overemphasize the importance of
the rule that we must not copy from the dictionary, but
must, by the use of the dictionary, get information into
our minds and, wherever possible, not only remember that
something is so, but learn why it is so, in order that we
may group many cases under a few general principles.
In using the dictionary one must, first of all, master the
signs and abbreviations that are necessary to secure the
requisite compactness. Among these are the abbrevia-
tions for Latin, Greek, French, and the other languages,

^ From the Latin proprius (one's own).
298

IMPROPRIETIES 299

from which English words come, the symbols or abbre-
viations which indicate that a word is obsolete, archaic, or
colloquial, and the marks which indicate the quantity
and quality of the letters as they are pronounced.^ Hav-
ing learned these abbreviations thoroughly, one should
practice getting from the dictionary the spelling, pronun-
ciation, and division into syllables of the word, its deriva-
tion, its present meaning (which will often be found
entirely diflFerent from its earlier meaning), and its syn-
onyms.

But the dictionary, in turn, gets its authority from the
actual usage of the writers and speakers who are best
qualified to serve as the standard of usage for their
country and their period. Accordingly, when we read the
works of good writers, and when we hear good speakers,
we should be alert to notice their choice of words.

Violations of usage, or accepted fashion, as it may be
called, in the use of words come from one or more of the
following sources :

(1) Many words are confused with other words on
account of the similarity in sound : thus, 'principal and
principle^ accept and except, lose and looscy are not easy
to spell, pronounce, or use in the proper way.

(2) Similar confusion comes from similarity in spell-
ing, and is often mingled with the preceding kind of diflS-

iln this book the authority of the latest edition of Webster b ac-
cepted, and pronunciation is indicated by the signs which are used in
Webster and which, in both the New International Dictionary and the
Secondary School Dictionary, are found at the bottom of each page.
These marks for the vowels are as follows : ale, senate, cAre, &m, Account,
arm, ask, sofd ; five, event, find, recent, maker ; Ice, fll ; Old, obey, 6rb,
6dd, s8f t, connect ; ase, unite, fim, iip, circiSs, menU ; food, foot ; out, oil.

300 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

culty, as is the case in the three pairs of words mentioned
above.

(3) Many words, though they neither look nor sound
alike, indicate very similar objects or ideas. In this
case, ignorance of the precise diflFerence between the
things signified causes us to misuse the words, as is the
case with majority and plurality, or refer and allude.

191. A List of Common Improprieties.

AJ). stands for anno Domini, which means in the year of our
Lord, Therefore, do not use a.d. unless the English equiv-
alent would make sense.
Incorrect : The fourth century a.d.
•Correct : The fourth century after Christ.
Correct : a.d. 46.
Accept should be distinguished from except
Acceptance means the act of accepting ; acceptation indicates the
meaning in which a word is accepted or received. Thus,
we speak of the acceptance of an invitation, but of a word
as used in its general acceptation.
Access should not be confused with accession.
Admire should not be used for like.

Incorrect : I should admire to go.
Affect (verb) and effect (noun or verb) should be distinguished.
To affect is to produce an effect, or result, upon. To effect
is to bring about.
Aggravate means not to anger, but to make more serious.
Incorrect : I was aggravated at his slowness.
Correct : I was annoyed at his slowness.
Correct : His illness was aggravated by carelessness.
Agreeable for willing (I am agreeable if you are) is colloquial

and often ambiguous.
AUude, mention, refer. Look up these words in the dictionary.
AUusion, illusion, . ^ - . ' " >^
C -' ' . - '

IMPROPRIETIES 301

Almost, most. Most is now considered colloquial for almost.
When used as an adverb, most means to the greatest extent.

Objectionable : I was most dead when I got there.

Correct : I was almost dead when I got there.

Better : I was very tired when I got there.
AUemative applies to two possibilities only.

Incorrect : The third alternative is to reply.

Correct : The third possibility is to reply.

Correct : The alternative is to go.
Among, between. Am^ong implies more than two persons or
objects ; between implies only two.

Incorrect : I divided it among the two children.
Anyplace, everyplace, noplace, and someplace (whether used as
one word or two words) are vulgarisms when used as ad-
verbs. They are, of course, correct as phrases.

Incorrect : He has gone someplace.

Correct : He has gone somewhere.

Correct : Any place which suits you will do.
A one ("not a one") for one is incorrect.

Avocation means secondary occupation ; vocation means princi-
pal occupation.
Badly should never be confused with very mtich.

Incorrect : He wanted to sing badly.
Balance (except in bookkeeping) should not be used for remainder
or rest.

Incorrect : The balance of the afternoon.
Be for have, as in **I am finished," "He is done," is incor-
rect.
Beside means "by the side of " ; besides, "in addition to."
Between. See among.
Blame on, blame, or blame for.

Incorrect : Do not blame it on me.

Correct : Do not blame me.

Correct : Do not blame me for it.
Boughten is a homely substitute for bought or purchased.

302 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Bound is colloquial for determined. A strong reason for not
using it is that in such a sentence as " He is bound to testify/'
we cannot tell whether the meaning is "under obligations"
(which would be correct) or "determined" (which would
be colloquial).

Calculate, guess, believe, and reckon are none of them quite
synonymous with think. See dictionary.

CanH seem to for seem unable to is colloquial and inexact.

Chiefly, largely. See largely,
f^Claim means to demand or to assert ownership of, not to assert,
urge, argue, or affirm.

Clever for good-natured is provincial.

Coincidence, happening. If I fall down and break my leg, that
is a happening; if my brother and I break our legs on the
same day, that is a coincidence. See dictionary.

College, school. See dictionary.

Common, See mutual.

Complement, compliment. See dictionary.

Conclude, decide.

Incorrect : I concluded to go.
Correct : I decided to go.

Correct: I concluded that he had forgotten to wind the
clock.

Contemplate on (by analogy, perhaps, with meditate on) is some-
times used for contemplate,
y"^ Contemptible (deserving contempt), contemptuous (showing
contempt). . . - • * ,., - '^' ^

Continuxd, continuous, constant, incessant, perpetual. See dic-
tionary.
, Council (a body of advisers) should be distinguished from
counsel (advice).

Convince, convict. See dictionary.

Crowd (for party or company) is often misused. Yet no one woidd
give up Lincoln's "I will not leave this crowd in doubt."

Cunning, though conunonly used to indicate the qualities that

IMPROPRIETIES 303

make some children interesting, is better reserved for cases

where dexterityor artfidness is shown. See dictionary.
Curwus, funny, oadi ^singidar, and strange should be used with

discrimination. See dictionary.
Incorrect: Wasn't it funny that he and his brother should

both have appendicitis at the same time ?
Custom "suggests the fact of repetition rather than the tendency

to repeat" ; habit "implies a settled disposition or tendency

due to repetition" (Webster).
Deal, transaction. See dictionary.^ - *
Decide. See conclude.
Decided, decisive. See dictionary.
Definite, definitive. See dictionary.
^-' Demean (cf. demeanor) is neutral. It is frequently confused

with degrade.
Incorrect ; I would not demean myself by doing such a thing.
Differ with, differ from. People diflFer with or from each other in

their opinions ; things differ from each other in their qual-
ities.
Different from is accepted American usage ; different to is good

English usage ; different than is not allowable.
Discover, invent. See dictionary.
Disinterested indicates absence of partiality; uninterested, lack

of interest.
Distinct, distinctive. See dictionary.
Donate is a pompous vulgarism for give.
Each is often used illogically.

Illogical : They followed each other out of the door. [Whom

did the first follow ?]
Illogical : They outdid each other in generosity. [If A outdid

B, how could B outdo A ?]
^Each other applies to two only ; one another, to more than two.
Economic, economical. The former means having to do with

economics ("Let us consider economic conditions in 1750") ;

the latter, /tm^oZ or inexpensive.

304 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Either for any; neither for none.
Wrong : Neither of the three.
Correct : None of the three.
Elegant is often used when no idea of elegance is present. Ad-
dison's style is elegant; dropped eggs — no matter how
much one may like them — are not.
Emigrate, immigrate. See dictionary.
/ Enormity, enormousness. Enormity applies only to monstrous
evils.
Equally as, for eqiuiUy or as ... as, should not be used.
Incorrect : A is equally as good as B.
Correct : A is as good as B.
Correct : A and B are equally good.
Every so often and once in so often are vulgarisms. In general
so should not be used when no direct comparison is intended.
Every which way is a vulgarism for every way, various ways, or
all directions.
' Exceptional means unusual ; exceptionable, open to objection.
Expect, suppose. See dictionary.

Incorrect : I expect that he is coming.
Correct : I expect him.
Correct : I suppose that he is coming.
Factor, for reason or part, is much overworked.
Falls (as in Niagara Falls) is a plural.

Incorrect : There is a falls a mile above the village.
Farther indicates actual progress; further indicates figurative
progress.
Correct : The church is two miles farther on.
Correct: The further you look into the matter the more
perplexing it is.
Fewer is used of numbers ; less, of quantities.
Correct : No fewer than twenty.
Correct : Not less than a gallon.
Fix (verb) for repair is colloquial.
Fix (noun) for plight is colloquial.

IMPROPRIETIES 305

Folks for people in general or for one's relatives is colloquial.

For is misused in the expression **I want for him to go." The
correct form is "I want him to go.**

Former and Uxtter (instead of first and lad) are used when only
two persons or things are compared. Former and latter
are used generally in such expressions as "former times,"
"latter days."

Frighten^ a transitive verb, should not be confused with become
frightened.

Funny means "amusing," not "surprising.** See curious.

Further. See farther.

Get in the expression gettodo\&B. provincialism for "find it pos-
sible to do," "succeed in doing.**

Oat (past participle gat, not gotten) is properly used with have
when the meaning is "have secured** ; it is improper when
mere possession is to be indicated.
Incorrect : How many dogs have you got ?
Correct : At last I have gob that book that I have wanted so
long.

Grand is improperly used when no idea of grandeur is intended.

Guess is proper only when a problem has to be solved partly by
conjecture. See calculate.
Incorrect : I guess I'll write a letter.
Correct : He guessed the answer to the riddle.

Hahit. See custom.

Had ought for ought is a vulgarism.

Hanged, hung. See dictionary.

Happening. See coincidence.

Hardly and scarcely with negatives (" I couldn't hardly believe
it ") are incorrect.

Have is superfluous in "I had a man tell me'* (for "A man told
me**) and "Did you ever have a bee sting you?** (for
"Were you ever stung by a bee?*'). It is correct in "I
had a man clean my furnace" if the speaker means that he
caused the work to be done.
' X

306 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Healthful, healthy. The former means "conducive to health**;
the latter, having health. Oatmeal, therefore, is heaUhftd,
not healthy.
Help (noun) for servant is provincial.
\i Historic, historical. The former means "notable in history";
the latter, "having to do with history."
Home for at home (** He is home*') is incorrect. It is idiomatic after

verbs of motion (such as send or bring),
Hopes should not be used when the idea is not plural.
Incorrect : I was in hopes that you could go.
Correct : The war destroyed all our hopes.
How for what or that is incorrect.
Incorrect : What time is it, please ?

How?
Incorrect : I told him how his house was on fire.
Hustle (intransitive) for move (or work) rapidly is collo-
quial.
Ill (adverb), not illy, is the accepted form.
Imaginative, imaginary. See dictionary.
Immigrate, emigrate. See dictionary.
In, into. The former is usually incorrect with verbs of motion.

Incorrect : Come in the house.
In back of, for behind, is incorrect. It probably arose by analogy

with in front of, which is, of course, correct.
Incessant, continual, continiums, constant, perpetual. See dic-
tionary.
Individual, for person^ should not be used indiscriminately.
See dictionary. ^ . tj^.
' Ingenious, ingenuous. See dictionary.
Inside of for within (used of time) is crude.

Objectionable : They will probably come inside of an hour.
Invent, discover. See dictionary.
,Kind of for rather is a colloquialism.

Kind of a for kind of (" What kind of a hat do you want ? ") is
objectionable.

IMPROPRIETIES 307

Largely, chiefly. See dictionary.

Ambiguous: The meeting was largely attended by upper

classmen.
Better : The meeting was attended chiefly by upper classmen.
Many upper classmen attended the meeting.
Last, latter. See former.
'^^ Lay, lie. See dictionary.
Learn, teach. See dictionary.
Leave (verb) for let in "leave go of me" and "leave me go" is

wrongly used.
Less. See fewer,
j^ Liable, likely. The former is used of unpleasant possibilities
only ; the latter, of any possibility.
Like (verb), when used (without an object) for he satisfied, is
provincial.
Incorrect : How do they like ?
Like (conjunction) is correct before nouns, but not before clauses.
Incorrect : You speak like he does.
Correct : You speak like him.
Correct : You speak as he does.
Like for (W if (You look like you were tired) is incorrect.
Likely (adverb) for "probably, though admitted by the dictionaries,
is not in good use except when preceded by such a word
as more, quite, most, or very. Even then it is somewhat
colloquial.
Objectionable : We shall likely go."
Likely (adj.) for promising is archaic or provincial. Lowell used
it effectively when he made Hosea Biglow speak of the
"Three likely lads ez wal could be,
Haynsome an' brave an' not tu knowin'."
Locate for "fix one's residence" or "settle," and be located for
"dwell" are both objectionable.
Incorrect : We decided to locate in Colorado.
Incorrect : Where are you located now ?
Loose (verb) for lose is wholly wrong, yet very common.

308 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Lose out for lose is objectionable.
Mad, angry. See dictionary.
Majority, plurality. See dictionary.

Masterful, masterly. Both indicate command: the first sug-
^ gests a somewhat overbearing use of authority ; the second

merely suggests superior knowledge or skill.
Mean for unkind is inaccurate. See dictionary.
In our midst for in the midst of us or arnong us is not in good use.
Most (adverb) for almost or nearly is colloquial.

Most should be sparingly used when no real superlative is

intended. In such cases very is usually strong enough.
Ineffective : Most fascinating, most excellent, most fatiguing,

most extraordinary.
Mutual, cominon. The first implies reciprocity. If A is useful

to B, and B to A, then A and B are mutually usefid. If

A and B are both interested in C, then C is their comm>on

interest. The expression " a mutual friend" is therefore

incorrect.
Near and nearly shoidd not be confused.

Incorrect : I came nearly forgetting to tell you.
Correct : I came near forgetting to tell you.
Correct : I nearly forgot to tell you.
No sooner . . . when (" No sooner did the whistle blow when all

the workmen stopped ") for no sooner . . . than is incorrect.
Nor and or should be carefidly distinguished. Either . . . or

and neither . . . nor are sets which must not be broken.
Nowhere near ("There were'nowliere near fifty people in the

room ") for not nearly is incorrect.
Correct : We are nowhere near our destination yet.
01, Oh I See dictionary.
Observance, observation. See dictionary.
Odd, curious, funny, strange. See dictionary.
Off of (" He took it off of the table ") for off is incorrect.
Oftentimes for often is incorrect.
One another. See each other.

IMPROPRIETIES 309

Onto (" He threw it onto the ground ") for upon is not in good use.
On to (** Let us go on to the next word ") is, of course, correct.

Orcdy verbal. See dictionary. Notice derivation. We speak
of an oral (as distinguished from a vyriUen) examination,
and of verbal changes in a composition (as distinguished
from changes in the ideas).

Oiit loud for aloud (** He spoke right out loud ") is incorrect. ** He
spoke out loudly" is correct, but has a different meaning.

Over vrithy through with (" The practice was over with at last ") :
Better say over, done, finished, or ended.

Overly for over, too, or very ("not overly careful ") is incorrect.

Party, person. See dictionary.

Per (Lat., through, by) is correct only when a Latin noun
completes the phrase.
Incorrect : Per year.
Correct : Per annum.
Correct : Annually, each year, a year.

Per cent, percentage. See dictionary.

Perpetuxd, continual, continuxrus, constant, incessant. See dic-
tionary.

-place for where (anyplace, someplace) is incorrect. The ex-
pressions any place, some place (** Any place that suits you
will do/') are correct.

Plan on (** plan on going ") for plan to is colloquial.

Plenty (adverb) as in "These nails are plenty large enough"
is colloquial and superfluous.

Plurality, majority. See dictionary.

Posted for informed (" He is well posted on European politics ")
is colloquial.

Practical, practicable. See dictionary.

Prefer , . . than.

Incorrect : Do you prefer to go than to stay ?
Correct : Do you prefer to go or to stay ?
Correct (but redundant) : Do you prefer to go rather than to
stay?

310 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Preventive is decidedly preferable to preventative, which Webster
terms "an unnecessary and irregidarly formed doublet of
preventive,"

Proposition for task or matter (" To read Paradise Lost is a hard
proposition ") is slang.

Proved (past participle) is preferable to proven, though Scots law
still keeps its "not proven."

Provided (conj.) means "if " ; providing is a participle or gerund.
Incorrect : I will call for you, providing it does not rain.

Put in (verb) for spend is colloquial.

Put in an appearance for appeared is colloquial.

Quite means "really," "entirely," but not "rather," "some-
what."

Raise (transitive) and rise (intransitive) should not be con-
fused. See dictionary.

Rarely (or seldom) ever, for rarely, hardly ever, or seldom, is
incorrect.

Reckon. See dictionary. ^"

Remember of for remember is incorrect.

Relations, relatives. See dictionary.

Ambiguous : My relations are doubtful.

Rig for vehicle, or for costume, is incorrect.

Same for in the same way (" Do this the same as I did ") is in-
correct.

Same for it or them is objectionable. (" He received a cornet on
his birthday, and has been playing on the same ever since.")

Say with the infinitive (" He said to take a North Avenue car.")
is incorrect.

Scarcely. See hardly.

School, college. See dictionary.

Seldom ever. See rarely.

Set, sit. See dictionary.

Settle for pay (** I will settle the first of the month ") is colloquial.

Shape (noun) for condition is colloquial.

Show or show up for be present is colloquial.

IMPROPRIETIES 311

Show up for expose is colloquial.

Show for chance ("There is no show for me") is colloquial.

Sight for great quantity is colloquial.

Significance, signification'. See dictionary. ^ * '

Singular, curious, funny, odd, strange. See dictionary.

Sized as used in "A large sized rope is necessary" is incorrect.

Size up for judge is incorrect.

So for very (** So good of you to come ") is rather colloquial.

SoToe for a real (" This is some dinner ") is very colloquial.

Start in for begin is colloquial.

State (verb) for say (** I wish to state that I disapprove ") is incor-
rect. It is correct (" I wish to state my reasons for disapprov-
ing the suggestion ") when the meaning is to set forth in detail.

Story for falsehood is colloquial.

Story for any written report, whether narrative or not, is news-
paper slang.

Stop (verb) for stay is colloquial. See dictionary.
^Strange, curious, funny, odd, singular. See dictionary.

Subtle, subtile. See dictionary. -

Suppose, See expect.

Swell (noun) for a fashionable person, and sweU (adj.) for fashion-
able, are both colloquial.

Take in for attend is colloquial.

Teach, learn. See dictionary.

Team is incorrectly applied to a vehicle (" horse and team "). It
means two or more animals, either alone or with a vehicle.

That for so ("I had no idea it was that bad ") is colloquial.

That is (abbreviated form, i,e,) should not be used for "at least"
or "for example."
Incorrect : In the eighteenth century, i,e, in the early part
of the century, it was customary. (Here a better expression
would be "at least".)
Incorrect: Many Romantic poets — i,e, Scott and Cole-
ridge — were read. (Here a better phrase would be "for
example.")

312 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Tranaactiant deed. See dictionary.

Transpire means "to become known" ; it is frequently confused
with occur. ^

Correct: The event occurred in 1840; the cause, however,
did not transpire for many years.
Uninterested. See disinterested.
Verbal. See oral.

Vievypoint. Point of view is better.
Vocation. See avocation.

Ways for way or distance (** a long ways from home ") is incorrect.
When for that (" It was in 1904 when I first saw him ") is incorrect.
Where ... to for where (** Where did they go to ? ") is incorrect.
While is often loosely used, and can frequently be omitted to,
advantage.
Objectionable : George Eliot wrote novels, while Shakespeare

wrote plays.
Better: George Eliot wrote novels; Shakespeare wrote
plays.
Whose, like who, should generally be restricted to persons; it
is permissible to use it of inanimate things only if "of which " .
would be too awkward.
Objectionable : A tree whose bark ; . .
Better : A tree the bark of which ....
Wire (verb) for telegraph, and vrire (noun) for telegram, are

colloquial.
Without for unless is incorrect. -

Wrong : I shall not go without you do.
Correct : I shall not go unless you do.

Correct : I shall not go without you. ^

Write up (noun) for report, account, and turite up (verb) for
vmte are slangy.

CHAPTER X

NUMBER OF WORDS

192. It is a difficult problem to use enough words to
satisfy the requirements of clearness and of elegance
without using so many words as to injure force. Such
repetition as is not essential to clearness should be avoided.
On this point Lord Bryce's procedure is the one that we
should all adopt :

This plan involves some repetition. But an author who finds
himself obliged to choose between repetition and obscurity
ought not to doubt as to his choice. Whenever it has been
necessary to trace a phenomenon to its source, or to explain a
connection between several phenomena, I have not hesitated,
knowing that one must not expect a reader to carry in his mind
all that has been told already, to restate a material fact, or
reenforce a view which gives to the facts what I conceive to be
their true significance.

193. Have enough to say ; in fact, have too much rather
than too little. If, out of material ample for a composi-
tion of fifteen hundred words, you are trying to write a
composition of a thousand words, you will throughout
the process be trying, both consciously and unconsciously,
to be concise.

194. Mean everything you say : " One word with
blood in't's twice ez good ez two."

313

314

ENGLISH COMPOSITION

195. Remember that the greater includes the less.
Redundant : The improvement was decided and real.

196. Avoid redundant compounds : " source material "
means no more than " sources," " research work " than
" research," or " the EngUsh 1 course " than " Eng-
lish 1."

197. Avoid the kind of redundancy that comes from
talking about what you are doing instead of doing it.

Redundant : In this theme I propose to discuss the relation
of the forests to the water supply, which is, in my opinion, a
matter of great importance.

198. Be particularly careful not to be always saying
parenthetically " I think." It is assumed that you
think.

199. Avoid needless additions to your verbs.

descend down

for

descend

explain about

for

explain

join together

for

join

connect up

for

connect

meet up

for

meet

own up

for

own, acknowledge, admit

win out

for

win

lose out

for

lose

try out

for

try

start oflF

start in

for

start

start out

end up

for

end

eat up

for

eat

use up

for

use

hitch up

for

hitch

NUMBER OF WORDS 315

Undoubtedly there are eases where the use of up, as in
eat up for eai^ gives an idea of additional thoroughness,
but often it is superfluous.

200. Be careful not to use a word of classical origin
followed by a word of Germanic origin which repeats the
idea. This rule has been disregarded in such expressions
as " universally popular with all the people," " mutually
fond of each other," " a panacea for all ills," and " a
bibliography of books."

201. Avoid such stereotyped redundant expressions
as " each and every," " rules and regulations," " goods and
chattels," ** manners and customs," " any way, shape, or
manner," " various and sundry," " good and sufficient,"
" ways and means," " this day and generation," and
" one and the same."

202. Do not turn an idea over and tell us what is on
the other side of it, if it is perfectly possible to see the
back of the idea from the front. To say that the trouble
was " internal rather than external," or that something is
" the rule and not the exception," is too niuch like say-
ing that a person is " dead rather than alive."

203. Be careful not to use a very general adjective
which includes the adjective that follows it. For example,
take the sentence, " It was a clear, satisfactory account."
One of the qualities that made the account satisfactory
was its clearness. Satisfactory^ in other words, is not the
name for that portion of the pie that is left after the piece
called clearness has been cut out : it is the name for the
whole pie. We may say " clear and otherwise satis-
factory " ; but • " otherwise satisfactory " is vague. It
would be much better to cut up the rest of the pie into
pieces, as we have done in taking out the piece which we

816 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

have called clear. This mistake is very frequently made
in expressions beginning with the adjective good, or some
equally meaningless word, such as " good big piece," " good
long walk," " good practical methods," and " nice clear
day " ; but it appears elsewhere, as in the phrase " an
education that is broad, adequate, and thorough."

204. Reject the temptation to clog the sentence by
parentheses and qualifications.

Redundant : The hunter, guided — as he was — by his dog,
soon reached the spot.

Redundant : Addison's presentations of moral truths, on the
whole, are given in a pleasant and yet at the same time forcible
manner.

Be on the lookout for chances to reduce clauses to
phrases and phrases to single words. A sentence of
twenty words which has three or four clauses seems longer
than one of the same length but of simpler grammatical
construction.

Redundant : The methods which they use.

Better : Their methods.

Redundant: One of the bravest things which the Spectator
did was the attack which it made upon duelling.

Better: One of the bravest things which the Spectator did
was to attack duelling.

205. Do not hesitate to repeat where either sound or
sense makes repetition desirable. We are glad that Haz-
litt wrote of Coleridge, " He talked on forever, and you
wished him to talk on forever," rather than " He talked
on forever, and you wished him to."

NUMBER OF WORDS 317

EXERCISES
(Covering Chapters VIII, IX, and X) .

1. Improve the following sentences :

a. I will call him up on the phone.

b. The prof dismissed the class.

c. That is the most unique idea I ever heard of.

d. The king graciously mixed with the guests.
•^ I like him better than any of my friends.

/. Semicolons and colons were often used interchange-
ably, and in many instances in a sense in which commas should
have been used.

^ He had certain peculiar idiosyncrasies of his own:

h. In the front of the room is a reference library contain-
ing books to be used for reading in connection with the course.

t. As regards the results by which the Senate has become
eminent and successful, there are several causes.

j. But if one cannot write shorthand it is impracticable
as far as he is concerned.

•«. The comma seems especially troublesome : some omit
it ; others use too many of them.

I, A nice bright morning appeared when I looked out of
my window this morning.

vm. Good lecture courses are, of course, usually duly ap-
preciated.

2. Break up each of the following general words into as many
specific words as possible: go, climb, say, work (verb), eat,
misfortune, success, diflBcult, oppose, help, room, soft, hard.

3. (a) Always — never. Between these two words arrange
(in their proper order) all the words you can think of to express
diflFerent degrees of frequency and infrequency. Treat similarly

(6) loved — hated

(d) enormous — minute

{e) abominable — admirable

818 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

4. Summarize some short story or narrative poem, or some
portion of a novel, from the point of view of one of the characters.
Adapt your choice of words to the character.

5. Condense the following sentences :

•^fl) There is very little which is alike in the two books.

tffi) After the climax has been reached the interest of the
story flags decidedly.

t^(c) In spite of all the efforts which he made his opponent
drew ahead steadily.

(d) His omniscient knowledge of everything^ was re-
markable.

(e) Your overcoat is a good long one; mine is rather
worn out.

6. Reduce each of the following paragraphs to a telegram of
twenty words :

4fi) The next morning I called for the snuff-box, when
we resumed, quite eagerly, the conversation of the preceding
day. While thus engaged, however, a loud report, as if of a
pistol, was heard immediately beneath the windows of the
Hotel, and was succeeded by a series of fearful screams, and the
shoutings of a mob. D — rushed to a casement, threw it open,
and looked out. In the meantime, I stepped to the card-rack,
took the letter, put it in my pocket, and replaced it by a fac-
simile (so far as regards externals), which I had carefully pre-
pared at my lodgings — imitating the D — cipher, very readily,
by means of a seal formed of bread.

(6) We now worked in earnest, and never did I pass ten
minutes of more intense excitement. During this interval we
had fairly unearthed an oblong chest of wood, which, from its
perfect preservation and wonderful hardness, had plainly been
subjected to some mineralizing process — perhaps that of the
bichloride of mercury. This box was three feet and a half
long, three feet broad, and two and a half feet deep. It, was
firmly secured by bands of wrought iron, riveted, and forming. a
kind of trelliswork over the whole. On each side of the chest.

NUMBER OF WORDS 319

near the top, were three rings of iron — six in all — by means of
which a firm hold could be obtained by six persons. Our utmost
united endeavors served only to disturb the coflFer very slightly
in its bed. We at once saw the impossibility of removing so
great a weight. Luckily, the sole fastenings of the lid consisted
of two sliding bolts. These we drew back — trembling and
panting with anxiety. In an instant, a treasure of incalculable
value lay gleaming before us. As the rays of the lanterns fell
within the pit, there flashed upwards, from a confused heap
of gold and of jewels, a glow and a glare that absolutely dazzled
our eyes.

7. Strike out all unnecessary words in the following passage.
As it stands it contains 204 words ; count the number in your
revised version.

Among the most famous and justly celebrated of our American
writers of the nineteenth century is James Russell Lowell, the
poet, who was bom in Cambridge where his father lived in a
fine old colonial house. James was a great reader, expressing
when very young a characteristically enthusiastic and boyish
desire to read all of the Greek and Latin classics that his favorite
poet Milton had been known to have read. This was when
Lowell was only about seventeen years of age. Although he
probably had to give up this very daring and ;ambitious plan
for reading so much, yet we know that he did nevertheless
manage to read a great deal more than most men are able to do,
being equally at home in English, French, and Italian literature
and having a sympathetic knowledge if not a very profound
acquaintance with most if not all of the best of the great Euro-
pean writers of his own and earlier times. Besides this vast
and extensive knowledge of the great world of books, Lowell
was also acquainted with what some people might perhaps
be inclined to call the more actual world of affairs. He
was ambassador to England and was very successful as a
diplomat.

8. Correct the mixed figures in the sentences on pp. 294-295.

320 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

9. Examine the use of figures in College Readings ^ pp. 130 ff.,
137 ff., 352 ff., and 361 ff.

10. Write sentences illustrating the correct use of the follo^ir-
ing words :

^aim (verb)

hopes

exceptionable

^able

alternative

mutual

complement

state (verb)

demean

economic

individual (noun)

healthful

masterful

«gggravate

converse

majority

elegant

plurality

••^vocation

11. Correct the following sentences :

(a) Since you fixed my bicycle it goes first-rate.

(6) How did he aflFect his purpose ?

id) He was continuously inviting me to visit him.

(e) The judge, I am glad to say, was entirely uninterested.

(/) The enormity of the distance taxes the imagination.

(g) The event transpired two years after the access of
George in.

Qi) This is certainly not the usual acceptance of the
word.

(t) His house is further on, I guess.

{h) I was pretty near exhausted ; in fact, I have rarely
ever been as tired. Fortimately, it was soon over with.

12. Note the rhythm of the sentences in Ruskin's descrip-
tion of St. Mark's ifioUege Readings, 383 ff.).

Part V
MECHANICS

CHAPTER XI

GRAMMAR

VERBS AND THEIR SUBJECTS AND OBJECTS

206. A verb agrees with its subject in person and in
number. When a plural noun comes between a singular
subject and the verb, or a singular noun comes between a
plural subject and the verb, the verb agrees with the
subject, not with the nearer noun.

Wrong : The nature of the advertisements indicate the class
of people by whom the paper is read.

Correct : The nature of the advertisements indicates the class
of people by whom the paper is read. [Though grammatical,
this sentence is not smooth: "advertisements indicates"
is harsh and should be avoided by a rearrangement of the
sentence.]

Wrong : You was ; it don't.

Correct : You were ; it doesn't.

207. Such expressions as eachy each one, every one,
no oney one, a person, some one, somebody, everybody,
nobody, and any one take a singular verb and are referred
to by a singular pronoun.

Correct: Each person in the class toas asked to contribute

something.
Correct : Each contributed to the extent of his resources.
T 321

322 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

208. A singular verb is required when a singular sub-
ject is modified by a phrase beginning with in addition to^
as well as, along vnih, imih, or together vrith.

Correct : The president, together with the secretary, toas at
the dinner.

209. The title of a book, play, opera, or the like
takes a verb in the singular and is referred to by a pro-
noun in the singular.

Incorrect : The Adventures of Timothy are one of my favorite

books.
Incorrect: I have just finished The Heavenly Twins, and

I like them very much.

210. Sometimes the subject of a verb seems to be its
object.

Wrong : My cousin, whom I thought could not come, managed
to be there. [The meaning is not "whom I thought," but
"who, I thought, coidd not come." This particular diffi-
culty usually occurs with verbs of saying, beUeving, think-
ing, supposing, and the like, which are parenthetical and
do not affect the main construction. Compare this con-
struction with the rule for the subject of an infinitive
(§213) and carefully notice the difference.]

211. The object of a verb or a preposition is in the
objective case.

Correct : Between you and me.

212. In the case of many nouns of foreign origin, the
singular and the plural should be carefully distinguished,
in order that the correct verb may be used. Such nouns
are:

N^-

GRAMMAR 323

Singular Plural

cnsis

crises

thesis

theses

fungus

fungi

stratum

strata

phenomenon

phenomena

addendum

addenda

cherub

cherubim

seraph

seraphim

datum

data

genus

genera

index

indexes or indices

alumnus (masc.)

alumni (masc.)

alumna (fem.)

alumnae (fem.)

Correct :

The data were suflBcient.

Correct :

Both sisters were

alumnae.

213. The subject of an infinitive is in the objective
case.

Correct: I believe him to be honest. (Compare with Sec-
tion 210, and carefully notice the diflFerence between the
two constructions.)

214. The predicate substantive which completes the
infinitive should be in the objective case.

Correct : I believe the writer to be him.

ARTICLES AND PRONOUNS

215. The pronouns myself, himself , herself y and the
like, are either reflexive ("He hurt himself") or intensive
(" If you want a thing well done, you must do it yourself ").

824 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

If neither of these meanings is intended, the pronouns
ending in self should not be used.

Incorrect: George, his brother, and myself had planned to
go together.

Correct: George, his brother, and I had planned to go to-
gether.

216. This (plural these) and that (plural those) must
agree with the nouns which they modify.

Incorrect : These kind of people.
Correct : This kind of people.

THE POSSESSIVE CASE

217. The possessive ease is required before the gerund.

Correct : I was sorry to hear of John's going so soon.
Correct : There is no doubt of his going.

218. A distinction should be made between the Eng-
lish possessive case and the Latin genitive case. The
Latin genitive indicates ownership, the object of an action,
the subject of an action, measure of time, and various
other relations. The English possessive case does not
represent all of these relations. It represents possession,
but should almost never be used to indicate possession
when the subject is not a person. Thus, we may say
" the mayor's house," but not " the city's mayor." The
possessive case hardly ever indicates the object of an
action. Thus, we may not say " Belgium's invasion."
The English possessive is, however, used to indicate
measure of time in such expressions as " day's work,"
" a moment's delay," " a week's wages," " a minute's

GRAMMAR 325

notice/' and it is also used in a few idiomatic expressions,
such as " for pity's sake."

219. The possessive pronouns {his, hers, its, ours,
yours, theirs) require no apostrophe. Be particularly
careful not to confuse its,{= of it) with it's (= it is).

ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS

220. Verbs of looking, tasting, smelling, feeling, sound-
ing, and the like, are completed by an adjective if the
meaning is that the object seems to be of a certain quality.
But if the desire is to modify the verb, an adverb is
required.

Correct : It tastes sweet. [That is, to the sense of taste it

seems to be sweet.]
Correct : She sang sweetly.
Correct : These shoes look good. [That is, seem to be good

shoes.]
Correct : "Look well to your speech."

221. Verbs meaning to make (by cutting, rubbing, etc.),
like those meaning seem to be (see Section 220), are com-
pleted by an adjective.

Correct : He planed the board smooth. [That is, by planing

he caused the board to be smooth.]
Correct: Rub dry'; cut short; boil soft.

222. Do not forget that nicely, poorly, and weakly
are adverbs, not adjectives. Do not, therefore, say,
" He is poorly." Say rather, " He is ill."

223. Remember that likely, some, certain, real, sure, first-
rate, slow, this, and that are adjectives, not adverbs. Do not,
therefore, say, " He will likely go " when you mean " He

326 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

will probably go " ; or " He is some better " for " He is
somewhat better " ; or " They were real kind to us " if
you mean " very kind."

224. Comparison is impossible with adjectives and
adverbs the meaning of which is absolute ; for example,
complete, perfect, unique, universal, spotless. There are
degrees of approach to perfection, but not degrees of
perfection. We may, therefore, say more nearly perfect,
most nearly perfect, and perfect, but beyond .that we can-
not go.

225. Former, latter, less, lesser, greater, and other com-
paratives are to be used instead of the corresponding
superlatives (first, last, least, greatest) when only two per-
sons or things are in question.

Wrong : The last half of the book is the most interesting.
Correct : The latter half of the book is the more interesting.

But these comparatives are sometimes used wjien no two
things are definitely being compared ; for example, " in
former times."

VERBS

226. Passive Voice. — Use the passive voice sparingly :
it is usually more interesting to read that some one did
a thing than that the thing was done by somebody. Be
especially careful

1. Not to cause a needless violation of unity by
changing the voice in the middle of a sentence.

Bad : He read the first volume in the morning, and the
second volume was completed before bedtime.

GRAMMAR 327

2. Not to use the passive ordinarily when no agent
is indicated.

Weak : A committee was appointed.

Better : The governor appointed a committee.

Sometimes caution leads us to say, "A mistake has ap-
parently been made " when we do not know, or do not
wish to tell, who made the mistake; and Francis Park-
man, who disliked to talk about himself, wrote a long
account of his life, in which he regularly said, "An efiFort
was made " instead of " I made an efiFort."

227. Shall and Will. — 1. To indicate simple futurity
in direct discourse, the forms are :

I shaU We shall

You will You will

He wiU They will

2. To indicate determination, promise, prophecy, com-
mand, or threat, the forms are

I wiU We wiU

You shall ' You shall

He shall They shall

3. In indirect discourse (that is, in subordinate clauses
after verbs of saying^ thinking^ supposing, and the like)
the forms are

(a) If the subjects of the main clause and the subor-
dinate clause are the same, shall throughout. For
example, " I think I shall." " Do you imagine that you
shall? " "He supposes that he shall."

(6) If the subjects are not the same, the forms (/ shall,
you vdll, etc.) used in direct discourse.

Should and would follow the rules for shall and urUL

328 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

228. May and Can. May indicates permission ; can indi-
cates possibility. Thus, "I may go" means "I have per-
mission to go " ; or, with a diflFerent intonation, it may
mean " It is possible that I shall go." " You may go "
means " You have my permission to go." " I can go *'
means " I am able to go."

Wrong: You can go. (If the meaning is ''You have my

permission to go.")
Correct : You may go.

Might and could follow the rules of may and can.

229. The time of the action in dependent clauses and
infinitives depends upon that indicated by the main
clause.

Wrong : I wanted to have seen you before you left.
Correct : I wanted to see you before you left.

230. The present tense (sometimes called the " uni-
versal present ") should usually be employed for general
statements which are supposed to be permanently true.

Correct: Benjamin Franklin believed that honesty is the
best policy.

231. Do not use the present tense for the future.

Incorrect : I hope it does not rain to-morrow.
Correct : I hope it will not rain to-morrow.

232. Be cautious in using the so-called " historical
present" in order to give vividness. Be particularly
carefid not to jumble together past tenses and historical
presents. If you are summarizing the action of a book,
you may say, " Hamlet follows the ghost ofiF the stage " ;

GRAMMAR 329

but do not try to secure vividness by saying, " He pauses,
he trembles. . . ."

233. Do not allow an adverb or other word to come
between the parts of the present or the perfect infinitive.

Incorrect : To publicly acknowledge the mistake.
Correct : Publicly to acknowledge the mistake.
Correct : To acknowledge the mistake publicly.
Incorrect: To have individually thanked them would have

been better.
Correct: To have thanked them individually would have

been better.

234. The complement of an intransitive verb is put
in the nominative case. This rule presents some difficul-
ties in connection with the verb to be.

Incorrect : It is me.

Incorrect : It was him that I wanted to see.

A verb agrees with its subject, not with its predicate
noun.

Correct : The next thing to consider is tables and chairs.

236. Collective nouns (like committee, jury, family,
majority, audience, army) take

(a) The singular number when they are represented as
units acting like one person.

Correct : The committee has adjourned.

(6) The plural when the individuals who make up the
group are thought of separately.

Correct : The majority are poor meo.

236. A compound subject connected by ei/Aer ... or or
neither . . . nor takes

(a) A singular verb when each of the subjects is singular.

830 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

(b) A verb which agrees with the member nearer the verb
when the members of the combined subject differ in
number.

Correct : Neither regret nor apology was required.
Correct : Neither regret nor apologies were required.
Correct : Neither apologies nor regret was required.

237. The subject of a verb must be in the nominative
case. When a pronoun is the subject of a verb under-
stood but not expressed, this rule still holds.

Correct: You are yoimger than he. [He is the subject of
is understood.]

238. Confusion between Parts of Speech.

Affect is a verb, not a noun.

Clerk is a noun, not a verb.

Considerable is an adjective, not an adverb.

Feature is a noun, not a verb.

First-rate is an adjective, not an adverb.

Gesture is a noun, not a v^b.

Heaps is a noun, not an adverb.

Invite is a verb, not a noun.

Loan is a noun, not a verb.

Most is an adjective, not an adverb. *

Near-by is an adverb, not an adjective.

Per cent is a phrase, not a noun.

Probe (meaning " investigate ") is a verb, not a noun.

Raise is a verb, not a noun.

Real is an adjective, not an adverb.

Recommend is a verb, not a noun.

Sv^spidon is a noun, not a verb.

Total is a noun, not a verb.

Up to date is a phrase, not an adjective.

Win is a verb, not a noun.

CHAPTER XII

PUNCTUATION

239. General Considerations. — 1. Punctuation is not
to be thought of as an additional biu^den devised by the
teacher in order to make it harder to write correctly, but
rather as an additional means of avoiding ambiguity and
securing just the right shade of meaning.

2. A writer who has this wrong idea of punctuation
usually feels that he must first write his theme and then
go over it and punctuate it. An experienced writer who
has really learned to use punctuation — just as he would
use connectives — as one of his most necessary tools,
punctuates as he goes along. Naturally ; because he means
his punctuation just as much as he means his words.

3. The rules of punctuation are almost completely
controlled by common sense.

4. Most inexperienced writers underpunctuate.

5 . Most inexperienced writers overwork the comma
and the dash, because they do not completely understand
the use of the colon and the semicolon.

6. The efiFect of this unfamiliarity with the uses of
the colon and the semicolon is to diminish the number of
possible sentence-patterns that the writer thinks of as he
forms his ideas into clusters. Consequently, one of the
ways to learn to write more mature sentences is to learn
to punctuate them.

SSI

832 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

THE COLON

The colon is used i

240. Before a series of particulai^ formally introduced. >y

Correct: The procession will form in the following order:
first, etc.

Correct : Having got everything ready, proceed thus : re-
move the back of the camera, etc.

In connection with this construction, remember :

1. Not to use it when the list of particulars cannot
be got into a single sentence.

Incorrect : There are two reasons why I had rather walk :
first because I am more independent. And then consider
how much more exercise I shall get.

2. Not to say "the following," but " the following
rules," " the following books," etc. That is, always
have a noun for " following " to modify.

3. Not to use the colon or any other mark of punc-
tuation when the list of particulars is notformaUy introduced.

Incorrect : Provide yourself with : matches, knife, and com-
pass.
Correct : Provide yourself with matches, knife, and compass.

241. To separate the parts of a compoimd sentence
when they are not bound together by a conjimction,
provided that the second part proves or explains the first.

Correct : In one respect, at least, he was distinguished : he
had dined with the king.

A simple test of this construction is to ask if the first
part of the sentence is really equivalent to the formal
introduction (" the following order ") spoken of in the

PUNCTUATION 333

preceding rule. That is, does the sentence about the
man who had dined with the king really mean " he was
distinguished for the following reason : he had dined with
the king " ? Clearly it does. Therefore, the colon is
required. As you go on, you will often wish to write
such sentences, because they are less formal than those
mentioned under the preceding rule.

the'semic(mx)n

The semicolon is used

242. To separate the clauses of a compound sentence
when they are not bound together by a conjunction.

Correct: They have no curiosity; they cannot give them-
selves over to random provocations; they do not take
pleasure in the exercise of their faculties for its own sake.
— Stevenson.

243. To separate the clauses of a compound sentence
when they are bound together, not by a conjunction, but
by a conjunctive adverb (such as accordingly, also, hence,
however, besides, moreover, still, then, and therefore).

Correct : He had expected no such reward ; hence he was all
the more delighted when it came.

244. Whenever a mark similar to a comma, but heavier, ^x^
is needed. This is particularly the case with a series of
long phrases or clauses of which one or more contain
commas.

Correct : Daniel Defoe wrote RoMnson Crusoe, which every
one has read ; The True-bom Englishman, which is fairly
well known ; and the Review, which is hardly known at all.
[Notice that but for the relative clauses these three titles
would be separated by commas.]

334 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

THE COMMA

The comma is used

246. To set off words in apposition.

Correct : The final speaker, a sophomore, made an excellent

impression.

246. To set off words inserted parenthetically.

Correct : The game, however, was not yet lost.

247. To set off a vocative.

Correct : You yourself, Sir, have shown us the way.

248. To separate the clauses of a compoimd sentence,
if they are joined by a conjimction and if (see Section 243)
a semicolon is not required.

Correct : The battle was sharp and decisive, and all was over
in three quarters of an hour.

249. To separate the members of a series, provided
(see Section 244) a semicolon is not required.

Correct : They were a plodding, industrious, religious people.

Note that a comma is generally used after the next
to the last member of such a series even when and follows.

Correct : Men, women, and children.

Note also that the comma is not used to separate from
its noun the final adjective of a series.

Incorrect : A huge, expensive, ugly, chair.
Correct : A huge, expensive, ugly chair.

Note also that if the final adjective of such a series is
very closely connected with its noun the preceding adjec-
tive is not followed by a comma.

PUNCTUATION 335

Correct : A poor old man. [Here old man has the effect of
a single' word; consequently there should be no comma
after poor. A fairly good test in such cases is to ask if
the last two adjectives can be transposed : if they cannot,
the rule above may safely be applied.]

260. To separate a non-restrictive clause from its ante-
cedent.

Correct: The secretary of the club, who spoke next, ad-
vanced a better argument.

That this is clearly a non-restrictive clause may be
seen by contrasting it with a restrictive clause; for
example, " Members of the club who favor the motion
will please raise their hands." If the words members of
the club stood alone they would be unrestricted, — that
is, they would indicate all the members. But the clause
who favor the motion restricts, or narrows, the meaning
of the antecedent so that it includes not all, but those
only to whom the clause applies. The clause, therefore,
limits the meaning of its antecedent just as an adjective
would do. It is built right into the sentence. To remove
it would change the meaning. Consequently we do not
wish, by surroinding it with commas, to give the impres-
sion that it could be removed without altering the sense.
On the other hand, if the non-restrictive clause in the
earlier example be removed, the remaining words (" The
secretary of the club advanced a better argument ")
still keep their meaning.
I Summary: Restrictive relative clauses, being built
iin, are not punctuated; non-restrictive relative clauses,
Ibeing removable, are punctuated.

336 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

The relative pronoun that is preferable to which in
restrictive clauses.

261. Restrictive and non-restrictive phrases are pre-
cisely similar to restrictive and non-restrictive clauses,
and follow the same rules.

Correct : The day following the storm was clear. [Restric-
tive phrase, and therefore not punctuated.]

Correct : The soldiers, following the example of their leader,
plunged in. [Non-restrictive phrase, and therefore punc-
tuated.]

262. To separate from the main clause a preceding
clause, a long phrase, or an absolute construction.

Correct: When all the votes had been counted, the chair-
man announced the result. [Clause preceding main clause.]

Correct: In spite of every precaution known to the most
skillful scientists of all the world, the experiment failed.
[Long phrase preceding main clause.]

Correct : The votes having been counted, the chairman an-
nounced the result. [Absolute construction preceding
nuiin clause.]

263. To set oflF certain connectives (such as however,
moreover^ nevertheless, accordingly, on the other hand, and
the like) from the words which follow them. But note
(Section 243) that a semicolon is often Required before
these words, and note also that sometimes they are so
closely connected with what follows that no comma is
needed after them.

264. To indicate a pause.

Not incorrect : I will do so if I can.

Better (if more hesitation is to be suggested) : I will do so, if

I can. [A dash (see Section S61) would make the pause

still more suggestive.]

PUNCTUATION 337

256. To make the meaning clear.

Misleading : From the mountain wagons could be seen.
Clear : From the mountain, wagons could be seen.

THE APOSTROPHE

The apostrophe is used

266. To form the possessive of most nouns.

1. Most singular nouns (and plural nouns not end-
ing in s) form the possessive by adding '5. Plural nouns
ending in s form the possessive by adding merely the
apostrophe.

2. Singular nouns which end in s usually form the
possessive by adding 's, but may add merely the apos-
trophe.

Incorrect : Keat's, Bum's, Dicken's.

Correct : Keats's or Keats*, Bums's or Bums', Dickens's or
Dickens'.

3. The phrases somebody (or some one) else, nobody
(or no one) else, and everybody (or every one) else form the
possessive by adding 's to else.

Correct : Somebody else's shoes are in my locker.

267. To form the plural of words, letters, or figures.

Correct : Dot your i's and cross your fs.
Correct : Do not use so many and*8.

Correct : Make your 4's more plainly. (But, of course, we
should say, " The men marched in column of fours.")

268. The apostrophe is not used

1. To form the nominative plural of proper nouns.

Incorrect : The Thomas's both came.
Correct : The Thomases both came.
z

388 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

2. To form the possessive case of pronouns.

Incorrect : It's effect was startling.
Correct: Its effect was startling.

THE DASH

The dash is used

259. To inclose words which are interpolated. For
this purpose the dash is more informal than the paren-
thesis.

Correct : We may not be said to be able to study — a for-
tiori do any of the things we study for — miless we are
able to speak.

260. To indicate an abrupt change of direction in the
thought.

Correct : While as for Socrates — but enough of philosophy.

261. To indicate a marked pause for dramatic effect. -^

Correct : I opened the door, expecting to see you, and there
was — the Dean.

262. After a comma, to indicate that what follows is in
apposition with, or an expansion of, what precedes.

Correct : The day before Christmas I lost my purse, — a
particularly unfortunate accident at just that time.

THE HYPHEN

The hyphen is used

263. At the end of a line (never at the beginning of the
following line) when the last word in the line is divided.

Correct : The building had been imder construction for sev-
eral months.

PUNCTUATION 339

264. To separate the parts of certain compound
words. (If in doubt, consult the dictionary.) Note that
there is no hyphen in together, semicolon, fooibali.

266. The ironical use of marks of interrogation and
exclamation should be avoided.

Objectionable : With these polite ( ?) words, he slammed the

door.
Objectionable : After this modest ( !) dinner, we did not feel

like doing much.

PUNCTUATION OP TITLES

266. Though some publishers print titles of books in
ordinary type, the usual practice is to employ either
italics — the sign for which is a single line drawn under
each word to be italicized — or quotation marks. Par-
ticular care should be taken to leave no doubt whether
the title of a book or the name of a character is meant :
Tom Jones and Tom Jones, Hamlet and Hamlet, are
quite difiFerent. (Cf. § 318.)

PUNCTUATION OP QUOTATIONS AND OP CONVERSATION

267. A quotation introduced by one's own words
should be preceded by a comma, comma and dash, colon,
or colon and dash, according to the length of the quota-
tion and the formality with which it is introduced.

268. A direct quotation should be preceded and fol-
lowed by double marks of quotation. An indirect quo-
tation, unless the writer desires to call particular atten-
tion to certain words in it, should not be inclosed in
quotation marks.

Correct : "I do not care to go,** he said. [Direct quotation.]

840 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Correct: He said that he did not care to go. [Indirect

quotation.]
Correct: Emerson said that the Lord's Supper did not

"interest" him. [Indirect quotation calling attention to

some of Emerson's phraseology.]

269. When the quotation is cut into two or more parts
by interpolations (such as " said he," " I replied," etc.),
each of the parts should be inclosed in double marks of
quotation.

Correct: "Some books," says Bacon, "are to be tasted,
others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and
digested."

270. When long passages are quoted, the usual practice
is to place quotation marks at the beginning of the quota-
tion, at the beginning of each paragraph, and at the end.

271. A quotation within a quotation should be sur-
rounded by single quotation marks.

Correct: "Do you remember," he asked, "that phrase of
Lowell's about the crows that 'flapped over' by two's
and three's ? "

272. Do not make a practice of using quotation marks
to excuse slang. If a phrase requires apologetic quota-
tion marks, it is usually not the best phrase to employ.

Objectionable : We "took in" the "show."
Better : We went to the play.

But technical terms, and words referred to as such,
may be inclosed in quotation marks.

Correct : He explained what a " range-finder " was. [Tech-
nical term.]

Correct : The derivation of " wanton " is interesting. [Word
referred to as such.]

CHAPTER XIII

SPELLING

There are various reasons which make some words diffi-
cult for all to spell and many words difficult for some.

273. Many words come from foreign languages and
have in part kept their foreign form. If we do not know
the foreign language in question, we are likely to forget
that such words as dSnouement and littSrateur have been
taken over without any change in form. So, though we
have no accents in English and though literature has been
in the language so long as to lose one of its <'s, we must
spell dSnouement and littSrateur in the foreign way and
pronounce them in the foreign way until good usage
permits a change. Compare also

fiance (masc.) fiancee (fern.)

n6e (fern.)
alumnus (masc. sing.) alumna (fern.)

alunmi (masc. pi.) alumnee (fem. pi.)

274. Many English words come from foreign languages
and carry about them signs of their origin which are not
perceived by those ignorant of these languages and not
always recalled by those who know only a little of them.
For example, the prefix ante- means before (as in antecedent,
anteroom, and antedate) ; the prefix anti- means against
(as in antislavery). To remember one's Latin, Greek,

S41

342

ENGLISH COMPOSITION

French, and German is, therefore, a great help in spelling
correctly.

276. It is quite possible, however, to misspell by re-
calling a foreign spelling when one should not do so ; for
example, to put two ^'s in literature or to write delitig for
ceiling.

276. Many misspellings are due to carelessness in
pronunciation, especially of unaccented syllables ; that is
to say, many persons misspell because when they write
they imitate the inaccurate pronunciation of themselves
and those about them. This fact goes far to account for
the frequent misspelling of such words as " candidate, "
"February," "government," "laboratory," "miniature,"
" sophomore," and " zoology."

277. Many words are pronounced alike or nearly alike,
but spelled diflFerently :

alley

aUy

angel

angle

bom

borne

breath

breathe

canvas

canvass

capital

capitol

cite

sight

cloths

clothes

coarse

course

complement

compliment

deceased

diseased

decent

descent

desert

dessert

dual

duel

dyeing

dying

fir

fur

formerly

formally

site

dissent

SPKTJJNG

idle

ideal idyl(l)

later

latter

lead

led

lessen

lesson

lightening

lightning

passed

past

planned

planed

precede

proceed

principal

principle

quite

quiet

rap

wrap

-right (copyright)

-Wright (playwright)

shone

shown

stationary (adj.)

stationery (noun)

statue

stature statute

strait

straight

then

than

there

their

thorough

through

too two

track

tract

weather

whether

who's

whose

you're

your

343

278. The confusion of prefixes is frequent.
1. Ante- (= before) and anti- ( = against).

Correct: anteroom, antedate, antediluvian, antecedent.
Correct : antislavery, anticlimax.

(But anticipatey where we should expect ante-, is an
exception.)
%. Al- and all-.

Correct: Almighty, almost, already, altogether, always.
{Alright for aU right should particularly be avoided.)

344 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

3. De- ( = about) and di(s)- ( = apart from).

Correct : Describe, descent, despair.

Correct : dissent, disappear, disappoint, dissatisfy, distribute,
divide.

4. For-, fore-, and four-.

Correct : forbear, forty.

Correct : forefinger, forehead, foresee, forewarn.

Correct: fourteen.

279. The confusion of suffixes is also frequent.

1. -al, -el, and -le.

Compare pedal, peddle ; model, muddle.

2. -al and -all.
Correct : withal, gradual.

3. -anee, -ence, -ense, and -ents.

Correct: attendance, perseverance, assistance (cf. assistants).
Correct : coherence, independence (cf . dependents or depend-
ants).

Correct : defense or defence.
Correct: precedence (cf. precedents).

4. -ar, -er, -eur, and -or. This is the great class of
nouns of agency. The largest number of them end in -er,
but many take the other terminations.

Correct: beggar, burglar, scholar, vulgar, calendar (noim),
collar.

Correct : amateur, chauffeur, connoisseur, grandeur, monsieur.

Correct : actor, bachelor, cultivator, demonstrator, educator,
inspector, operator, professor, separator, suitor, tailor, trans-
gressor, translator.

(In the 'Of words we have to be particularly careful
when, as very often happens, -^yr is added to a verb.

SPELLING 345

Thus, alligator, corridor, and hector are much easier to
spell than actor and translator.

Help in spelling some of these words may be found by
remembering derivatives in which the troublesome letter
comes under the accent and is, therefore, very easily
recognized. Thus, in burglar the a is unaccented, and
many persons are tempted to write it as an &; but in
burglarious the a, coming under the accent, stands out
cleariy. Compare tutor — tutorial, jyrofessor — professor
rial, dictator — dictatorial, orator — oratorical, and equator
— equatorial.

5. -ar and -iar. Similar and familiar are especially
troublesome.

6. -ary and -ery.

Correct : stationary (adj.), imaginary, dictionary, confection-
ary, visionary.

Correct: stationery (noun), cemetery.

7. -ess, the feminine termination, and -ness, the abstract
termination, are especially troublesome when the stem to
which they are added ends in n. Compare lioness and
meanness.

8. -ful (not full). Masterful, dutiful, powerful, and
many words ending in -ful make no trouble because they
do not, like handful, cupful, armful, and spoonful, suggest
a phrase having the same sound and meaning. Compare

He carried a cupful of tea.

He carried a cup full of tea.

Note. — The plural is -fuls, e.g., cupfuls.

9. -for and -fore. Distinguish between therefor and
therefore.

10. -ible and -able. No rule can be given to dis-

846 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

tinguish these common suffixes. We should expect -ahle
m words from the Latin first conjugation and -ible in
words from the other conjugations. This rule, however,
often fails. There are many more words in -able than
'ible. The following words in -ible are frequently mis-
spelled :

accessible forcible

audible illegible

comprehensible indestructible

convertible plausible

eligible sensible
expressible

11. -ise and -ize. The error is more likely to be the
use of 'ize for -ise than the reverse.

Correct: advise (of. the noun advice), devise (cf. the noun
device), surmise,' surprise.
Correct: civilize.

12. -y and -ey.

Correct : ally, embassy, vary.
Correct : galley, medley, pulley.

280. Many misspellings occur through confusion of
words which, though distinguishable in sound, are nat-
urally associated. Thus, genealogy and mineralogy are
often misspelled because the ending -ology (as in geology
and theology) is the more frequent. Height is troublesome
because the analogy of depth, width, breadth, etc., tempts
us to add an h. Twelfth needs attention because there
is no V in it, as there is in the commoner word twelve.

281. Vowel changes often occur when abstract termina-
tions are added to nouns or verbs, and these changes must
be remembered. Compare

SPKTJJNG

abstain

abstinence

explain

explanation

maintain

maintenance

pronounce

pronunciation

speak

speech

sustain

sustenance

347

282. The combinations ei and ie are very frequently
confused. If either a c or an Z precedes, some help can
be got from the so-called " Celia rule," which is that after
c, e comes before i (as it does in Celia), and that after /,
i follows (as it does in Celia). Other troublesome words
in this class are deign, feign, feint, siege, seize, sieve.

283. Transposition is liable to occur in such words as
tragedy (often misspelled tradegy), perhaps, straie^ic,
accustomed, irreZet;ant.

284. Words like sergeant are often misspelled because
certain letters in them are not pronounced as written.

286. Of the many troublesome proper names, a few
that occur frequently may be mentioned:

Edgar Allan Poe Kszlitt Edmund Spender

Jane Austen Ben Jonson Thackeray

British Samuel Johnson WooZZey

Coleridge Macaulay Woodberry

George (and Presi- Shelley Wordsworth

dent) Eliot Herbert Spencer

286. Words often Misspelled.

(The troublesome part of the word is usually italicized.)

accommodate adviser a%

accustomed agreeable all right (never alright)

acknowledge (cf . aisle already (cf . the phrase

priviZe^e) alley all ready)

S48

ENGLISH COMPOSITION

altogether (cf. the
phrase all together)

alumnus (masc.

sing.)

alumna (fern, sing.)

alumni (masc. pi.)

alumnse (fern, pi.)

angel

angle

Edgar Allan Poe

anonj^mous

apparent (cf. ap-
pear)

arctic

asssLSsin

a^lete

attach

attendance

audience

hsLckeloT
baZance
battalion
beaux (plural)
beggar
beginning

behavior (or be-
haviour)
belief

benefi/ed, beneMng
born
borne
boundary
breathe (verb)
burglar

Bums' or Bums*s

(not Bum's)
bunness

calendar (noun)

calender (verb)

casualty

catalogue

cemetery

ceremony

changeable

choice

choose

chose

clothes (garments)

dothff (pi. of cloth)

coherence

complement

complexion

compliment

conceive

confectionary

convenience

conscience

conscientious

contemporary

criticize

crystal

currant

current

customary

decease
deceive
decision
definite

describe

despair

desperate

despondent

dessert (cf . deserf)

develop (e) (But not

devettope)
Dickens (poss.

Dickens' or

Dickens's)
dictionary
dining
disagreeable
disaj92>ear
disappoint
disapprove
disease
dispe/
dissipate
divide
dropped

ecstacy

eighth

eligible

EZiot (George and

President Charles

W.)
embarrass
especiatty
exa^^erate
exceZ
exhilarate
extension
extoZ

SPELLING

349

familiar (cf . similar)

interrupt

odor

fascinate

irrefe»ant

Odyssey

feasible

irresistible

February

it's {it is)

fianc^ (masc.)

its (possessive

of i^)

parallel

fiancee (fem.)

parliament

forctble

Johnson, Dr. Samuel

playwright

formally

Jonson, Ben

politics

formerly

journal

po5^ess

forth

judg(e)ment

predecessor

forty

preferred

fourth

kaowledge (cf .

privi-

prescribe

freshman (adj.)

lege)

privileflre (cf. knowl-
edge)

gaol

laboratory

pro/essor

genealogy

legitimate

pronunciation (cf.

^aw

licence

pronoun)

government

lightning (

cf.

prophecy (noun)

grievous

lightening)

prophesy (verb)

guardian

lilies

propose

literature

proscribe

harass

loose

Psyche

height

lose

purpose

heinous

lovable

pursue

hoarse

maintain

Hiad

maintenance

really

impossible

manageable

receptacle

independent

meanness

referred

indispensable

miniature

rehearsal

infinite

religious

ingenious

nee

repetition

ingenuous

rhythm

insensible

oblipre

righteous

intellect

occasiona^i/

ridiculous

350

ENGLISH COMPOSITION

sacrilegious

sM(})ful

undoubte^fly (not

scholar

imdoubtaWy)

secretary

Spender, Edmund

unti/

semicolon (not

subordinate

semi-colon)

successful

vegetable

sensttive

supercede

villain

serviceable

swimming

SheUey

we/fare

shining

Webh

shriek

temperament

siege

Thackeray

yeoman

sieve

truly

simi^r (cf . familiar)

twelfth

CHAPTER XIV

PRONUNCIATION

287. General Considerations. — As soon as we stop to
think about it, we realize that most of our English com-
position consists of speech. The number of words that
we utter in a single week is for most of us greater than the
number that we write in a year. The bearing of this upon
the whole matter of correctness and ease in written com-
position is obvious : if we allow a gulf to form between our
careful written composition and our careless spoken Eng-
lish, the mother tongue will never be really useful to us
either in speech or writing.

Nothing is of greater importance than that we should
try to apply in speech everything that we learn about
writing. We must overcome a certain bashfulness which
makes nearly all of us afraid to speak as well as we can and
as we know we should. We must overcome the notion
that precision of speech does not go with force of character,
that it is a part of the critical, aesthetic temperament,
rather than the rough and ready, efficient temperament.
We must remember that a nation cannot become great
unless it has a language, and that it can have no language
worthy of the name unless we all help to take care of it.
Read aloud, therefore, both your own writing and the
work of others. The more you do so, the better you
will speak and write. Practice by yourself. Use every

S51

352 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

opportunity to speak in unison with others, for you can
then practice without attracting attention. If you catch
yourself falling into bad pronunciation when you are
hurried, mark the words which bother you, take them up
one by one when you are alone and have plenty of time,
learn to speak them correctly, and then practice using
them more and more rapidly imtil no emergency can trap
you into error.

288. The Speaking Voice. — Even in a book on
English composition a word should be said about the use
of the voice. As a nation, Americans are ridiculed abroad
for their unpleasant voices. They are said to speak too
loudly and too much through the nose. Certainly the
contrast between the average English voice and the
average American voice gives an American small reason
to feel proud. Every one should, therefore, remember to
speak from his lips rather than from his throat or through
his nose, to use enough voice but not too much, to avoid
speaking always on the same level, to speak distinctly,
and to cultivate a bright, crisp voice, full of color and
flexibility, and not a thick, flat voice which muffles and
dulls the tone. Many of these good qualities will creep
into our voices as soon as we remember that, in order to
speak, we must open our mouths and use our lips. Milton
wrote that the speech of boys should " be fashioned to a
distinct and clear pronunciation, as near as may be to the
Italian, especially in the vowels. For we Englishmen,"
he thought, " being far northerly, do not open our mouths
in the cold air wide enough to grace a southern tongue;
but are observed by all other nations to speak exceeding
close and inward." Watch yourself and see if this is not
more or less true in your case.

PRONUNCIATION 353

289. Good Usage in Speech. — Loyalty to country and
to locality ought not to make us cling to bad English.
We are not Englishmen, of course : we do not pronounce
were as if it rhymed with there, or black as if it rhymed with
check. At the same time, it is a safe rule to require every
perceptible departure from English usage to justify itself.
For example, in such words as observatory, conservatory,
stationery, and military the Englishman hits the accented
syllable hard and rushes the others; many Americans
pump out those syllables so that the last word sounds
like MiUy Terry. In these cases the American pronuncia-
tion is certainly eccentric and should be modified in the
direction of the English pronimciation.. And so it is with
many words.

The habits of speech in our own locality often seem
curious to people from other localities. Sometimes we
are right and they are wrong, but sometimes it is the
other way. In rural New England the final r is slighted.
The hoss is driven down the ** road." ^ In this same New
England the ** chickin " sits on the roof, and many other
things happen which could not possibly occur where
English is correctly pronounced. The long a is stretched
too far. Black barss are caught, and in a marss of other
words this important vowel is too much lengthened. In
the West, final r is overdone and the unaccented e tends to
becomes u in certain words, with the result that tickuts
for the theater-r-r are bought by those who do not prefer-r
to sit on the por-r-rch and read poums; while in the next
house the sopranna accompanies herself on the pianna.
In the South, where the fried chicken is so good, people

^ The oa in road is often pronounced in New England with a rounded
u, much like the French o (as in hotle),

354 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

sit on the 'po*ch and play kyards. Even the metropolis
is not perfect : " It was," says Kipling in My Sunday ai
Hornet " the unreproducible, slid r as he said this was his
* fy-ist ' visit to England, that told me he was a New
Yorker from New York." It was probably this same man
who talked about vy-ibs and gy-irls.

The more definite mistakes of pronunciation may be
roughly divided into

(a) The incorrect pronunciation of letters (§§ 290-302).
(6) Incorrect accent (§ 303).

(c) The omission of letters that are in the word and the inser-
tion of letters that are not in it (§ 304).
{d) Slovenly slurrings (§ 305).
(e) Mistakes in the pronunciation of foreign words (§ 306).

It will be convenient to consider these separately.

290. Incorrect Pronunciation of Letters. — Let us take
up the vowels, accented and unaccented, and note a few
common mistakes under each. As we do so, let us partic-
ularly notice the difficulties raised by unaccented vowels.
The more one considers these difficulties, the more one
agrees with Richard Grant White's remark that " it is in
the delicate but firm utterance of the unaccented vowels
with correct sound that the cultured person is most surely
distinguished from the uncultured."

291. Accented a. — Accented a is often incorrectly
pronounced in apparatus, apricot, gratis, status, was (not
vmz) mineralogy, and genealogy. Care should be taken in
pronouncing have. The Yankee farmer says " hev ye,"
and so, more or less, do many New Englanders. The
broad a seems likely to come in. Some New Englanders,
as we have seen above, overdo it; but unquestionably

PRONUNCIATION 355

aunty laugh, last, past, and fast, as pronounced in New
England, have the weight of authority so distinctly on
their side that laff and ant are fast becoming provincial.

292. Unaccented a. — Unaccented a tends to become
u in such words as melancholy; to disappear in such words
as pedal (" The pedoZ of the bicycZe," for example, is often
pronounced as if these two nouns had the same ending) ;
or to become i in such words as damage, cabbage, and
package. When the word have is unaccented (" He ought
to have gone ") it is often so badly treated that it sounds
like of, and sometimes is written so.

293. Accented e, — Accented e must be given a clear e
sound and not allowed to slide into a u sound, as it does
when some people say America, Philadelphia, cellar,
yellow, and merry,

294. Unaccented e, — Unaccented e sometimes makes
trouble in the words enough, connected, endure, and poem.
It is particularly common to forget that the italicized e*s
in daguerreotype and vaudeville are silent. Then we
have the many words in -ent which we must not make sound
like unt or like a vocalic n. Student, for example, is not
stoodunt, nor is it stood^nt. And the case is similar with
element, different, and independent. In hundred the e
should be protected from a w-sound. Verbs ending in -en,
like lighten and weaken, present the same dangers as words
in -ent. Remember not to pronounce intellect as if it were
spelled interlect, and do not slight the second e in telegram,

296. Accented i. — Accented i makes comparatively
little trouble, but attention should be paid to the i in
'itis (tonsillitis, bronchitis, appendicitis), which has the
sound of i, not of long e. Usage diflFers in the case of
words ending in -Ue: in England these words are usually

S56 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

pronounced long, as in hostile. In America, the i, as in
infantile, may usually be either long or short.

296. Unaccented i. — Unaccented i, in careless speech,
verges well toward w, as in American and inclination. In
biography, Italian, and genuine it should be carefully
treated, and from medicine it should not be omitted.

297. Accented o. — Accented o needs to be protected
from the prolonged aw sound. To say sa-awfUy is to
spoil any line of poetry — or prose either, for that matter
— in which that beautiful word occurs. The aw sound
also tends to spoil Boston, coffee, cost, dog, God, lost, gone,
and song. In New England there is a tendency to make
cluset out of closet and to give the short instead of the long
sound to the double o in such words as broom, room, soon,
and root. An extraordinary number of people put an
extra o into zoology making it zoo-ology, — perhaps be-
cause the abbreviation of zoological garden to zoo misleads
them.

298. Unaccented o. — Unaccented o, when carelessly
pronounced, tends to disappear or to become u : it dis-
appears when some people pronounce history, and easily
becomes u in society, philosophy, somebody, record, loco-
motive, and percolate.

299. Accented u. — Accented u is perhaps the worst
treated of all vowels, particularly in homely words like
stew, where we tend to give it the double o sound; and
the same tendency more or less injures duty, student, duly,
due, induce, tune, stupid, Tuesday, and new. We must be
careful of the word brusque; and without going so far as
to adopt the English pronunciation of sure (which almost
rhymes with paw) we ought to remember that it does not
rhyme with brewer.

PRONUNCIATION 357

300. Unaccented u. — Unaccented u has, in such a word
as affltience, institute, and influence, the same dangers as
the accented vowel. In accurate it must not become e
(ackerit).

301. F, usually unaccented in English, is in danger,
like so many other unaccented vowels, of becoming w,
as in analysis and paralysis. When (as in analytical and
paralytic) the y is accented, we pronounce it correctly,
and we must remember that in such words as analysis and
paralysis it is the same sound, but shorter.

302. Consonants, — The consonants which cause the
most trouble are final g and final r. Of the first, all
Americans give us too little : their tendency is to speak of
" goin' fishin'." Of the second, New Englanders give us
too little and Westerners too much, although there is this
to be said for New Englanders, — that they often insert
an r when there is none, with the result that we have lawr
for law " the idea rof," " I saw rim," and sometimes
even " drawrings."

303. Incorrect Accent. — Instead of accenting the right
syllable, we sometimes throw the accent too far forward
as in mischiSvous instead of the correct mischievous;
but more often too far back, with a bad efifect upon such
words as idea, rebate (verb), import (verb), expert (adj.),
museum, ally, adult, survey (verb), condolence, and lyceum.

Sometimes, of course, for emphasis, and particularly
for contrast, we allow ourselves to put the accent upon a
prefix which really should not be accented. Thus, we
say in conversation, " Neither its offensive nor its defensive
resources were adequate," or, " Both immigration and
emigration increased," or, " It was ofcjective rather than
subjective.*^

358 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

304. The Omission and Insertion of Letters. — When
there are so many pitfalls in the pronunciation of words
it would seem unnecessary to borrow trouble by bringing
in letters which are not necessary. Yet this is what we
do when we say elum for elrriy spasum for spasm, casiLolity
for casualty, aihelete for athlete; when we add a superflu-
ous t to attacked or to across, an extra d to drowned
(making drovmded), a final h to height, a needless y to
column, a w to rhythm or a fourth o to zoology. As if
to make up for this, we sometimes allow ourselves to omit
letters which should be pronounced. Thus, when, why^
and whether acquire cockney forms {wen, wy, and wether) ,
temperament loses its a, February its first r, words ending
in -ally {like frantically) lose the a, miniature very commonly
loses its second i, recognize its g, tract, kept, and swept their
final t, arctic its first c, and government its first n.

306. Slovenly Slurrings. — We need to be especially
careful in pronouncing words in which there are two or
more unaccented syllables in succession; otherwise,
certificate will tend to become stifkit, and regular, memory,
company, and library will each lose a syllable. We must
also remember to make a correct division of words when
one ends and the next begins with a consonant. In such
cases we tend to run them together in order to smooth the
sound. Thus, old before man becomes ole, must before
go becomes mus\ used before to becomes u^e\ have before
to becomes haf, and want before to becomes wan\ Other
cases follow:

give me becomes gimme

good deal becomes good eel

great deal becomes gray deal

don't you becomes don't chew

PRONUNCIATION S59

meet you

becomes

me chew

that's aU ]

right

becomes

tha's a' right

got to

becomes

gotU

atoU

becomes

a tall

saw a

becomes

saw ray

draw a

becomes

draw ray

idea of

becomes

idea rov

306. Pronunciation of Foreign Words.

A few foreign words need attention, for example :
drdmatis pers6nae d6but

deus ex mdchina ad infinitum

pers6na non grata memoir

vaudeville

307. Words often Mispronounced.

abdo'men amateur' (-t(ir) : not clique : kl§k

absent' (verb) am'achoor, ama- column : -tlm, not

ab'stract (adjective) toor, or amatare -ytim

abstract' (verb) ame'nable com'parable

accent' (verb) apparatus (a as in com'plex (adjective

accli'mate a4ihe) and noun)

across: notacrosst ap'ropos' condolence

address' (verb and Arctic : not Artie coupon ; koo-, not

noun) : not ad'- athletic : not ath-e- ka-

dress let-ic creek: krSk, not

ad infini'tum au'tomo'bile kr][k

Ado'nis avenue : not -noo culinary : ku-li-, not

adult' kiil-i-
aSroplane (a'er-d,

not a-r6-o) boundary : not daguerreotype : da-

ag'grandize boundry guerre'-o-type, not

ally' bouquet: boo-, not da-guer-r€-o-type

alma mater bo- deaf : dSf , not def

Altercation broom: not broom des'picable

360

ENGLISH COMPOSITION

diamond : not

dimond

dra'matis perso'nae
(may be used as a
singular noun)

enqui'ry (orinqui'ry)

ex'quisite

extra : not extry

February

finance: fl(n-&ns' or
fln-&ns', not if-
nans ; same in
plural

for'midable

geneal'ogy
genuine : not -ine
government
grimace'

har'ass

hearth: h&rth, not

berth
height (not heighth)
Hercu'lean
history : not histry
hoof : hoof, not hoof
hori'zon: not hor'-

izon
hos'pitable

ide'a: not I'dea or
idear (an r is often
added, especially

in the phrase "the

idea(r) of")
im'pious
import'ed
incom'parable
in'crease (noun)
increase' (verb)
Italian
-Itis {e,g, bronchitis) :

Itis, not etis

lam'entable
Latin : not Lat^n
library : not libry
literature : not litera- quay : ke
choor or literatour

obttlse: not -oo-
often {t silent)
oleomar'garine {g
is hard, as in

go)

policeman (Sound

the o.)
prfic'edent (noun)
prg'fix (noun)
prefix' (verb)
presentation
pri'marily

medio'cre

memoir (m^m'-w5r,
mfim-wSr, or mem-
w&r; but the last
syllable should
never be pro-
noimced oar)

m^n'u : not may-
new

Messrs. (messieurs)
(not "messers")

mineral'ogy

muse'um

mustache', or mous-
tache'

ngpe : not n&p
new : not noo

rather (not ruther)

real : not reel

record : not recud

regiilar

reservoir : -vwar,
not -voy

resour'ces

reverfind (Three syl-
lables ; final syl-
lable as si>elled,
not -und; final
letter d, not /)

room : not room

root : not root

route

sacrile'gious

sinecure

sleek : not slick

PRONUNCIATION

361

soften (silent /)
soon : not soon
st&tus

testa'tor
thereof: not there- vaga'ry
off valuable

thresh-old: not vaudeville: vod-vil
thresh-hold (the first e is silent)

used : uzed not ust wish : not wished
(present tense)

z6-5r-ogy

CHAPTER XV
ABBREVIATIONS, CAPITALS, FOOTNOTES, ETC.

ABBREVIATIONS

308. A safe general principle is to use as few abbrevia-
tions as possible in letters (even business letters) and other
formal composition: abbreviations indicate haste, and
" nothing is so vulgar," Emerson says, " as haste." In
footnotes and other forms of compressed memoranda,
tabulations, and the like, more latitude may be taken.
But abbreviations, in general, have no place in liter-
ature.

309. A few abbreviations, however, are allowable:
M,y Mr.y Mrs.,^ Dr,y Messrs. when used before personal
names; Esq., and the abbreviations for the various
academic degrees (such as A.B., A.M., D.D.) when used
after personal names; a.m. {ante meridian), p.m., i.e.,
viz., e.g., a.d., and b.c.

310. Write in full Captain, Colonel, Major, Professor,
Reverend, and titles generally.

311. Etc. should not be used in literature, and should
be sparingly used in any kind of writing : " and so forth,"
or " and so on " are good substitutes which take only a
few seconds to write ; a long list of objects is often sufficient
without any indication that others might be named ; any

1 Miss, not being an abbreviation, requires no period.
362

ABBREVIATIONS, CAPITALS, ETC. 36S

pretense of completeness may be avoided by writing " such
as " before the list (see the first parenthesis under Section
309 above) ; and, finally, the tendency (especially in
examinations) to hint at inexhaustible reserves when one
is rather near the end of one's resources is a demoralizing
habit. Unless you really know what you mean by the
etc.9 avoid it in any context.

USE OP CAPITALS

S12. Capitalize — 1. The first word of a sentence.

2. The first word of every line of poetry.

3. Proper nouns and adjectives. (But some adjectives
formed from proper nouns have so far forgotten their
origin as to lose their capitals ; for example, herculean,
laconic, and Utopian,)

4. North, South, East, and West when they refer
not to points of the compass, but to^ parts of the
country.

5. Titles, when used with the names of the persons
who bear them.

Correct : I met Professor Jackson, and another professor
whose name I have forgotten.

6. Certain titles which unmistakably designate an
individual, even when used without his name.

Correct : The Secretary of State received the note.

7. .Any common noun — such as street, square, college,
or river — when it is a part of a proper name.

Correct : Elm Street is one of our most beautiful streets.

364 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

ITALICS 1

To indicate italics, draw one line under the words to be
italicized.

313. Italicize — 1. Titles of books, newspapers, plays,
and the like. Observe that

(a) If the is the first word in the title of a book, this
word should appear, italicized, as a part of the title.

Correct : I read The Tempest last week.

But if the title is preceded by the author's name in the
possessive case, the, even though it forms a part of the
title, should be omitted.

Incorrect: Shakespeare's The Tempest.
Correct: Shakespeare's Tempest.

(b) In the case of periodicals, the article, even though
it may appear in the title, should not be italicized.

Correct : I read it in the OuHook.

2. Names of ships.

3. Words when used as such.

Correct : The word nice has a curious history. (Cf . § 272.)

314. Be very cautious about using italics for emphasis.
In general, depend for emphasis not upon underscoring
but upon choice of vivid words.

THE REPRESENTATION OF NUMBERS

In general, a distinction should be made between the
literary standard and the commercial or technical stand-

^ Most, if not all, of these functions may be performed by quotation
marks instead of italics. Italics stand out more sharply, however, and
are generally preferred.

ABBREVIATIONS. CAPITALS, ETC. 365

ard: figures are sparingly used in literature; they are
habitually used in commercial or technical writing when
they are more efifective than words.
316. Ordinarily one should write out

1. Hours of the day. (Two o'clock had just struck.)

2. Ages of persons. (He was twenty years old.)

3. Small sums of money. (I owe you forty cents.)

4. Small numbers. (I read thirty pages.)

5. Large numbers if they can be expressed briefly. (The
library contains nearly a million volumes.)

316. Ordinarily one should use figures for

1. The year and the day of the month. (April 19, 1775.)

2. Street numbers. (26 Elm Street.)

3. Numbers of volumes and pages. (See Vol. H, p. 225.)

4. Numbers or sums of money that would be clumsy if written
out. (In all, 2317 persons contributed $10,481.50.)

317. Do not begin a sentence with figures.

Incorrect: 1789 asked of a thing, is it rational? 1642 asked
of a thing, is it illegal ?

FOOTNOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHIES

318. Footnotes. — If a writer wishes to use the author-
ity of another, or to summarize his ideas, or to quote any
portion — however brief — of his actual work, he should
make a specific reference, at the bottom of the page, to
the precise source from which he has borrowed. This
reference should include, first, the name of the author;
second, the title (either in italics or in quotation marks) ;
third, the volume and page. Usually it is well to add also

S66 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

the place and date of publication. In other words, the
reference should be full and clear enough to lead straight
to the authority cited.

In general, refer to the titles of parts of books (such as
essays or chapters) by using quotation marks ; ' to com-
plete volumes or longer works by means of italics. The
sign for italics is a single line drawn under the words to
be italicized.

Reference to a Book :

C. F. Adams, Three Episodes of Massachusetts History^ II,
141 (Boston, 1901).

Note: Here " II, 141 " means " Volume II, page 141."

Macaulay, History of England, Everyman edition, I, 16.

Note: Here we have a book of which there are many
editions, dififering in pagination. In such cases always
specify the edition ; otherwise one can look up the passage
only with the greatest difficulty.

Reference to a Periodical :
Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 106, p. 78 (July, 1910).

Note : In such a case as this, the thorough way is
to give the month and year as well as the volume and
page.

Reference to an Essay :

Stevenson, "iEs Triplex," in Virginibus Puerisque.

Do not be pedantic about footnotes, but remember that
it is better to include unnecessary details than to omit
any that are essential.

ABBREVIATIONS, CAPITALS, ETC. S67

The f oUowing ahbreviations are often used in footnotes :

vol. = volume v. = see

vols. = volumes cf. « compare

p. ~ page et sqq. or flp. = and following

pp. =s pages (as in "pp. 37 flp.")

chap. — chapter ibid. = m the same place (book,

bk. = book etc.) as the previous reference

I. = line s. V. = under the word

II. = lines ed. = edition of, or edited by,
§§ » sections or editor

319. Bibliographies. — A bibliography is a list, usually
alphabetized or otherwise classified, of books and articles
relating to a given subject. Every long composition upon
a subject that has been much written about should contain
such a bibliography.

MISCELLANEOUS DIRECTIONS

320. Parentheses should never be used to indicate that
certain words are to be omitted. Such words should be
erased or stricken out.

321. Distinguish between two entirely dififerent kinds
of clauses introduced by because. For example,

(1) He went, because I saw him there.

(2) He went because he wanted to.

In (2) is stated his reason for going; in {l),'the writer* s
reason for believing that he went. The logic of (1) may seem
queer enough ; but the idiom is so well established that
there is no reason for not using it, if the punctuation is
correct.

S68 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

322. Do not confuse the conjunction however with the
adverb howeter.

Correct : However hard he tried. [Adverb.]
Correct : However, he tried hard. [Conjunction.]

323. Do not confuse the conjunction for with the
preposition /or.

Correct : He ran, for the doctor lived a mile away. [Conjunc-
tion.]

Correct : He ran for the doctor. [Preposition.]

EXERCISES

(Covering Chapters XI-XV)

I. Correct the following sentences :

1. To openly admit that one is wrong is very humiliating to
you.

^. He thought he would probably come. r

3. All of the workmen received two dollars per day.

4. There are a great many men living in this village and who
go to the city every day.

5. New York is the termini of the road.

6. The city's indebtedness is increasing.

7. Please make this addenda.

8. Each one said their adieux.

9. To fully atone for this, he must apologize.
"^0. He regrets that he will be imable to come.

II. Can I have another piece of cake?

12. The choice lies between you and I.

13. GuUiver'a Travels are worth reading.

14. The committee was in doubt whether their report would
be accepted.

"^5. The following data has been found valuable.
16. Two cherubims were represented in the picture.

ABBREVIATIONS, CAPITALS, ETC.

369

17. The view of the waves from the second-story windows were
magnificent.

18. The cause of this accident, as well as that of the others,
were not revealed.

19. My neighbor, whom I thought would subscribe something,
gave more than anyone else.

20. They supposed the owners to be we.

21. The statement has been made that an university's center
is the library, and I have no question of it's truth.

22. Either he or myself would have promised our assistance.

23. All doubt of him being unsatisfactory was removed.

24. Those roses smell sweetly, no doubt, but it don't matter
to me, for I am feeling very poorly with a cold.

25. Those kind of accidents seem unnecessary.

26. I read Hamlet and also Churchill's The Crisis.

27. The army, with all their baggage, has just passed through
the village.

28. Either one large case or two small ones is enough.
He expects he will be asked, and I hope he is.
Will you be able to personally see both him and I ?

Write sentences containing the following words correctly

30.

used:

'^automaton ^
^ stratum ^

radii

alumnus

hypotheses

in. Are the following words in the singular or the plural ? .
Give for each both the singular and the plural form, or if either is
lacking note the fact.

fungus

panacea

alumni

alumna

spoonful

grouse

stamen c^
radius
bacteria
scissors
Niagara Falls
proceeds
2b

genus ^
phenomena
addendum l.

Knight Templar

lord justice

index

heir apparent

3^ ; '\ ^ ^

370 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

rV. Punctuate the following sentences :

1. On his style however the results were unfortunate.

2. Though his health had been infirm for some years
before his death, his literary activity did not slacken nor did his
powers show signs of decline.

3. What we want the Director said in particular is young
men and young women to be enthusiastic about the songs and
dances.

4. As a painter of manners he recalls two of his predeces-
sors-one greater one less great than himself.

5. He crowded his canvas with figures* he pursued the
fortunes of three or four sets of people at the same time .caring
little how the fate of the one set affected that of the other* he
made his novel a sort of chronicle which you might open any-
where and close anywhere instead of a drama animated by one
idea and converging towards one center.

6. His carelessness was redeemed by or forgotten in his
vivacity.

7. John Richard Green was born in Oxford on 12 Decem-
ber 1837 and educated first at Magdalen College School and
afterwards for a short time at a private tutor's.

8. My objections are as follows :first I deny that the pro-
posed plan will save expense-secondly I deny that it can be put
into operation under our system of government* and third I see
no sufficient reason for abandoning the present method.

9. The house that I prefer is the one on the other corner of
the street. ^ .^

10. This proposition is I think pretty difficult in fact
Pendennis is the dullest book I ever read.

11. There are two reasons for this change #first the num-
ber of students is much larger than it used to b^. The second
reason is the increased number of foreigners.

12. Saint John excited with drinl^was making some wild
quotations out of Macbeth but Swift stopped him ^ drink no

ABBREVIATIONS, CAPITALS. ETC. ' 371

more, my lord for gods sake says he^ I come with the most
dreadful news^ is the queen d^ad 'cries out Bolingbroke .seizing
on a water glass ^'no puke Hamilton is dead- he was murdered
an hour ago by Mohun and Macartney, they had a quarrel this
morning they gave him not so much time as to write a letter'
he went for a couple of his friends andjie is dead ^and Mohun
too the bloody villain, who was set on' him.

V. Punctuate the following passage :

"So too was his mind admirably fitted for the career he had
chosen. It was logical penetrating systematic yet it was also
quick and nimble. His views were definite not to say dogmatic
and as they were confidently held so too they were confidently
expressed. He never struck a doubtful note. He never slurred
over a diflBculty nor sought when he knew himself ignorant to
cover up his ignorance. Imagination was kept well in hand for
his constant aim was to get at and deal with the vital facts of
every case. If he was not original in the way of thinking out
doctrines distinctively his own nor in respect of any exuberance
of ideas bubbling up in the course of discussion there was fertility
as well as freshness in his application of principles to current
questions and in the illustrations by which he enforced his argu-
ments."

VI. Explain the punctuation in the following passage :

As his thinking was exact, so his style was clear-cut and
trenchant. Even when he was writing most swiftly, it never
sank below a high level of form and finish. Every word had its
use and every sentence told. There was no doubt about his
meaning, and just as little about the strength of his convictions.
He had a gift for terse, vivacious paragraphs commenting on
some event of the day or summing up the effect of a speech or a
debate. The touch was equally light and firm. But if the
manner was brisk, the matter was solid : you admired the keen-

872 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

ness of the insight and the weight of the judgment just as much
as the brightness of the style. Much of the brightness lay in the
humour. That is a plant which blossoms so much more pro-
fusely on Transatlantic soil that English readers of the Nation had
usually a start of surprise when told that this most humorous of
American journalists was not an American at all but a European,
and indeed a European who never became thoroughly Ameri-
canised. It was humour of a pungent and sarcastic quality,
usually directed to the detection of tricks or the exposure of
shams, but it was eminently mirth-provoking and never mali-
cious. Frequently it was ironical, and the irony sometimes so
fine as to be mistaken for seriousness.

Vn. Read aloud the following passages, — at first slowly,
giving each syllable its correct value. Then, keeping the same
values, read them aloud rapidly.

1. It goes without saying that the mightiest influence exerted
by the United States in the domain of political science has been
due to the example of a democracy successfully working on a large
scale. It would be a gross exaggeration to say without qualifica-
tion that the constitutional reforms of the nineteenth century
were caused by the developments in America ; but, on the other
hand, it is clearly evident that the American Republic has been a
powerful factor in the growth of constitutional democracy and
of constitutional government in general. In Mexico and the
South American republics, this influence is seen in institutions
framed obviously after the American type. In European coun-
tries, the influence is far less powerful, but even there it has been
remarkable. Not always, or even often, taking the shape of
systematic theory, the democratic spirit and practice of the
United States have, nevertheless, made themselves felt in the
development of free institutions. What has been said of demo-
cratic government might also be said of federal government,
for in this field the practical influence of the American system

ABBREVIATIONS, CAPITALS, ETC. 373

has been wide-spread. The systems of Germany, Canada,
Australia, Meidco, and Brazil are sufficient evidence of this.^

2. " But for one American who comes to look at Essex, twenty
go to Godalming and Guildford and Dorking and Lewes and
Canterbury. Those Surrey people are not properly English at
all. They are strenuous. You have to get on or get out.
They drill their gardeners, lecture very fast on agricultural
efficiency, and have miniature rifle ranges in every viUage. It's
a county of new notice-boards and barbed- wire fences; there's
always a policeman round the comer. They dress for dinner.
They dress for everything. If a man gets up in the night to look
for a burglar he puts on the correct costume -^ or doesn't go.
They've got a special scientific system for urging on their tramps.
And they lock up their churches on a week-day. Half their soil
is hard chalk or a rationalistic sand, only suitable for bunkers and
viUa foundations. And they play golf in a large, expensive,
thorough way because it's the thing to do. . . . Now here in
Essex we're as lax as the eighteenth century. We hunt in any
old clothes. Our soil is a rich succulent clay ; it becomes semi-
fluid in winter — when we go about in waders shooting duck.
All our finger-posts have been twisted round by facetious men
years ago. And we pool our breeds of hens and pigs. Our
roses and oaks are wonderful ; that alone shows that this is the
real England. If I wanted to play golf — which I don't, being
a decent Essex man — I should have to motor ten miles into
Hertfordshire. And for rheumatics and longevity Surrey can't
touch us. I want you to be clear on these points, because they
really will aflFect your impressions of this place. . . . This
country is a part of the real England — England outside London
and outside manufactures. It's one with Wessex and Mercia
or old Yorkshire — or for the matter of that with Meath or
Lothian.. And it's the essential England still. ..." *

1 C. E. Merriam, American Political Theories, New York, Mac-
millan, 1906, p. 341.

« H. G. Wells, Mr. BriUing Sees It Throughy New York, Mao-
millan, 1916, pp. 29-30.

INDEX

For subtopics under headings printed in Small Capitalb, see the
table of contents (pp. vii ff.)>

Abbott, Lyman, 232.

Abbreviations, 362.

Adjectives, 825.

Adier, Felix, 89.

Admitted matter, 93.

Adverbs, 325.

Affect, 300.

Aggravate, 300.

Agreement, granmiatical, 321 ff.

Alliteration, 296.

Analogies, 16.

Analogy, false, 90.

Analysis in argument, 93; in

biography, 67.
Anti-climax, 259.
Antithesis, 259.
Apostrophe, 337.
Arguing in a circle, 89.
Argument, 79 ff.
Aristotle, 170.
Articles, 323.

Background, 188.
Balance, 301.
Balanced style, 259.
Barrie, Sir J. M., 169, 180.
Becket, Thomas li, 151.
Beecher, H. W., 105.
Begging the question, 89.
Beginnings of exposition, 40; of

narrative, 199; of paragraphs,

230; of sentences, 262.
Bennett, Arnold, 172.

Benson, A. C, 72.
Bibliographies, 365.
Biography, 62 ff .
Birmingham, G. A., 183.
Blackmore, R. D., 194.
"Bony" style, 296.
Borrow, George, 133.
Brevity in description, 141.
Brief, 97; rules for, 98.
Bryce, James, 70-72, 228, 313.

Cabot, Dr. R. C, 18.

Capitals, 363.

Carlyle, Thomas, 174, 226, 252, 270.

Causal relation, mistaken, 91.

Characters, 157, 174; action of,
181; description of, 178; ex-
position of, 180; methods of
portraying, 177; origin of, 174;
choice of names for, 177.

Character stories, 177.

Chartres Cathedral, 125.

Chesterton, G. K., 227, 231.

Claim, 302.

Clearness, 288; in exposition, 41.

Climax in narration, 156, 202; in
sentences, 258.

Coherence in description, 123; in
exposition, 38; in narrative,
197; in paragraphs, 220, 229;
in sentences, 242, 250.

Collective nouns, 329.

Colon, 332.

375

376

INDEX

Comma, 334.

Complex sentences, 261.

Composition, kinds of, 26.

Compomid sentences, 261.

Compound subjects, 329.

Conclude^ 302.

Conflicting contentions, 93, 96.

Confusion between parts of speech,
380.

Connectives, 249; between para-
graphs, 228 ; within paragraphs,
226.

Connotation, 289.

Conrad, Joseph, 189.

Considering the reader in criticism,
50; in description, 118; in
exposition, 30.

Contents, table of, in theses, 76.

Contrast, 225.

Conversation, punctuation of,
339.

Conviction, 80.

Copeland, C. T., 182, 195.

Could, 328.

Criticism, 49 ff.

Dangling modifiers, 243.

Dash, 338.

Deal, 303.

Deduction, 85.

Definition, 41 ; of terms, 93, 95.

Demean, 308.

Denotation, 289.

Denouement, 167.

Descbiption, 115 ff.

Description in biography, 67.

Dialect, 186.

Dialogue, 157, 183; paragraphing

of, 217.
Dickens, Charles, 163, 175, 178,

187, 263.
Diction in description, 139.

Dictionary, use of, 287.

Differentia, 42.

Dime novels, 150.

Dominant tone in description,

121 ; in paragraphs, 215, 232.
Doone Valley, The, 194.
Doyle, Sir A. C, 239.
Durand, E. D.. 214.
Durham Cathedral, 129.

Each, 303.

Echo in paragraphs, 227.

Edinburgh Castle, 131.

Egdon Heath, 190.

Elegance, 291, 295.

Elegant, 304.

Eliot, C. W., 91, 213, 252, 258.

Emerson, R. W., 252, 260.

Emphasis in description, 135;
in exposition, 89; in narration,
199; m paragraphs, 280, 232,
238; in sentences, 251, 260.

English composition, definition of, 3.

Evidence, 81; collecting, 84; in
criticism, 55 ; tests of, 83.

Exaggeration, 290.

Exercises in argument, 109; in
biography, 74; in criticism, 57;
in description, 145; in diction,
317; in exposition, 46; in
gathering and weighing material,
20; in mechanics, 368; in
narrative, 204; in paragraphs,
233; in sentences, 272; in the
use of reference books, 24.

Exposition, 28 ff .

Fable, 170.

Factor, 304.

Fallacies, 89.

FaHher, 304.

Figures of speech, 138, 293.

INDEX

377

Fiske, John, 228.
Fix, 304.

Footnotes, 17. 77, 365.
Force, 288, 290, 313.
Froude, J. A., 151.
Fundamental image, 12V.
Funny, 305.
FuHher, 304.

Galsworthy, John, 184.

Generalization, hasty, 15, 90.

Genus, 42.

George Eliot, 175.

Gibbon, Edward, 259, 267, 268.

Good use, 286.

Grammar, 321 ff.

Green, J. R., 268.

Gregory, Lady, 184.

Guessy 305.

Hall, Joseph, 69.

Hardy, Thomas, 167, 179, 189.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 129, 163,

189.
Hearn, Lafcadio, 217.
Hewlett, Maurice, 179, 182, 200.
History of the question, 93, 95.
Hope, Anthony, 171, 185.
Hunt, Leigh, 241.
Huxley, T. H., 81, 85, 222.
Hyphen, 338.
Hypothesis, 87.

Illustrations in exposition, 43.
Imagination, 161.
Imitation jewelry, 291.
Improprieties, 298 ff.
Individual, 306.
Induction, 85.

Informal argument, 92, 108.
Introduction in argument, 93; in

exposition, 40.
Inversion, 256.

Irving, Washington, 216, 229, 232.
Italics, 364.

James, Henry, 196.
Jewett, Sarah Ome, 186.
Johnson, Samuel, 69, 130, 259,

260.
Judging books, 2.

KipliDg, Rudyard, 140, 141, 142,
143, 150, 180, 200, 201, 241, 265.

Lectures, notes on, 1.

Length, 251, 261.

Liable, 307.

Library, use of, 2, 7, 8.

Limiting the field, 14; in biog-
raphy, 67; in criticism, 50; in
description, 121; in exposition,
29; in narrative, 165.

lincoln, Abraham, 106, 259.

Literary geography, books on, 198.

Ijocaie, 307.

Lockhart, J. G., 133.

Lodge, H. C, 105.

Logic, 13, 15, 85.

Long compositions, 3.

Loose sentences, 257, 262.

Loma Doone, 194, 264.

Low, W. H., 176.

Macaulay, T. B., 214, 223, 227.

Macomber, Ben, 128.

Mad, 308.

Main issues, 94, 97.

Mark Twain, 172.

Material, 313; for biography, 65;
description, 116; exposition, 30;
narrative, 158.

Material, Gathering and weigh-
ing, 7 ff .

Maupassant, Guy de, 162, 202.

May and can, 328.

378

INDEX

Meredith, George. 179. ^6.
Merrick. Leonard, ]84. 202. 208.

220.
Might, 328.
Milton, John, 269.
Misinterpretation in biography. 78.
Monterey, Bay of. 127.
Moore. George, 251.
Morrison. Arthur. 202.
Motivation. 155.
Movement in description, 128;

in narrative, 199.
Mutual, 808.

Names, choice of, 177.
Narration. 149 ff.
National use, 287.
Newspapers, narrative material in,

160.
Non-restrictive clauses, 335.
Norris, Frank, 250.
Notebook, 19, 162, 187.
Notebooks, Hawthorne's, 162.
Note-taking, 11.
Numbers, 364.

Objective description^ 135.

Only, position of, 242.

Oral, 309.

Order. See Coherence.

Originality, 17.

Origin of the question, 93, 94.

Palmer, G. H., 252, 256.
Paragraphing of dialogue, 217.
Paragraphs, 209 ff .
Parallel constructions, 226, 244,

259, 265.
Participial phrases, 253.
Parts of speech, confusion between,

330.
Passive voice, 326.
Pater, Walter, 269.

Per, 309.

Periodic sentences, 256, 262.

Persuasion, 80, 102, 104.

Phillpotts, Eden, 124, 193.

Phrasing the proposition. 92.

Pinero. Sir A. W.. 184.

Plagiarism, 17.

Planning the argument, 92; ex-
position, 31; narrative, 164;
paragraphs, 224.

Plot, 166.

Plural, formation of, 323.

Poe, E. A., 168, 201.

Point of view in criticism, 50; in
description, 119, 215; in exposi-
tion, 30; in narrative, 170.

Pope, Alexander. 246. 259.

Position of words. 255.

Possessive case, 824.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc, 91.

Posted, 309.

Present tense, 328.

Present use, 286.

Pronouns, possessive of, 323, 325.

Pronunciation, 351 ff.

Proof, 99.

Proportion, 232.

Proposition, 310.

Punctuation, 831 ff.

QuUe, 310.

Quotation marks, use of, 339.

Ralegh, Sir W., 268.
Reading, 1.
Reasoning, 85.
Redundancy, 313 ff.
Reference books, 8.
Repetition, effective, 316; in-
effective, 315.
Repetition of words, 252, 261.
Reports, 75.
Reputable use, 287.

INDEX

379

Restrictive clauses, S85.
Return cf the Native, 189.
Rhythm of prose, 263 ff.
"Rise and faU," 267.
Roosevelt, Theodore, 212, 227.
Root, Elihu, 107.
Ruskin, John, 134, 257.

Scott, Sir W., 132, 174, 198.

Semicolon, 333.

Setting, 156, 188.

Shall and toUl, 327.

Shaw, G. B., 183, 187, 230, 231,
252, 258.

Shift of subject, 240.

Should and toould, 327.

Singsong, 264.

Situation, development of, 154.

Slang, 297.

"Snap the whip," 230.

Some, 311.

Spelling, 341 ff.

Split infinitive, 329.

"Squinting construction," 243.

"Stage directions," 184.

State, 311.

Stephens, James, 252.

Stevenson, R. L., 127, 132, 144,
155, 161, 169, 178, 188, 195,
198, 219, 266.

Structure in theses and reports, 76.

Subject, choice of, 14; for biog-
raphy, 63 ; for criticism, 50 ; for
exposition, 28 ; for narrative, 158.

Subordination, 249, 252, 261.

Surprise in narrative, 202.

Suspense in narrative, 202.

Syllogism, 86.

Synge, J. M., 184, 271.

Taft, W. H., 223.
Tasting books, 9.
Team, 311.

Technical terms in theses, 77.

Temple, Sir W., 267.

Tenses, 328.

Tess of the D^UrberviUes, 192.

Thackeray, W. M., 181, 265, 270.

Theses, 75.

Thompson, W. H., 72.

Three, magic number, 267.

Titles in narrative, 203; punctual

tion of, 339.
Topic-sentence, 211.
Transitions between paragraphs,

228.
Transpire, 312.
Triteness, 292.

Unity in biography, 69; in de-
scription, 119, 121 ; in exposition,
38; in narrative, 167; in para-
graphs, 210 ff.; in sentences,
238 ff.

Vagueness, 289; in description,

136.
Variety in sentences, 260.
Verbs, 321, 326 ff. ; m description,

139; redundant, 314.
Vocabulary in criticism, 54.
Vulgarisms, 297.

Weighing books, 10.
Wells, H. G., 176, 201, 225.
Wendell, Barrett, 255.
While, 312.
White, S. E., 221.
White, W. A., 186.
Widecombe, 124.
Wilde, Oscar, 252, 259.
Wilkins (Freeman), Mary, 218.
Wilson, Woodrow, 104.
Words, Choice op, 286 ff .
Words, number of, 313.
Writing rapidly, 3.

Printed in the United States of America.

npHE following pages contain advertisements of a few
of the Macmillan books on kindred subjects.

Sir Walter Ralegh

The Shepherd of the Ocean
Selections from Ifis Poetry and Prose

EDITED BY

FRANK CHENEY HERSEY

Instructor in English in Harvard University
TERCENTENARY EDITION

Cloth, I2fn0j log pages, 50 cents

A book which makes accessible in an inexpen-
sive form extracts from the most important and
most characteristic prose and poetical works of
Sir Walter Ralegh.

It is an outgrowth from a pamphlet issued a
few years ago primarily for the use of the editor's
classes, and contains an interesting and helpful
introductory sketch of Ralegh's life in addition
to tke twenty-six selections. Portraits of Ralegh
and Sir Richard Grenville and cuts from old
paintings and drawings illustrate the volimie.
One of the most interesting is a cut of "The Defeat
of the Spanish Armada, 1588," engraved from
the tapestry hangings in the House of Lords.

"... deserves a sincere welcome." — New York
Times,

"... so pulse-stirring, so intellectually stir-
ring." — Christian Intelligencer.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

PubliBhen 64-66 Fifth Avenue New Tork

Representative Biographies of ELnglish Men
of Letters

Chosen and Edited
By CHARLES TOWNSEND COPELAND

Lecturer on English Literature in Harvard University, and

FRANK WILSON CHENEY HERSEY

Instructor in English in Harvard University

642 pp,y I2fn0y 1/^5

In this book are illustrated the varieties of biographical writ-
ing. There are included : first, extracts from notable autobiog-
raphies, among which are those of Lord Herbert of Cherbury,,
Colley Gibber, Gibbon, and Ruskin ; second, examples of the
method and style of such £^mous biographers as Izaac Walton,
Dr. Johnson, Boswell, Lockhart, Southey, Macaulay, and Garlyle ;
and third, many complete lives from the " Dictionary of National
Biography " which represent the work of the most accomplished
of modern literary historians. To teachers such a collection will
suggest ways of enlivening and humanizing the study of literature
for their pupils. For it shows the intimate relationship of the
author to his written product — as a part of his life and thought,
and not as a thing apart and isolated; the unconscious self-
revelation of actuating motives and purposes, hopes and ambi-
tions, all reveal literature as part and product of life, pulsing with
vitality and fire as it is shaped and moulded by the hands of the
great masters. In a general survey course such a collection
should be of first importance, since it serves to remove the barrier
which separates student and writers, for the former is able to see,
for the first time, that the latter also are men of like passions.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

PubliBhers 64-66 Fifth ATenue New Tork

A Manual of Good English

By henry noble MacCRACKEN

President of Vassax College
and

HELEN E. SANDISON

Instructor in English in Vassar College

In press

The present volume, a review of authorized practice in
English composition, is intended for use as a text in the
Freshman course in that subject.

The present tendency, in the teaching of English com-
position, for power, originality and vivid expression, makes
it essential that the student have a reminder of grammar
and good form. Such a reminder this book is designed to
be. It will also be useful to the writer in search of more
detailed discussions of disputed usage than are to be found
in the dictionary.

Great care has been taken to present rules and ter-
minology which are in harmony with the best authorities
and with reliable current usage, and to incorporate the
best use of great bodies of publications rather than the
narrower and more theoretical rules of the makers of
dictionaries. The treatment of questions of usage and
syntax is flexible. Instead of saying "this is right" and
"that is wrong" there is a certain amount of gradation
and qualification. In fact throughout the manuscript
the lack of dogmatism is noticeable. The matters of
typographical detail and general arrangement, also, have
been carefully planned with the convenience of the stU7
dent in mind.

The chapter headings are: I. Words; 11. Sentences;
III. Paragraphs ; IV. Punctuation ; V. Capitalization and
the Use of Hyphens ; VI. Spelling ; VII. Preparation of
Manuscript and Correction of Proof ; VIII. Letter Writ-
ing ; Appendix, Exercises for Drill in Granmiatical Review

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

Publiflhen 64-66 Fifth ATenue New Tork

Facts, Thought, and Imagination

A BOOK ON WRITING

HENRY SEIDEL CANBY, FREDERICK ERASTUS PIERCE,

AND WILLARD HIGLEY DURHAM

Of the Department of English, Sheffield Scientific School,

Yale University

In press

It is an old theory in education, but perhaps a new one
in text-books of English Composition, that what a man
has to write about should determine the form of his writing.
No text-book based upon this reasonable assumption has
hitherto been available for college students. They have
completed a drill in rhetorical principles and found no
readily accessible formulation of advice with which to go
further. To supply this advice is the province of this vol-
ume. The subject it deals with is the question of how to
handle the various sets of topics with which a writer must
wrestle. The book consists of three brief and pointed
discussions, interestingly written, and designed to awaken,
not to dull the mind of the undergraduate. The importan t
question of how to separate fact from no-fact is thoroughly
worked out for the first time in a college composition book.
Facts in the service of thought, imagination in the service j

of thought, the development of thought, are other topics I

in chapters that place the emphasis squarely upon the
thing- to-be- written and how to write it. Fresh and
stimulating illustrative material provides a laboratory in
which the student may work. It includes selections from
such authors as Simeon Strunsky, G. K. Chesterton,
William Graham Sumner, William James and H. G. Wells. \

This is a book for second-year or second- term students,
who wish to study English Composition in its relation
to their own minds and to life.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New Tork

JDN

1 1925

Tliis book slLOuXd be returned to
the Library on or before the last date
stamped below ^

A fine of five cents a day is meiirred
by retaining it beyond the specifi.ed
time.

Please return promptly.

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