THE PRINCIPLES OF CO~'.lPOSITION

RY

HENRY G. PEARSON
l'H.UFES~UH.

OF liNGL l SU A'f TUB MAISSA t...: ll US ETTS

JNSTITUTE OF TECBJIOLOGY

WITH AN I NTRODUCTION BY

ARLO BATES

D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS
BOSTON

NEVv YORK

CHICAGO

COPYRIOHT, 1897 & 1898.

HY l>. <:. Hl>:ATH &
2

11

4

J'r iuteJ In U.S. A.

CO.

(!Co

'

BARRETT WENDELL

PREFACE.
THtS l>ook has been written to meet th e require ments of the co urse in E nglish Compositiou g iven to
stu<lents at th e Mas1:mcl111setts Irn;titute of T ee;hn ology
in t he first term of the Freshman year. Th e course
cove rs sixteen weeks, an<l the class meets twie;e a \\·eek .
The course consists of written wor.'lc anJ ree; itatiuns.
For the first of these each stuJe1Lt is ex ped ed to
wri te every week, outside the class, a tl:eme of from
three to four hun<lre<l words i11 lengtl1. This theme
is delivered to th e instructor at the Legin11ing of oll e
of the exe rcises, is read Ly him, and at the next exercise is hand ed l:mck, wi th his criticisms written u pon
it. In accordane;e with these cri t icisms the stu dent
re vi ses liis work, i11 the first part of t li e t e rm Ly rewriting th e whole theme i11 tlte classroo m under t li e
eye of th e instructor, and later Ly making on t l1e
original copy the ch anges in<li cated. The oral work
consists of recita tions on the substance of the textLook, and the discuss ion of such errors as the students
hav e shown themselv es most prone to commi t. The
part played in this course uy the text-book is thus tl1at
iii

PREFACE.

PREF.ACE.

of a manual from which the student may learn the
general principles of English Composition, at the same
time that he is engaged in the practical work of writ-·
ing themes.
For the reason that this book is intended to be used
only as an accompaniment to a thorough course in
theme-writing, it has not bee n loa<led with exampl es
of faulty compositions, Lad paragrapl1s, i11cohere11t sentences, an<l misused word s. Experience has shown
that such examples, to make any impress ion upon
students, must be chosen from among the mistak es
that they are making from week to week in their
own themes. The usual effec t of all sets of faulty
sentences an<l paragraphs collected for correction is
that their faults strike the stu<lent as being unreal and
factitious, and not relevant to !tis own work. If, how
ever, a sentence from one of his own themes is read
to the class, and corrected by them, his weakness is
bronght home to him . In this Look, accordingly, only
enough examples have Leen use<l to make clear tlie
nature of the fault und er discussion. Further illustrations the teacher must find - and in doing so he
will have no trouble - in the themes that he corrects
from day to day.
This book deals with the general principles of
composition. It is assumed that the student, before
beginning it, has made a study of Barbarisms, Improprieties. Solecisms, Punctuation, and all the other

matters to which the standard of good use is applied.
Nevertheless the youth of eighteen years is none too
well grounded in this respect, and his practice in cases
governed by good use is often widely at variance with
the rules that he is supposed to have learned. An
Appendix to the book has accordingly been added,
containing in brief form a statement of what ii'! the
established usage in certain matters in which young
writers are most likely to be at fault. This Appendix,
however, is intended to be used rather for reference
and review than for first-hand study of the subjects
that it discusses.

iv

v

While I am indebted to many hands that have generously helped in the preparation of this book, my debt
is chiefly to three sources. They are - in chronological order - Professor Barrett Wendell, my classes,
and Professor Arlo Bates. My debt to Professor Wendell is that of the pupil to the teacher. From bim I
have learned (at first hand, by good fortun e) the system of Rhetoric of which the following pages are
hardly more than a rearrangement and adaptation.
So completely have my own habits of thought and
methods of teaching been formed by this system that
any other has become to me inconceivable; and what
appears on the surface to be a bold appropriation of
another's ideas is in reality merely the result of a gift
for docility. To Professor Wen dell I must also give

Vl

PREFACE.

thanks for his kindness in reading the proofs of the
book. To my classes my debt is that of the experimenter to his laboratory. From them I have learned
how this system of Rhetoric must be presented in order
to stir pupils to their best efforts and to obtain from
them the most intelligent work; in brief, from my
classes I h:we learned how E nglish Composition must
be taught. To Professor Arlo Bates my debt is that
of the apprenti ce to the master. From his hearty and
thorough criLicisms l have gained such a degree of
knowledge of the craft as has made it happily possible
for these pages to be less amateurish in workmanship
than they otherwise would ce rtainly have been. Beginning with the first plans of the book, and ending
not until the reading of the final proofs, he has given
his assistan ce most un:;;paringly, with what profit to
the book the reader may see for hi1mdf.

CONTENTS.
CHAP .

PA<a

P1rnFACE

iii

.

ii:

INTRODU C TION

I.

3

PRELIMINAHJES

THE WllOLE COMPOS IT ION.
JI. Su RJ E C T
l I I. UNITY

IV.

v.

A NI> TITLE

11

15

26

CuHERENCE

EMPHASIS

.

Summary ()j the

~4

Chapter.~

on th e Whole Composit ion

46

THE PARAGHAPH.

VI.
VII.
VIII.

HENRY G . PEARSON.

UNITY

53

CO HERENCE

61

E>ll'llARIS.

71

Summary of the Chapters on th e l'arograph

79

THE SENTENCE.

IX.

x.
X.l.

83

UN ITY
COllERl'.NCF.

EM Pl-IA~I S

04

•

105

S11mmar11 of the Cliapte1·s on the S entence

116

WORDS .
XII.
XJII.

G1rnF.1<AL AND SPECIFIC

co~ C Ll! 8ION8
APPENDIX

141

JNOEX

149

vii

INTRODUCTION .

ALTHOUGH tliis book is 80mewhat novel in plan and
in urrangement, it is founJeJ upon wl1at rnust be the
universal ex.peri c11ce of teachern; a1Hl, lll ure thall that,
i t follows wl1at m11st be the u11iversal practice. ;\
st1Hle11t lea rns to write as a l1oy lcal'lls to swim,- Liy
doing it. In tliese days nob1J(ly would attt ,mpt to
tea.ch com position l>y mere theorizing, ,any m"re tlian
one would attempt to t each sw immin g on Jry laud.
In actual practice the learner dues not write ti rst
words, then sentences, then ]Jamgrnphs, and defe r the
attempt tu prod11ce a comvlete tlieme uutil he has Jll astered these. Tl 1is is tl1e rna1lll e r ill whieli he l1:;Lrns
to speak, but wh en it cumcs tu the :;l11dy .. r ,·.,111p•Js1
Lion as s uch, he beg ins by trying l•> 111;il;,, \\·l1ok com positions, - often, of co urse, short 011es, IJUt eumpletc
as far as tliey go. Not until he is aLle to write simple
themes with s0111e prot1 cien ey is lie in a cund ition to
le;Lrn or to appreciate tletails. Tl1is every teat:l1er of
composition reGog11izcs iu ach1al sGhuol wurk; 4ut, so
fa1· as I know, it is for the lirst time a<lovie<l as a
theory in the following pages.
The book is the res ult of experience anJ experiment
at the l\fassachusetts l 11 slitute of Teclrnolugy . Tlie
admirable an<l log ical scheme of P rofessor Barrett
W 2n<lell was followed in the classes, but it was found

ix

.

..,;;

~

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. ,•

iNTRODUC1'10N.

tha\ it worketl Leiter wl1 e n it was rev ersed. vVhatever
text- 10ok was usell, it was impossiLl e 11ot to beg in with
some instr uctio n in reganl to the theme as a whol e.
Students mu st be t.rai11cJ in Ll1 e writing ot t he whole
composi tion before it was possible for tliem tn se ize
and to apprec i;tte the distin ct ions involved in tlte construction o[ p;tragraphs ;md sentences, or in Lite selection an<l placin g of words. F or severnl ye<trn hn.s lJee n
frankl y used the rn etho<l wl1i cl1 is l1 ere prese nted. The
lJ!'aCtical efliciency of t Jii s lll el l10J, and t he Lles iralJility
of puttin g into t he li ;wd s uf the students a text-Look
whi eh eonforrnell to tlw Jll'il Cl ice of the class- roo m h ave
led to the writi11 g of" Tl1e Prin ciples of Compo!:!ition."
The recog niti o n of t he wisdom of begiuui11g the
study of co mpusi l iun frank ly 11·i L11 tl1 e wl1ol e cu 111pos it ion h<ts Ly nu means bee n conti11 ed to th e ] nst it ute.
1f l am not rnisin fo rrn ed, the same experi11ie11t 11as
more rece ntly Lee n t ried at Harvard wiLl1 lllu cli su ecess, and in various parts of th e \Vest the prae li eal
co mm on 8C nse of a. num be r of etli cient educators lias
e videntl y been lea.li ng tl1e 111 in Lite sa 1n e dired iuu .
Th e met holl i:; one o[ Lhuse in •vital>le dedu etiurn; from
expe ri ence which is snre t o be m:ule, soo11cr or btcr,
aml whi ch commcmls ibelf at on ce wh en on ce it is
formulated.
The success of ;u1 y teac her of co urse depe mls less
upon the text-lJook than ll[• O ll the pe rsonal equation .
The ideal text-lmok is a volume wlti ch fumi shes m:cessary facts and th e be:;t 8ystem of mastering and arra nging them, but whicl1 leave8 to th e t each er tlie part of
presenting th em and to th e 1•up il the La8k of g rasping
and assimilating. No teacher m akes a student master

INTRODUCTION.

Xl

the diffi cult art of composition. He ca n at most but
direct and assist, so that t he efforts of t lt e learn er shall
be e xerci8e<l to the Lest advantage. \Vhat is attm npt.e\l
in t he present vol um e is to ai<l the instru ctor a n(l th e
pupil, with out in terfe rin g with the proper fun ctions of
e it l1 er; to furni:;h a 8ystem, wi t h ill11stration suflic ient
t o rmike it clea r; a!l(l to afford 8Uch ltints ns may be
most scrviceaLle l1oth to those wh o use th e book as an
aid in t eacl1in g aml to those who use it as a n aid in
learnin g. Afore than this no text-book of English
composition can d o with out interferi ng wi th tli e uscfuln e::is of th e teach er a 11tl the progress of th e learne r.
The im porta nce of English co mposition as a means
of mentai d iseiplin e is so g reat that it shou ld be k ept
in vi ew b.Y the mak er of any manual , an<l sl1 onld not
be lost sight of by any teacher. Th ere has of late
years been a consta ntly gro win g apprec i<tti on of tl1 e
value iu practical li fe of t he power to u se wri tteu lan guage wi t h ease and precision. It hn.s Leen abundantly
r ecog nized t hat the study of this :trt is n ot only an
esse ntial Lut alm ost a rudimentary porti()ll <if all technical trainin g . ln8Lru cto rs do 11 ot to-day fail to impre8S upon their p upil s that th e m a n who cann ot
co mm and his pen is handicappe<l from the start in
busin ess r elations, and that in pro fess ional l ife he is
workin g at a v ery great disadvantage . ]t i3' a practical age, and the increased at t en ti on given to the
study of English is sufficient proof of the practical
worth of this branch of education. The present danger, indeed, is that immediate utility shall be so
<;trong ly insisted upon that too little attention will be
.Paid to the )ll()I'~ r ~ mote, but not less importa nt, office

xii

INTRODUCTION.

of composition as a means of dev eloping and strength
ening and broadenin g th e mind.
The dccl i ne of the study of the classics makes this
offi ce of co mposition of the more irnportn,ncc. From
causes whi ch are sufficiently well known, Greek ancl
Latin have been a good d eal discredited, and th ere has
especi:dl y been a general fai lure to find a place for the
ancient languag-es in techn ical education. Tlie instant
and practical value of th e study of English is evident;
but t eac he rs shoulll realiz e an<l remember th::tt besides
this it is possible to get from t he living to ngue much of
the training whi ch rast generations got from dead ones.
Greek and Latin lieing so often laid aside, it is the
more important to insist upon the cu lture which with
proper methods may be gain ed from English.
A sense of the application of form to thought is one
of the most important of the results of the study of
composition. The planning of the simplest theme, if
done intelligently, is an exercise in orde ring thought,
and in properly :;ha ping a series of id eas.
It is of
great importance that every student should learn that
liternry form is a matter with which he iti penmnally
concerned ; that it is not merely a refinement of finished art, a triumph of the trained author, but a
s imple, practical n ecessity for e very person who puts
pen to paper. Even more necessa ry is it for the learne r
to pe rce iv e th;Lt this same li tcrnry form is an absolu te
essential of all clear thinking, and that thought, to be
adequate. mu:;t be orderly. From the study of English
composition t li e pupil should be made to see that his
efficiency not only as a worker Lut as a thinker depends upon hi s power to g ive to his id eas an orderly

INTRODU C TION .

Xlll

arrangement and a logical sequence; he should learn
the value of form in thought and in expression.
A habit of mental accuracy is no less su rely the
result of proper training in composition than the sense
of fo rm. No learner can study the effects upon the
finer shades of meaning of Unity, of Cul ierence, and
nf Emplia:;is, without increatiin g his delicacy of perception and his intellectual precision; nor can he ex ercise
tlw 111ind in discr imin at ing betwee n words with a view
to usin g the m in the most ni cely exact se nse with out
advancing in accuracy of thought and expression. Tl1e
power of thinking exactly and firmly is inseparalile
from a sensitiveness to the value:; of language ; and it
is from practice in writing that. this sensitiveness is
best obtained.
An appreciation of proportions, mental flexibility,
and breadth of vie w are no less among t he r esults of
careful training in English composition. It is not
necessary here to go more minu tely iHto the matter;
but eve ry teacher a nd eve ry scholar should clearly
recognize t11at this branch of education is not to be
followed fo r its practical utility only, great as tliat is.
They are to look uvon it as one of tlie most etlfoient
aid:; to general culture.
Without enthusiasm, h owever, littl e of the good of
this or of any study as a 111ea11s of culture Qoan be realized . It is l1ere tliat the personal eq uati o11 of the
t eacher tells most strongly. U nl ess the instructor is
ahle tu make hi:; pupils enjoy tli eir work, unle:;s h e
is able to ove rco me the common prejudice against
the me-writing, unl ess li e is able to awaken some spark
of genuine appreciation of the delight and satisfaction

xiv

INTRODUCTION.

to be found in mastering the art of composition, there
is small hope that the wide possihilities at his command
will be rea1 izeJ . It is possihle under prnper conditions
to make any intelligent lioy enjoy writing; and while
ideal conditions are not easily secured, it is still true
that it is generally not very difficu1t to awaken a
healthy interest in composition. Until tliis is Joue,
it is certain that little can be accompli:;heJ which is
of d eep or lasting value.
The more closely a teacher can connect any study
with the actual life, the every-day experieuces of his
pupils, the more strong is his hold upon their interest.
The present book illustrnte8 how easy it is to liring
composition into close relation with daily happening8
and though ts. Any man thinks and talks aliout the
things which he sees and the things which he does;
it is but a short step to the writing aliout tli em. It
follows that tl1is branch, if it Le prupe rly treated, is
one in which students are most easily interested .
That composition has Leen pretty generally regardeJ
as dry and laborious, I am well aware. Lalioriu11s it
is. Nothing worth doi11g is likely to be other titan
laborious. Pupils are 11ut repelled, however, Ly the
difficulty of a study, but Ly a failure to tind its relation to their own minds and mental gwwth. Dry
can composition be only through inadequacy or Julness, - oftener found, I am forced in honesty to add,
in teacher than in learner. Properly approached and
appreciated, it is a labor of delight, anJ it is, moreover,
a labor which is neither more nor less than the laying
of the foundation-stones for all knowledge of whatever
sort soever.
ARLO BATES.

PRELI MIN ARIES..

THE PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION.

CHAPTER I.
PRELI MIN ARIES.
\VHEN a student has assigned to him the subject
of his first theme in English Composition, it is well for
him to realize at once that here is a. p~ece of work for
his wits. The collecti ng of pen, ink, ;:i,nd paper is a
necess ary preliminary, and the process of putti11g words
upon paper is und oubtedly a part of the task. Of the
work of producing a theme, howev er, these make Lut
a small part a rnl cause him but litlle trouble. For the
rest, the work which is really important and difficult, th e
writer must turn to his brain.
The instruments employed in theme-writing are words
and ideas. In such studies as chemistry and drawing
the instruments used are material objects, - test tubes
and Bunsen burners, dividers and T squares. As might
be expected, th ere is a great difference in the ease with
which different men use these two kinds of instruments.
In some men th e brain works best when it is engaged
in directing the movements of a tool held in the l1an ds
or the motions of the whole body in &ctive and trained

3

PRELIMINARIES.

4

TfIE PRIN CIPLES OF COltlPOS!TTON .

exertion; in othe r men the brain works most qui ckly
in dealing wi th abstracti ons, - in learnin g a foreign language, for instan ce, and in expressing id eas on paper
or by word of mouth. The men of the second class
are likely to be awkward in sawin g a board 01· in learning to ride a bicycle ; tlie men of the _first class wrnally
have diffi culty in writin g a th eme. Ne ve rtheless,
clumsy alth ough a man is in express in g his itll•as, he
must tak e espec ial pains t o learn the use of the instruments emp loye Ll, jnst :is the rnan who is clumsy
with his hands and hi>J body mu st exert him se lf to
master th e use of the saw, and to learn how to k eep
his bahwce on a bi cycle; and in the me-writing th e instruments are th e En glish tongu e and a man's own wits.
Although practice in En glish Composition gives a
student familiari ty and facility with th e instrum ents of
verbal express ion, ye t he must not for a mom e nt infer
that he is here ge t ting :i kind of trainin g that is essentially differe nt fr om the res t of the trnini11 g- that his
head an<l his hands rnce ive. Th e sl; ill of the man who
can saw a board straight, of the man wh o can rille a
bicycle well, of the man who cn.n play his pn.rt in n. gn.me
of footbn.11, and , in t h e case of stud ies, the s11cccss of a
man in the ch cmi cn.l lahorntory n.nd in his plates in
mechanical drawing, arc all n.like th e results of training in a few general and fundam e ntal principles, by
which the affairs of th e liuman race are cn.rri ed on.
Selection of th e proper nrnterial for the work, cn.reful
planning, n.n orderly and log icn.l n.nange ment, n. sens('
of the relation between th e details and the whole, and

\

· exactness of execution n.re the ele me nts necessary for success in n. g:une of football, a che mi cal experiment, the
nHtking of a p1ate in mechani cal drawing, and tl1 ~ wnting of a them e. Th ese principl es are the esse ntial s . of
all tli e untlertn.ki11 gs o f life. They apply to En gl1,;h
Corn pos iti on as th ey apply to ev erything else; aud ~lie
stud ent should look upnll the work of theme-wnting
as simply anothe r opportunity for trnining iu the appli ca ti on of th ese broad and gene rnl prin ciples by whi ch
all t,li e acts of his life rnust be g uided.
Th e first thing for Uie student to learn , th en, is how
th ese gc ne r:tl prin cipl es apply to th e espec ial bran cl1 of
stud y eall ccl E nglish Composition . It !s of th.e g 1:cates t
importn.n ce for him to :·ealize thn.t all edu catwn is one,
gov ern et1 throu ghout by these same firm principl es ;
but he must :tlso rem e mber that in th e ca~>e of eacli
stu(ly th ey hav e a partic uln.r applicn.tion. H ere the
point is to di scover what is meant uy selec tion of
material, careful planning, orderly n.rrange111e11 t, reln.tion betwee n tlet1tils and tlr c wl.1ol e, :tnd ex :tet11ess.: of
exec ution, wh e n th ey are appli ed t o tlieme-wr1 t111 g.
In En g lish Co mposition th ese may be grouped und er
three gen eral lien.ds, which are call ed the prin cipl e,; of
Unity, Cohe ren ce, and Emphasis. By stu.dyinf tlH•se
three principl es, and by m:iking what he wntes conform
to th eir injun ctions, an iuexperi enced wriLer may h ope
to make liis thinkin g n.ncl th e e xpression of his thou gh ts
clear an<l effec t ive . Th ese prin ciples a re broad enou gh
t o cov er tli e construction, not me rely of Lh e whole the me,
but also of the parag rnplrs tl1at compose it, and still

7

TliE PRING/ PLES OF CO MPO S ITION.

PRELIMINARIES.

further of the sentences that mak e u p the paragrn.phs.
T hus by the study of U11ity, Cohe rence, and Emphasis
in conneetion with the wh ole compos it ion, tli e µarngraph,
and the se ntence, the wri te r leams li ow the::;e ge neral
prin ciple::; of th ought have a partic ular applic;ttion to
theme-w ri ti ng .
It i::; cvi tlent that, with su ch broad anll e ven univenml
prin ciples, th e a ut hori ty whi ch mak e::; them ui11din g upon
the wri ter cann ot come from a set of dec isi ons re nd ered
by a bench of rhetori cian::; or a ny " standard authorities."
There are, it is t ru e, cer tai n m:Ltte rs conn ected wi th
compositi on whi ch are governed by definite laws. The
practice of the best wri ters of national reputati on at the
present time is recogn ized as establishin g on some points
p rece dents that all must fo llow. S uch prece<le n ls co nstitute what is called·• goo<l use," and furnish <t stanuard
by whieh is dec ided what is an d what is not all owi1.ble.
Goo<l use, fo r exam ple, req uires a capital at the beginning of a sentence, a sin g ula r ve rb with a. s ingular
su bject; and it de tcrmirws wliat words belong to the
language, and just what shall lie th e special meaning
attac hed to each word. The rul es of good use have
th e sa me conve11tional and artificial but nevertheless
rig id authori ty whi ch the laws of politeness have ; their
power is purely arbitrary. A viobtion of either has the
same res ul t: it hurts nobo dy bu t th e offender. F or detai ls, the rul e of good use is s uffi ciently binding. The
th ree prin ciples of compos it ion, howeve r, which are also
µ riu ciples of though t, req nire a urnauer foundation of
auth ori ty.

The basis of authority for the principles of Un ity,
Coherence, a nd Emphasis li es in t he fact th ~tt tli ey
r epresent what th e co mm on ex pe rie nce of mankin d
h as fo un d to be the bes t way of ex prcs::;io11. Men in
all generntiuns wh o have tried to give u ttern.nce to
their ideas by word of mouth or to put them on paper
have en co untereu difficulties, struggled with th em, and
met with success goo<l or bad. \Vlrn.t th ey have discovered they hav e u::;ed, profited by, and so felt bound to
hand down to those who should follow them. Gradually
evolving from the attempts of writers of all kinds,
certain ge11e ral principles have beco me clear, an d
made th eir value evident as guides for a man who
wish es to put his thoughts in lan g uage that shall do
his work exactly and for cibly. Wi th th e constantly
growing realization of the worth of these prin ciples
of composition, came stronger and stron ge r support
for them, as represe nting an experience more wid espread. Thus tli e observan ce of these prin ciples is
now obligatory, because they stand for the gene ral
processes of thought as practised by all men .
Under these circu mstances, it is the business of the
youn g writer to accept the prin ciples of compositi on
with ou t ques tion. They are not inv ented for ~1is discomfort any more than the multiplicati on table is a
special and umeasonable engin e for the annoyance of
his boyhood. In each case what so provokes his impatience and discourages his freedom and orig inali ty
is notl iin g but a compilii.tion of the experi ence of
his predecessors. lf he stumbl es in the path they

8

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\

THE PRIN CIPLES OF COMPOSITION.

made, it is not so much because the way is rough
as because his steps are 11ot yet steady. The cl1i!J,
acceptin g the state ment that twi ce two mak es four,
straightway begi ns to mrdrn operations with J.->encils
and pieces of cl1alk, aral tlius learns to •~pply his ne w
know leJge. Jn the same spirit the w ri le r should take
the prin ciples derivell from the work of men who
have kn ow n li ow to think a1Hl to write clea rly, and
in his own writin g try to follow those principles constantly. It is u ually worth whil e for us to tak e advantage of the experience of our predecessors . No
man no>" eVP, l" thinks of entering a football match
if he is 11 o t dressed a111 l armored for tli e game. In
the same way no stullcnt can afford to disregard the
methods that grne ration s of writers l1a ve proved to
be wisest.
Theme-writing, then , is a task whi ch requires the
active exertions of the writer's brain, in dealing with
words aml illcas. The principles hy which his work
is guided a.re the prin cipl es which underlie all work
and thoug ht. In English Composition the special
forms that they ta.ke recei ve the nam es of Unity, Coherence, an<l Em1 li as is . Fina.Uy, the autJ1ority whi ch
enforces the observ.ince of these principles is not the
arbitrary ruling of good use, but the fact tha.t all
trained writers do thei r work in accordance with
these principles. This is their practice because they
have found th:tt thus tliey arc best able to make
their writing clear a.ml effective.

THE WHOLE COMPOSITION.

CHAPTER II.
THE WHOLE COMPOSITION: SUBJECT AND TITLE .

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IF a man has <L theme to write, he mm;t have something to write about, - that is, he must h a ve a :rnbject. The conditions under which he prepares liis
themes make it the best plan for him not t o choose
his own subject either at random or after a long and
desperate search, but to take the subject which is a::;signe<l to him by lii::; instru ctor an<l which is seleded
and restricted to fit his especial needs. Further, in
ord er that he may lose no time in searching tl1rou g li
books aud papers for information on his subject. and
in order that he may focus his whole attention on the
best way of saying what he has to say, he is asked to
write on no subject of which he ha8 not already some
knowledge. His theme -subjects are accor<lillgly taken
from among things that are fresh in hi:> rne111ory ur
that have just come within the range of liis gruwillg
experience, s uch as the character of his preparation at
fittiug school, an accoun t of one of the studies wl._icl1
he is pursuing, or his observations on the t.:onvcrsation
of his fellow-stu<len ts . On subjects of this description,
moreover, all that he is likely to have to say can be said
within the space of two or three pages of th eme-pap er.
When his subject is restricted in this way, the writer
11

12

13

THE WHOLE COMPOSITION-

SUBJECT AND TITLE.

escapes the danger of atte mpting a piece of work tliat
is altogether beyond l1is powers, his ti1ne, a nd his space
limit. Consequently, with a s ubject of a familiar character and restri cted in scope to the prese nt powers of his
performance, he is able at once to think bow he may
Liest present his ideas.
The a1lva11tage that the writer gains from havillg as
a the111e-s11lijeet so me thing Oil wl1i e h lie already has
s ome knowlellge appears, fo r one thi ng, in his Le ing
aole imm ediately to set to work. H e is not ouliged
to .'tsk himself in despair, "Wh;tt s hall I say '! " but
his first question is one of self-examination, - "What
<lo I think?" His mind is already stored with opinions, memories, ideas, or convictions on the subject
proposed. His first task is accordingly to examine
his mind and see what these are . If he can beco me
clear in reganl to them, he has accomplish ed half his
work. If h e tries simply to thi nk of somethiug Lo say,
th e result is Sllre to be YCXaiio11 ; UUt he is in the right
path from tlw mo111 cn t Ll1at he bcg i ns to ellllea vor to
mak e clear to himse lf what :trc his act ual Lhougl1ts on
the s11liject in hand, an<l h e reac hes the right tiath
soonest whe n Ll1e subjeet is taken from l1is r:u11iliar
an<l every-day cxtierieuces.
T l1e tiLlc is llie 11a1ue of the theme. It is enti.rel v
distinct from the subject of the theme . Its r elati on
to th e subject is tl1at of a laliel to a uottl c. Tl1 c
title of a theme. fo r examµle , is "FooLliall News i11
the Boston ]Jerald"; the st1l>ject is a characterization
of the footoall news printe<l in tlmt paper. The Litle

as a label to d esig nate the theme must do its work
conveniently and exactly ; it must be short and easy
to say, and it must be a perfect fit, - neither Loo small
nor too large. "Chemistry" and "Amate ur Photography" are titles 1 that are plainl y too bro<td for any
treatment of these subjeets tliat co uld properly be
included within four hundred words. If these titles
are restricted, l1owever, so that they re[td, ·•M y Preparatory \Vork in Chemistry" or "The Freshman
Course in Chemistry at the Institute," aml "The
Technique of Am[l,te ur Photography," or "My _Experiences as an Amateur Photographer," they <les1g11ate
subjects that come within the limits, of a three-pag0
theme. lf, again, a student is writing on tl1e charfl.ctcr
of his prepanition for the In stitute, h e 111ust fit to this
subject a title that will describe it exactly. The fol lowing are titles good, bad, and indiffere nt, that may
suggest tltemsel ves to him: Howl ]'reparcd.
My l'reparnt.ion.
Three Years at the TI-- High Scl1ool.
Th e Scientific CoursP. at M-- Academy.
My "Preparation for the Institute:
The G-- School and What it Did to J>repa:1- Me for
the Institute.
Of these titles, only that one may be chosen which
unquestionfl.bly fits the subject a.s the w1:ite r intends
to present it, and which is also convc111ently short.
1

For alternative examples seep. 47.

14

THE WITOLE COJ.f POSITION.

UNITY.

The title will then designate the theme with brevity
and precisio11.

CHAPTER III.

On one point, however, there must be no mistake.
A s the title is entirely distinct from the theme, it must
never be allowed to conn ec t itself in any way with the
first sentence of the theme. The opening sentence
should al ways read as the real beginning, and should
never imply knowledge of any word or phrase contained in the titl e. An example will show a common
way in which this rule is disregarded. Of a theme
entitled ''.What my Fitting School Needs Most," the
first sentence is," It needs most a gymnasium." Here
the antecedent of the pronoun "it" is in the title,
and the sentence taken by itself is unintelligible. In
another theme with the same title, the first words are,
"In writing on this subject, I wish," etc., and these
words mean nothing until the reader has looked back
to the title. Two examples are more than enough to
show the nature of this error and the necessity of
beginning a theme without reference to the title.
With these matters concerning the subjec t and the
title clearly understood, the student is in a position
to consider the application of the three principles of
Unity, Coherence, and Emphasis to the whole composition.

15

THE WHOLE COMPOSITION: UNITY .

THE first thing which a student who starts to write a
theme should realize is that the theme must be about
one thing. Many thoughts will naturally be included
in the theme, but they must all belong to a single subject. That one subject represents the reason ,w hy the
theme is written. The student may wish, for example,
to tell something about his preparation for the Insti tute,
the methods of discipline in the school where he fitted,
the need of a better fire department in his town, or any
other subject of whi ch he already has som·e knowledge .
Since it is necessary for him to write on this subject, it
is his business to separate it from everything else in his
mind, and to consider it by itself as a unit. Wh en a
man buys a piece of land he puts a fence round it to
mark the separation of his own property from the world
outside. So, in preparing to write a theme, a man must
make a similar separation between the ideas that really
belong to his subject and those that do not belong to it.
Moreover, if the landowner builds his fence in the
wrong place, he is likely to enclose land not his own;
and if the writer makes his separation carelessly, Ife is
likely to include an idea that has little or nothing to do
with his main purpose. If an irrelevant idea is thus
included the effectiveness of the wl1ole is weakened,
for the theme is no longer a unit. It is highly importaut, therefore, for the writer to realize at the outset that

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16

UNITY.

'I'HE WHOLE COMPOSITION.

he has to write auout o uc thing, a single suLjcct, clearly
and unmistalrnLly separn.ted from everything else.
The principle by which this sepa ra.tio11 of ideas and
selec tion of material are accom pfo;J1ed is call ed the principle of Un ity. By this principle every fact, illustration, argum ent, or a nec dote which th e writer thinks of
putting into the theme mus t be tested. 1f tlie id ea iu
question proves, after this test, to come within the tenitory of the suLj ec t on which he is writing, then it may
be enclosed with in the limits of the theme. Ma11y things
there are whi ch might be said abo ut any s ubject, since
they have with it :;ome connection more or less close.
Neverth eless, just because they are ::;o many in number
and so di verse in character, some selection must be made ·
'
and th e p rin ciple that decides w liich of them slrn.11 be
accepted and whi ch rejected is the principle of Unity.
vVhen a man sits down to write a the me he must rememLer that th e principle is a practical one and needs
to be constantly applied. His first impulse is to wait
for a n id ea to co me to the surface, put it <low11 on paper,
wait for another id ea, put that down, a nd so on until
the required space is filleJ. These recollections and
impressions and inspirations, however, that come or
should come crowding up are not all of equal relevancy.
Some, as it is plain at a glance, belong within the field
of the subject; others, it is eq ually plain, belong outside it. Many are on the line. To these last, espec ially,
the writer n eeds to apply the principle of Unity. vVhen
he does this he sees at once that one of tliem i::; ab8 urdly
irreleva nt, that another is wo rthless, that a third belongs

17

after all in t he theme, an d so 011. In this way cn·n
possible iJ ea whi ch occu rs to the writer for the theme
r eceives :-;i..:ruti11y, aml no itleii is aJmitLed un til it lias
successfully passed a ri gid en trance exa11 1i 11ativn for
Unity.
A specific case 1 may serve to show more clearly the
practical valu e of the principle of Unity . f11 collsidering what lie shall say in a theme enti tled" J\l y l'reparation fo r t ir e Institute," a person miglrt uaturally c11ough
jot do wn the following ideas as possiLle material: 1. Early interest in rnechani c::tl toys.
2. Sarly arnu itiOll to Lecorn e a locuruot:iYe e11gi1wer.
3. Number uf I.Joys in th e High ::lcl1uul wlw \\'t:re jJl't'·
paring fur tl1 e In stitute.
4. l:'reparation iu tirst and secou<l yea rs.
5. \York as a Lrakeman t!11riug tl1 e su 111111er \'a.cation.
6. Harder work in the last years.
7. Course in mathematics.
8. Com::>e in languages.
9. French teaeher.
10. Entrall ci: exa millations.
11. Allrnissiun to the Justitute.

If by "Preparation fo r the In s titute" the writ.er mean:;
the work done to enable him to pass his ent.r:w ce ex aminations, he will see, as soon as he ap1Jli es the pri11ciple of Unity, that some of these id eas are inel eva11 t•.
The first two ideas, of cou r:;e, have nothin g to do with
the subj ect. N umber tl 1ree has a place if the size of the
classes preparing for the Institute affected i11 any way
the preparation of the writer. If it is o rily a staterne 11t
1

1'' or a n alternative example 8ee p. 48.

18

TH E WH OL E COMP OSITION .

of ge neral interes t, it mu st be dismissed as worthless.
Number four belongs in the theme ; number fi ve does
not be long in it. Num be rs six, se ven, and eig ht must
ce rtainl y be in cl uded. In th e case of number nin e, th e
write r sees that if li e :,; peaks of his French tea d 1er, it
is necessary to sho w how tha t ma n influence d hi::; pre paration. Th e teache r 1rnty lia.ve bee n a poo r di::;c iplinal'ian, a nd ::;o may have dest roye d all res pec t fo r lii ::; a uili ty
to teac li Fre nch, wit,11 t he r es ult that the writer ne ver
lmirn ed h is lesso ns, fail ed in the e nt ra nce exami11a tion,
and so was ol>li gc cl to t:drn t he stndy again i11 l1is las t
y ear, wi t h g rca L i11 co11 venic11 ce to h is other work . By
stateme nt of the,;e fa t.:ts tli e writer may sh ow that his
Fre nch tcaelie r did influ ence hi:.i p reparati on, a nd so
may justify men tio n of him. N umbers te n and eleve n
dese r ve nothin g more t han the bar est mention, to :; how
th e acco mpl ishm ent of the preparati on. In tl1i s way
the wri te r s ift8 h is. mate rial; what is properly rele vant
to hi s subject li e saves fo r use, th e rest h e throws away,
and the prin ci J_J! e t hat g uides his choice is th e J_Jri11ciJ_J! e
of U ni ty.
T hel'e a re t wo wap in which a vi olat io n of the
prin cipl e of U ni ty i:; lik ely to occ ur, and these two
ways it i::; well to co nsiu er in J etail.
The fil'8t of tl1 esc violatio ns of U ni ty has to d o with
a false beginnin g of the tl H~ rn e . In narratives, for e xample, there is a co nstant tem ptation to begin at a
point of time much earli e r th a n tl1c t itle warrants.
A n a ccount of a lh y's fi :; hi11 g tri p on Lhe Ma in e Jakes
may, in the work of a careless writer, beg in with the

UNITY.

19

preparations of the pre cedin g night, or ~vi th th e arrival
in camp a week before t h e day of th e tnp, or e ven with
the state of exhaustion in July whi ch m ade~ mo11 Lh in
th e woods a necessity. All of these stateme nts, l1 oweve r, deal with time before th e actu al s ta rt fo r t l1c
lakes on the morn ing of th e t rip, an d ::;o a re false
beg in nin gs. T o tak e an other case : fo r tl.1e lic~.in11i ng
of a th eme on "My F irst B usi ness E xperi ence, ma ny
su ggestions offer th e mse lves. Th e man y ways in wli.id1
a boy may earn money, the advisability of l1i s learnin g
the valu e of money whil e h e is youn g, tli e numbe r of
boys wh o begin a t an earl y age t o earn money, - an y
on e of these id eas mi g ht , as it see ms at fipt, stand 111
the openin g se ntence of th e the me ; but a rcf~ re n ce
t o th e prin ciple of U ni ty shows t h e same fa ult 111 all .
They are abou.t "First B usiness E:X: pcri enccs i~ Ge ~:
eral," not about "Jlfy First Busm ess E xpe ri ence.
C ompared wi th t hese false beginnings , it is easy t o
see th e merit of the follow ing serious and sim ple se nt en ce that begin s a theme on this subj ec t: My first business experience was keepin g hens.
E x amples of th is sort show that in th eme-wri t in g , as
in e very other undertaking of life, great ad va.ntag~ is
gain ed from a fair st art.
Th e great cause, ho\vever, of all this trouble at ~h e
beginning is that some young writers see m to thrn~
that any start which they may h a.ppen to make 1:0
n ecessarily a part of the theme. Valuable as such a
start may be for the purpose of getting uuder w:t v,

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20

TI!F; WHOLE COMPOS!TlON.

of. sclti11g sluggi::d1 tll(Jught::; tiowin g , it is ill all probability good for 11otlii11 g cl::;e . What th e sdwol-hoy
k~ows as an "Introduction" i::; ail ·example of thi::;
k~nd. of false beginning. 1t is in genernl lllad e up of
his first thoughts, the ideas that come into bi::; head
when he sits down and asks himself, not "What do
I t hink?" but " \Vhat shall I say'!'' T o put t lie::;c
thou g ht.-> on paper untloubtcclly warm::; liim up to Iiis
work, but what he writes thus i.':I hardly ever likely
really to belong to his subject. lts relation to the
r eal theme, a. nd the right beginning of the theme, co rresponds exac tly to the relation betwee n the ten min utes of prelimi1iary practice 011 tlie footb;dl field and
the opening ~)lay of the game itself. On e is desultory
and d1::;organ1zed, the other i::; delibe rnte and a s ig 11 ific·rn
' t r>n.• 1t o f LI 10 game as a w liolc. Ne ve rth eless, ill
spite of the plaillly illogical ch:uacter of s11eh an" fntrod1tet.ion," as see n by the light of the prineiplc of Unity,
the mexpenen ce d or careless writer is always exposed
to the danger of this fallacy. A dozen suggest.ions
may seem plausible for the beginning; but only ::;uch
a one of them shoulJ. be taken for the opening sentence
as can stand the test of the principle of Unity.
The second w;i,y in whi ch a violation of the prmciple of Unity is likely to occur is by digressions. The
process that we call association of ideas may produce
at any 1~om e ut some fact which, whatever its apparent
co1~nect1on with the subject, will inevitably divert the
wnter from the proper course of his work. When a
man once gets switched off on a digression, he is like

UNITY.

21

a car left on one of the sidings that railroaJ. men call
"spurs"; he can hav e no hope of further progress
until he gets back to the main line. \Vhen a man
who is writing about one of the valleys of western
New York where grapes are grown has <lescribe<l that
slope of the hill on which the vineyards are situated,
it naturally occurs to him to mention the fact that on
th e other slope anJ. in the country beyond no grapes
grow. Thus, by speaking of that other slope, he has
"side-traek ecl" him::;elf, so to say, as compl etely as if
he haJ. digressed to lament th e absence of vin ey ards
in Labrador. The following quotation from a th eme
on "The System of Government in My Preparatory
School" is extremely faulty in respect of digressions: Over this principal was a superintendent, who was appui11tell yearly Ly the tuwn. Th e supcri11te11de11t liad
general supervision uf the sehoul, a11tl was rcs po11 silil e to
tl1 e tuw11 fur t!t e mann er i11 w!ti ch th e i:;clwol was co1Hluded.
H e also had sole cliarge of buying text-buoks anll of hiring trachers. Lastly, th ere was a board of tl1ree co111111itteeme11, wlw were el cetetl fur a term of t!tree years Ly the
town , lrnt so eleeteu tl1at one went out of ottice every year.
Thi s left two member:; 011 the board, who haJ. respect ively
011e and two years' experience.
Th e general duti es of th e superintendent and the way
in whi ch the :;chool board is elected have nothing to do
with the system of government of tl1e school; yet they
are things that to tl1e writer's first thought seem entirely
natural and proper to be spoken of. The moment, however, that he consi<lers tl1e principle of Unity he sees

22

THE WHOLE COMPOSITION.

UNITY.

ihat th ey are irrelevant. A constant gnar<l agai 11 s t
su ch digressions i:; necessa ry in orde r that the writ er
may keep to th e main lin e of his thought.
I t is not c11ougl1, however, me re ly to select such
il1ings ;is are c losely co1111ccted with the subject and to
re ject c verythi11 g dse; the whole co mpos ition mu:; t hav e
Hot only U11i ty of id e ;~s sclecte(l l>ut abo Unity of expression. A writer sl10u!J phrase his thoug hts in such
a way that t he reader cannot help :;ce ing bow and wliv
eac h idea that has bee 11 selecte J has so methin g to
with th e s ubjec t. I 11 the world at large e very fact
e xis ts in relations wit Ii man y tl1ings ; in a theme evc ry
fact 1Hu:;t appcar i11 its relation with only one tl1iHg, - the subject whid1 tl1e writer has chose n. fn the case
of the them e cited 0 11 page 17, Unity of e xprcssin11
i,; what is nee ded in onlcr to sho w bow aHJ whr
11u111 l>crs t hree a11d nin e are id eas that reall y belong t~>
the suhjeet. S irnilarly, the q uota tion 011 the prccedi11g
page, if it is tu have U ni ty of e xpressio n, must mak e
clear wliat part i11 t li e gove rnment of th e sel1ool i.s
taken by the :rn pe ri11 le nd c11 t and the school board.
Th e fact th at the board gives th e final dec ision in
cases of expu ls ion (o r s111nc similar fact) is the tliin g
whi ch n eed:; rn cn Lio11 , a11d thc11 Llie co1 1n ec ti o11 of Lhe
board with the gove rnm ent of t he scliool is at once
evident. A writer's work <loes uot lrnv e Unity of e xpress ion un t il, along wi th eve ry fact which he states,
lie mak es clear tl1e reason why that fact belongs in th e
theme.

d;i

On e of the best ways of attaining this Unity of e x-

23

pression is by attention to what is called the "point of
view." This phrase is employed to indicate the s taudingground, literal or figurativ e, from which objects or ideas
are seen or thought of. As in r eal life thin gs are always
seen by so mebody who is sta ndin g so mew here, so in
theme-writing everythin g mu st be state1l as it appears
from a ce rtain posi lion, - usu ally the pos iti on of the
writer. The Litle ·•My First S unday in Boston " indicates a narratio n told from the poin t of vi e w of the
wri te r. A theme on "What My Fitting School Needs
Most" explains th e need of the school that the writer,
as h e sees it, thinks g reatest. In a theme entitled" A
Comparison of L ectures a nd Rec itations," the point of
view is t hat of a man who has kn o wledge of the two
subjects, and is on <t level where lrn can look from one
to th e olli er an<l co mpare them. Th e poiut of view
should al ways he irnlieated or at least clea rly implied in
the first se ut1.: nce (fn r example, ' 'My first business e xperience was kee pi11g hens "), and th en mu st not be
chanrred
Tlll'<rng h out the th eme e very tlctail should be
b
.
presented from one unalterable point of vi1.:w.
·w hen one point of vi ew has bee n chose n for a statement, every other aspect of the matte r is thereby excluded. Th e fact tha.t all other ways of looking at it are
and must be shut out wh en a. subject is thus treated, ghcs
that subject Unity. Attention to the point of vie w is
conseque ntly one of the best ways of making the U ui ty
of a. composition evident. The object of the writer is
always t o produce in the mind of the reader, with regard to a. certain subject, a definite impression. An,)'

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24

25

TllE ll'ffOLE CO.M PO S ITION.

UN ITY.

carelessness al>out defining or k eeping th e point of
vie w, is su re to make work I.ii urred and confu sed. 1t is
as if, afte r mak ing one photograph of a house, a man
::;hould move li is camera a few feet to one ::;iJe, aml th en,
on the same plate, take a second photograph of it. The
lack of U nity of e xpre::;::;ion in work in which one point
of view i::; not ad hered to i~ well illustrated oy the following paragraph:~

con t inu e<l, but at the very e nd that of th e listener out::;ille is n.gai 11 intrnd uee <l. In tltis shor t parag raph tl1e
subject is loo keLl at fr om th ree e nt ire ly diffe rent sta11<lpoints. As <L res ul L tl1e theme is co nfused and ind efi ni te,
and !ms no r eal U ni ty of e xpre::;sion. T o sccme t hi s
U nity, there is 11eed of a fixed and definite poi11t of

To be in side an orrl inary chu rch organ while it is bein g
pl::t.} eel is an interestini:; experi ence.
The se nsations are
hard to 1lC'sniliP,. A II of the pipes except the l a r ge~t are
cnclosf'J in : L brge room -like box, tec hnically lrn mr n as t he
";;wC'll." Th en· arc shu tters in the sit.le of the swell whi ch
are opened w hrn lhe organist wishes a lo11J tone, and graJually closed wh en he wi shes to <1iminish t.he intensity of
tone. T o one standing in the swell of a large organ, the
mu sic, soft and dist:int to the li stener outside, is a veri table
whirlwind of sound. The vibrations shake th e air. The
hissin g of escaping wi nd, the sh ri ek of the hi gh notes, and
th e deep r everberating thunder of the bass fo rm a strikin g
contrast to the same sou nds as heard by one outs ide, to
whom they seem quiet and peaceful.
The firs t t wo sentences here are written from the point of
view of one inside the or gan. T he next two se nte nces
g ive that of a person who understn.nds the construction
of n.n organ and is givi ng a11 ex planation of it. Th e nex t
se ntence shows that the man in the organ is inside th e
s well, and so further defines the first point of view;
but in the middle of the se nte nce is n. phrase whi ch
shifts to tli e point of vie w uf the listene r outsid e.
After the second interruption the firnt point of vi e w is

v ie w.
With reg;m.l to the po in t of vi ew one ca utio n must lie
g iv e n. In o rd er to dete rmin e tl1e point of view for tli e
r ead e r, tl1 e fre(t11 e11t u:;e of I, .l tliink, l l1elieve, l li ave
/01111d 0111, it. 1$c1· 111s t u 111 e, is not at all 11 eL:es:;ary.' 1t is
take n fo r g ra11 te1l ll1a t t he wri te r thinks a11<l believes
and ha:; fo 1111d out, as otl1 erwi::;e h e has. n o Lu::;i11 ess Lo
write th e l11 e me; and t.l1 e1>e wo rd s d o 11 ot.liin g either
for read e r or fo r wri te r to estauli sh a real poi nt of
v ie w. TlmL is a. mat.tc r wl1i clt li e:; back of mere words.
I t is determi ned Ly th e men tal attitud e of the writer.
The prin c ipl e of U nit.y as appli ed Lo t he wliol e composition is a prin cipl e of the first impo rtan ce. It provid es a test by whi eh th e writer may distinguish wliat
id eas belong to hi s ::;ubject and wl1at <l o not, and by
which li e may avoid false beginnings a nd digressions.
It req uires t hat tli ere shall be not o nly .!:_J n~ty of id ea~_ I
sel ec ted, but also that Unity of ex. >res;;; i o~w hi d1. m ay :l..
be::;t be attain ed by carefol attention to the point of
view. T o olis erve tl1i ::; prin1:iple strictly i:; the funJa..
mental con di t ion of prod ucing a good theme, sin ce upoc
it depend both the matter and the mann er of the work.

26

THE WllOLE COMPOSITJON.

CHAPTER IV.
THE WHOLE COMPOSITION : COHERENCE.

AFTl~ lt the selection of material for the theme ha.3
been made, the next q uestion is the matte r of arran geme nt. 111 other words, inasmuch as the writer l1as a
:; uLject whi ch represents a single idea, allll whi ch he
wishes to make clear to his readers, he must now consider what are the natural and logical steps Ly whi ch
lie may advance until he has prese nted his lead ing
thought in a clea r :rnd comprehensible form. Various
subordinate ideas, or sub-headings of tl1c main th e me.
will probably already have occurred to l1i111 as topics for
treatm e nt in differe nt pamgrnp lis ; and his presc11t task
is to set them in an order 1Yhicl1 sliall bri11g 011t his train
of thought clearly an<l co11sec 11 t iv ely from begi1111ing to
end. In some cases, espec ially wl1en a chronolog-ical
arran ge ment can be used, the que;;tion :;;olve;; itself ;
in oth er cases, the 11t.most am ount of painstaking that
patience will elll1urc is not too mu ch to expend upon
Coherence. In eith er event it is upon a clear arrancre·
0
ment of material that t li e re:u1er's underst.anding of the
subject depencb.
Whenever a chrnnolog iv:ll anangcmenL is possible, that is, whenever the su lijed is a narrnti ve or one in
which the irleas haYP ;;m11c relation to e:LCh other in
sequence of time, - t l1t ·11 tltat is ge1amtlly I.he coherent
arrange ment.
A t!1,·1 11e ,,·J1id1 desc ril.ies t.lie writer's
first business experie11L·e J1at urally begins with. the

COHERENCE.

27

ori g in of his attempt, the11 narrates the events in the
un1er in whieh one fullow eJ an oth e r, a11tl e nds with a
statu me11 t of tho result s of th e venture. J\11 account ol
a cl1ernical expe rillll'llt dese rilws the steps of the work
in the order in wl1ieli they were ta.ken. It is a simple
thing to do, bu t for th e sake of clearn ess it is a positive
necess ity in s ue. Ii cases 1hat tlie treatment of event;;
shouhl follow witl1 uuL d ev iati on U1e order of time i11
whi el1 tli ey occurre11.
With many suujects, how e ver, this easy chronological
arrangement is out or the question. Much shifting about
an<l rearranging of ideas is nece;;sary Lefore the order is
found which is the best, and th e best because the clearest.
This matte r, therefore, needs to be discu's;;ed in detail.
First of all the writer must co nsider how he :;hall
beg in his theme . In ge neral, the surest way for him to
dec ide tliis is to look at tl1 e qu estion from the reader's
point of view. v\Tha.t t l1 e rert<le r need;; at the outset i::i
some statement that he can surely u11<lersta11<l or that
will interes t l1irn. The write r mu:;;t acco rdin gly try to
imagine what pie ce of information about the subject on
whi ch he is writing will serv e this pmposc. The subject
of his theme is, let us say," The Techniqu e of Amateur
Photography." Following the prin c ipl e of U nity, he
has already resolv ed not to begin with an introd~ c tion
on the pleasur~s an<l profits of the occupation, or the
growth of his own interest i11 the subject, or the dozen
oth er thing;; that he was at first tempted to put into the
opening paragraph; but this has only cle:u ed th e '~ay
for the real question. Ile now has to d ecide whether

28

1'IiE WrIOLE COMPOS ITION.

li e :;hall start wi t h a desc ri pt ion of the camera, with an
account Df l1ow a photograph is taken, or with an explanation of the process of developing. Any une of these
subjects migl1t se rv e [or tl1e ope 11ing of the th eme; but
if the rea1ler's point of view is co11siLle re<l, it is in11nediately plain that the pen;on for whose benef it s uch a
th eme wou ld he wri Ltc11 has probably no k11owl edge o(
photog raphy Leyo llll wh;tt he has :,;ec11 o( the arrn11geme11 t of tlic ca111er:L befo re the picture is taken, :L11d what
he has ol>served a.t the time when th e expos ure is made.
Tlie most easily co111pre hc 11sil1l e s11bjed for the first parngrapl1, t hen, is the CX ['lanaliu11 of t he actio11s which t he
reader k 11 ows by sigl 1l, hut of wl1i eh he has 110 further
knowlcdgt~. Thus Ly starling wi t h t he known lie is prepared to advance to the unknown. Agai11, tl1e description of :t suburban railro:ttl :;talion shou ld begin with
the outs id e of the uuild i11 g; a nd , moreover, t he outside
mu:;t be de:;cri bcd as it is seen from so111e p:nlic1dar
poi n t of approach, ci titer as it look:; frn111 the street or
as it appears whe n a pe rsn11 gets Ollt of the train . S ueh
a ucginning li:ts the advantage of fixing the point of
view at once; the rcacle r knows where 11e is st.aml ing,
and so whe n, late r i11 tl1e theme, he reads the description
of the interior of Lhe stat.ion h e i:; bette r a bl e to co mpare
that with what he knows already. These two ex amples
show with wh:lt adv;rntagc :L writer may plan his th e me
so that the opc11i11g sc11te11 ee sh:tll lie clea r. Everything
depends 011 his beginnin g t he t heme at the startingpoint which is exactly ri g ht fo r the intelligence of the
ge neral reader.

CO II EUENCE.

The writer as well as the read er is often bene fi tell by
the appli cation of ihe prin cipl e o( Cohcre 11ce to the hegin nin g of tl 1e tl1emc. It hardl y e ver fails to gi \'(; Ii int a
hin t for t he plan of the whole. \Vhen he h:ts once appreciated t he fact that, liaviH g ga uged the degree of tlte
reader's knowledge, he must start with the kn own and
go to the unknown, beg in with what is near and alhance
to what is re mote, and Urns Ly easy and 11atural str1gcs
take tlie read er with him, tli cn t l1 e matte r of a rr:lllgi11g
hi s idea:; in acco r<l;rn cc wi t h this rule shou ld be a simpl e
affai r. In the t he me 011 amateur photog raphy, [01 ex ample, as soo n as the writer sees that he must first of all
explain the o peratio ns that th e ob:;e ~v er wit11esses, 1ie
realizes. that the course of t he r ealler's interest and intellige nce must follo w from the camera to the plate, from
the plate to th e print, ;md so on. Adopting th i:; order,
therefore, the writer is provided with a co ntinuously
clear and coh ere nt arrangement.
Thus by a sta rt
which is on t he re:tdcr's level of comparatively complete ig nor ance, the write r is able to discover the successive steps by whi ch h e may lift the reader to his
own level of complete comp rehe nsion.
vVhen a logical anangement of ideas has at last been
effected, the next thing is to make th is a rra,11ge ment
evident.
At the cross-roads, or rather the turningpoint:; of the theme, to press into se rvice a new comparison, the rea.cler must be made to realize that he has
finished on e division of his journey and is now to proceed to the next. To do this duty, and to tell him how
far he has come and how mu9h ft~rLh e r he has to traveL

30

31

TflE WT/OLE COJfI'OSITION.

COHERENCE.

guide-posts musL be set up. Each gui<le-post, by marking <listance and direction exac tly, prevent-> the careless
reader from losing the road. As the wndency to lose
the road is a trait of every careless reader, and as nine
persons out of ten are carele:;s readers, the matter of an
appropriate mark to indicate every considerable advance
is a thing abont whi eh 110 writer can be too careful. It
must be remembered, l1owever, that these marks do not
make the Coherence of the th e me, but merely serve to
indicate its logical course. Just as gui<le-posts play
no part in es taLlishing the road, and are useless until it
is built, so these verbal guide-posts cannot be set up
until in the writer's mind the plan of the theme is laid
out complete from start to finish. Their duty is merely
to mark the way.
In considering the means by which the writer may
make the reader keep in mind the course of the th eme
as a whole, it is well to notice first the value of trnnsition paragraphs and summaries. Transition paragraphs
serve the purpose of sh owing that one general division
of the subject is finished and that another division,
containing perhaps some subdivisions, is to follow.
Paragraph three, for e xample, in this clrnpter, shows
that the discussion of one rn cLhod of arrangement has
been finished, and that an ac count in detail of other
methods is to follow. Paragraph six of the next chapter performs a like service . Summaries come at the
conclusion of important sections of a work, and give a
rapid survey of the ground covered up to that point.
In this book a summary is placed at the end of the

treatment of the whole composition, and in the same
fashion at the close of the discussion of paragraphs, and
also of sentences.
Both transition paragraphs and
summaries, however, are means that hardly e ver need
to be employed in three-page themes, simply because
the necessities of the theme are not complex enough to
demand them. They are there as much out of place as a
heavy caniage-bri<lge would be to take a footpath over
a brook. In most longer compositiom;, however, such as
a detailed explanation of some manufacturing process,
or the technical description of a piece of machinery,
these two ways of making the plan clear and easy to
follow are in<lispensahle.
One w:-i.y of arrangement capitally adapted to themes
of three or four hundred words in length, is to enumeraw at th e outset the po in ts that are to be dwelt upon,
and tl1e11, :Ls eacl1 comes up in turn, to refer to the
first enumeration. A good examµle 1 of this method is
to be found in the following paragraph, which begins
a theme cnLitlc<l, "What My Fitting School Needs
Most": -

I

The greatest needs of my fitting school are a larger lecture hall, a new gymnasium, allll a larger athletic field.

.

The three succeeding paragraphs, accordingly, deal
with these needs in tum, arnl begin as follows: A larger lecture hall is greatly needed, etc.
A new gymnasium has long been desired, etc.
l

lcor a.n a lternative example seep~ 48.

39

THE WHOLE COMPOSITION.

The tninl need of which I spoke is that of a larger
athletic !fold.
If the writer aJopls Ll1is method, there is one considera-

tion which, however obv ious it maj' seem, li e must not
be above regarding. W!te11 lie lays J own i11 his first
paragraph a <leJinite order of treatment, that order he
must stick to wi tho ut variation. It will not do for
him to shift his plan and put i11 the second place the
paragraph on the lapse of interest in athletics. Since
he lias gi vcn tl1e nee d of a gymnasium the second place
in the list, he must give it the second place in the
theme. Wh e n a writer follows this met hod, first outlining hi s plan, and then making it ev ident that li e
is adhering to it, the reader has IJ O e xc use for not
co mpreh end ing clearly and immediately the course of
the theme.
Connecti1Jg sente nces between the main divisions of
the theme arc important guide-posts. An examination
of tl1is chavter 011 Coherence will show the work tl1at
such sentences <lo. Pages 26 to 2V are g i vcn to the
discussion of (l) what a clear beginning does for the
read~r, (2) what it dues for the writer; and these two
subjects arc con nected by the sentence on page 29
beginning, The writer a8 well as tlte reader, etc. On
page 29 the sentence that begins, Wlien a logical
arrangement of idea.~, etc., shows a transition from the
discussion of arrangement to the treatment of means
by which this arrangement is to be indi cated. In
the theme referred to in the preceding pa.ragrapl1, the

COllEUENCE.

three sentences that introduce the three divisions perform this same work of connection. Such sentences,
then, are useful and important as indicati11 g a turn in
the road, and it the reader is not to travel undirected,
in danger of losing l1is way at every cross-road, these
guides must be carefully set in positiou.
f b Tl1e principle of Coherence _Qrns provides first for au
arrangement of the theme that will conduct the reaJer
clearly and logica lly, step by step, from the begin11i11g
to the end ; and second for the adoption of such means
as will enable him to keep constantly in mind not only
the details of his progress, but also his course as n. whole.
Both of these req uireme nts are important and e ven
irn perati ve. vVhe n they are once und~rstood, it is an
easy and simple thing to carry them out, if only the
writer re members to do it. The point i::i that he mus t
remember; and he must remember not because the
rhetori cs say so, but because the object of writing is to
be understood, aml to be understood the writer must
above all things else be steadily coherent.

•

34

THE WHOLE COMPOS11'10N.

CHAPTER V .
THE WHOLE COMPOSITION : EMPHASIS.

A SENSE of the relative values of things is necessary
for a man in the affairs of every-day li fe, and it is
especially requ isite in English Composition. The need
of distinguisl1ing the difference in purchasing power of
a dime and of a dollar is no greater tl1an th e necessity
in th eme-writing that a man shall find out whi ch of his
ideas are of small account an<l whieh are truly important. To do thi~ )h e mu st exa mi11e all the ideas that he
has selected for l1is theme, and assess th em, so to say, to
get the value of each. He must a1so consider their
relation to the theme as a whole, and estimate the
fractional part eac h is i11 the unit whieh th e wh ole composition represents. By this process he lea l'lls to discriminate between the weighty and the trivial, to decide
for which of his ideas a single sente nce is s ufficient, and
which need the space of a full paragraph to make their
importance evident. The writer thus comes to appreciate the relative values of ideas, a11d to see that there
is need that those whi ch are significant should be duly
emphasized.
The questions of the relative valu es of illcas, of proportion, and of the means by which tl1c reader may see
which ideas are important, are determined by the third
of the three principles of composition, the principle of
Emphasis.
The principle of Unity deals with the
selection of material, the principle of Coherence deals

EMPHASIS.

35

with the arrange ment of mate rial with a vi e w to clearness; the principle of En1phasis llils to dn with the
anangement of material with a view to indi cat ing its
Im port:wce.
In order to secure Emphasis, a writer nrnst plan his
work so that eac h paragraph i:;hall l1av e a11 amount of
the wl1ole space proportionate to iLs importance. As
far as limit of space is concerne<l, a theme is wriLten
under the same eon di tion s that govern most of the
newspaper and magazine work of to-day. A definite
amount of space is allotted to a writer, and whate ver
he writes must lie an article compl ete in iGelf, co ntaining as nearly as possible a spec~fied numbe r of
words. He must accordingly plan the length at whi ch
each part shall be treated, so that it may ~ ocenpy
more than its du e sl1are of room . The write r of a
three-page theme must settle the same problems, a11d
in his case, if the proportions are bad, Lhe fault is especially evident.
Within such a small space it cannot
escape notice, an<l as a result the effectiveness and
force of the theme are entirely destroyed. The co mposition appears utterly purposeless, and the reader
wonders why in the world it was ever written. In
any kind of writing failure to give Empl1asis •to important ideas by means of a proportionate length of
treatment invariably means loss of force, and sometimes entirely d estroys intelligibility and interest.
An examination of the plan of two them es 1 will show
how Emphasis suffers from poor proportion. In th e
1

For

;i,n

alternative example seep. 48.

VJ."""-

36

TIJR

WI/OLE CO Mf'OS!TlON.

firs t th e me, e 11t.itle(l "Tile Neetls of l\ly Pre paratory
School,·' the pla n and Ll1e proporti ons of th e parag raphs
are as fo lln1rn: -

EMPHA.SlS.

37

I might add that the H igh School most needs a school
board th at will prope rly attend to its needs.

main part o f the the me should Le devoted to th e pres·
e u La ti on of the g reatest ueed of t h e school. l n orde r
to improv e t,he Emphasis of these two them es, the proporti ons of each must be completely alte red.
Th e proLable cause in these two exa mples of poor
proportions is that the wri ter, Lefore ueginning bis
them e, did not stop to consider tlie rcLitive imporLan ce of the diffe re nt ideas 011 wl1i eh h e w:i::; t o write.
In th e first exarnple h e did n ot g iv e full eno ug h
treat me nt to the id eas in the first paragrnpl1s; a nd so
wh e n he h ad writte n half the t l1 ern e h e fou 11d tli;Lt he
had many lin es to till a 11d only a n u11i111por ta11 t id ea
with whieh to fill t h em. In the seco lHl exampl e th e
writer eovere<l tl1 e whol e space witi'1 i11sig nific;rnt details; and then, wh e n h e reach ed his ma in suuj ect,
filllli11ir
tl1at h e liad 11 0 more room, li e ::mid, a:'l if it
0
were an afte rth o ug h t, I mi,qltt add th at t he Hi:;h School
mo8f u eedx, etc . Th e artless use of tl1 e wonl udd is
<lirec t e vide nce against tl1 e write r t l1 at l1i s plan of
proportio ns - if li e eve r lmJ a ny - l1 as gone co lllpletcly out of lii s h ead. In each of tl1 esc cx arn ples
the re a re stro ng reaso ns fo r supposi ng that t l1 e wri te r
did not l>egin hi s work by makin g a careful plan with a
vi e w to l>ri11 g i11 g out the important bet.-;; in each ca:se
the L11 crn e as ;t whol e is weak, e n tirely lackin g in botL

In this case it is plain t hat if a ne w school boa rd is the
m ost importa nt need, it sho uld rece ive full e r treatment.
In a revis ion o f t.lic t h e me t he other details s h ould a cc ordingly be mc11t.io11 cd a.-; briefly a s poss ible and th e

purpose and force.
To give lii s therne Emphasis, t h en, a writer mu ~ t first
of all t;ik e in to co11s id e rati o n tlie rclati 1·e rnl ues of hi :-;
\d eas , anJ g iv e tlic 111 an a111 ount uf ,;p;we prnport. io11a.te
to their illlportrrn ce . In add ition t o tlii,; rnctl 111d ii is

First among t.l1 c needs of my preparatL'I'Y schoo l might
be menti oned t-haJ, nf 1w w text-books. Etc. (l'a ragraph of
one lrnn<l reLl \\·o rd s.)
Next a mong Ll1(' needs is, I t hi11k, that, of rrg r:uling tl1 e
schoul. Et•·. ( l' ara .~rapl1 of on r. h1111dred wonls.)
Th e Ltst nrr-ll, and al so t he lea.st impo rta u t., is I.hat of
ha\'in g some syste m of marking. Etc. (Paragrn pl1 of t wo
hund red words.)

If the t hird need is the leas t importa nt, it shoukl not
hav e one-half the tl1eme Rive n t o it. Fifty or sixty
words at m rnst is all tliat it shoul(l rece ive. As it is
n ow, t he r eader 011 finishing tli e th e me h;Ls li is head
fill eLl with t he wri te r's ideas as to cha nges in an unirnportant detail of the school. Jn the second theme,
wl1ich is on th e sa me subject, the write r tak es 011 e
hundred and seventy words for the need of large r
quarters; fi fly words fo r t he ncetl of a F rc nclt instructor wh o can speak Fre nch well ; a11d eig l1 ty words
fo r the n ee d of a co urse in p oliti cal economy. Then
he ends the theme wi t h Lhe follo win g paragraph: -

38

39

THE IVFJOLE CO~MPOSITIUN.

EMPJJASIS.

also possible to secure EmjJlrnsis Ly arrnugement and
jJOSi tion of ideas.
For the ]JUrposes of Emphasis the important point!!
of a the me are tbc beginning and the e11d. Iu otl1er
words, the i<leas that tlie wri te r wishes to impress most
stro11gly on the rcaJe r should be put in those parts of
the composition where a ttention to wh a t is re:ul is most
alert; and gen eral experience has shown that those
parts are the beginning and the end. vVhy tl1 cy are
the places that are sure to strike the reade r's notice
a brief explanation will make clear.
An audience gathe red to hea r a speaker is generally
at the beginning of the address in a receptive mood .
At the start the attention of the listeners is fresh; they
do not meau Lo n.llow thcmscl ves to be di s traded, Lhey
are willing and perhaps eager to l1 ear. A goo<l speaker,
whom experience has made familiar with these facts, is
1'herefore likely to begin with some striking statement,
or some anecllote upon which this inte rest may qui ckly
seize. If he thus mak es use of the opening sente11ces
to indicate his main subjec t and the character of the
treatment, he may feel sure that wha.t is of greatest
importa nce in the address is, by reason of its posit.ion
in the first sente nces, emphasized as fully as po,.;sible.
Then, as he pro cee ds to give detail::; a11d to amplify lii s
thought, the attention of a part of his a11die11ce will
probably fall away, and this lapse of interest a good
speaker takes into acc ount. l re also has fouml out that
a general retum of at.t.cntio11 always sets in at the sign
of Finally or In <:lu .~in!), let me sum up. So, taking

advantage of this, h e devotes the fiual sentences to
the most forcible statement possible of the thought
which li e wishes to empliasize and to have the audience
carry away with t be m. If he d oes tl1is he bas every
chance of being successful, for nothing eomes after to
destroy the impression created by his last words.
! ·~ve ry idea in the s peech is in tnrn covered up, so to
say, by the idea which is imm ediately placed upon it.
With the last idea this is of course not the case. It
is on top, and so t he mind remembers it. It is for this
r eason that a good speaker takes great care in placing
at th e end, as well as the beg innin g, of hi s address,
the statements to which h e wishes to give the most

.

Emphasis .
Again, to take another example, any reader's experien ce with the Lbily paper illustrates tl1e value of the
princi['l e of Emphasis. His eye glances over the page
for striking headl in es, he begins to read, and conti nu es
or n ot according to the interest for him of the first five
or six lin es. vVhen he r each es the ed itorial page he
begins an article which promises well, in all probability
skims over the middle of it, and really reads the closing
senten ces, trusting to find in them the gist of the subject. On still another page he may find a column whi ch
starts out :ts n ews; bn t a quick glance at the las•t lines
shows him that h e has escaped reading a thinly disguised advertisement of X--'s Magic Hair l{estorer,
or some other quack nostrum. In each of these instances the first and the last lin es have bee n the two
places to which the reader naturally turned first; and in

40

41

THE W!IOLE CO MPOSITION.

EMPHASIS.

each in:;t.a11ce he fouml Lhere the ::;tatement:; that the
several writers had bee n most des irous of making
emphatic.
After these t wo illus trations, it should Le clear in
what ways tli c principle of Emphasi,.; may be applied to
the writing of tl1emes. Careful attention to tl1 e beg inning and the end of the co mpo::; iti ou, with a view of
putting in eac h place the statements that are most
important, will go a great way toward makin g that
impor ta nce evide nt to the reade r. J\11 examinati on in
detail will ,.;l1ow tlie means Ly wl1i c1i this is acco mplished.
Accordin g to the principle of Emplta,.;i::;, t he th e me
should begi 11 \\'i th a statement of so11ie fact which is important. Jn the fi rst sentence the reauc r geLs his start,
and for this :;tart he sl1ould be g i ve11 a state ment which
in its bearing on the rest of the th e 111e is significant.
Too ofte n tlte writer begins Ly c;dlin g atte nti on to ::;ome
detail which is trivi; d and Ll1 ercfore in th e opening
se nten ce 011 t of p lace. As exa mples of su eh un empha t ic
beginni11gs t he following, each the first sentence of a
the me, are insLrncLi ve: -

In these examples the italicized words contain details

1. To be in si<1e a chmch organ while it is bein g pbyed is
an e.i:per iencr> that
2.

f>l'ob(({,/!I

hO J)/ Wi l 8

11 0 (

1111~

to .fi'1v 7w1,11ie.
in ten 1cho

]J('/'S()l l

11ses

a wunkcy-

wrench e ver sto;1s to th i "k /h ((/ i11 it arc elllplu.)'cd two of the
mecl1a11ical pu1H•rs ,,.!tich ht1 1'(' lwr>n so 11.w'.f11l l o ?)(an, nam ely,

tl1P. sc rew a11 tl the lt' v1•1"
.1.

Yon 1r i/I ilu11 l1i/Pss li e "" 11 1rise1l 11•/i en J

preparation for the J nstitute cov e reel Jive years.

~my

that my

that are of no importance wha tever, an<l that com;ide rably weaken the force of the statements with which
they are connected. In each case the words not italicized g ive the important idea, and that should stand
alone in the first se ntence. In contrast with th ese
weak and un emphatic beginnings is the opening sent ence alrea.dy quoted in th e chapter on U nity,-.ilfy
first busiw: s .~ experience was lceeping hens. Here in the
very first line, a line whi ch the reade r can not possibly
overlook, is a plain statement of the main subject, informing him at once what the theme is abou t. A star t
of this sort catclies the reader's attention imm ed iately;
and in th e same fashion the opening of every theme
should have Emphasis, for upon the character of the
fit'dt sentences depends the reader's interest.
To begin a theme p roperly is a difficult matter, and
the writer is in danger of violatin g any or all of the
principles of co mposition. Each of Lhe principles need;;
his conside ration wheu h e is decidi ng how h e shall start
his composition; but in the different requirem ents th ere
is not necessarily a ny conflict. The first sentence of th e
theme on "My First Business Experi ence," which is
good fr om the poi11t of view of Emphasis, is also good
from the point of view of U nity. In general, fn th e
threefold examination which the beg innin g n eeds, a
senten ce which stands the tests of U nity and Coherence
is lik ely to be rtecept.alJle on the score of Emphasis.
Afte r the state ment of the subject in the first lin e,
the body of th e t heme should be dev oted to the develop·

42

43

THE WHOLE COMPOS ITION.

EMPllA!iIS.

ment of it. This may be done by a presentation of the
ideas connected with the subject, by statement of details, by examples, and in general by any means that
will help to show in full what are the writer's thoughts
on the subject. An account of the means to secure this
result cannot be given here, because they vary greatly
with the subject and the kind of treatment. It is enough
for the writer to rem e mber that the proper place for
the developme nt of his subject is the main body of the
theme.

bette r equipments, anJ because it tloes not cost so much.
(Fin al sentence of a theme comparin g pul.ilic anJ private
schools, and basing the comparison chiefly on th e athletic
advantages of eac h.)

The end of the theme is a part which, according to
Emphasis, r equ ires especial care. ft is a particularly
important matter, for whatever is contained in the final
sentences has the best chance of remaining in the
reader's mind. The work of inexperi enced and ca.reless
writers, however, shows in this respec t many faults of
Emphasis. Some lazy writers make a habit of stopping
short at the first pe riod beyo nd the page limit, as if
they were sawing off a board at a specified le ngth .
Some serve a sort of "notice to quit" on the reader, "Such were the reasons that induced me to enter the
Institute" or "Such is the appea ran ce of the railroad
station at Malden." Sometimes the th eme ends much
in the manner of the following examples: 1. I might add tha.t the 11 igh School most needs a school
board which will properly attrnd to its needs. (Final
sentence of a theme on "What l\Iy Fitting School Needs
Most.")
2. On the whol e, howeve r, I prefer a public school to a
private school, sinre it is lik r ly t o l1:1H hr tto'r teaC' hers and

E ach of these sentences illustrates bad Emphasis at the
end of a composition because it presents in th e very
closing words an entirely new id ea. That the idea has
received no mention before is made evident in th e first
case by the use of the word aJd, aml in the second
case by the word lw1cever, a co nn ecti ve whi ch denotes opposition mth er than summing up of ideas. In
reality the closing sentence should give the reader a
11otio11 of what is the writer's final jtHlg ment on the
matter. In the above examples of' had e11di11gs the
trouble is that a definite purpose to encl the theme iu
a forcible and effective fashion n eve r 011ce entered th e
wri te r's head . To guard against tl1is careless l1abit of
lea ving the theme at loose ends, the principle of Emphas is intervenes, and requires that the last paragraph
shall in some way or other give the reader the complete
results of the writer's thought ab'out the subject of
the theme.
Of the diffe rent ways of making the end of a theme
emphatic, a 1rnmrnary is often serviceftble. Sometimes
the summary is me rely a li:;t of the s11ujects of Lh e paragraphs; sometimes it is a general statement for which
the specific detail>! of the preced ing paragraphs liave
Lee n preparing tl1e way. In any case a summary slioul<l
leav e in the rni1ul of th e reader a sern;e of one thing of
whi ch tl1e write r has felt the importa11ee, and the set-

44

TH E

WIIOLE C01\/ f'O :i /TI ON.

EMP HA SI S.

ting forth of whi ch has l>ee11 l1i s primary objec t. A few
e xamples will s how how the Empliasis at the ellll of
tlie theme may be well man age d: l. To sum up th ese statements : we f-i 11d t he private
school more poorly supported, t he public school witli more
competent teachers; the private school exc lusive, t he p11ulic
school free. (E ud uf ~t theme cOmJxtl'ing p uulic a11Ll p ri vate
sc hools.)
2. These suggest ions srP1 11 to poi 11 t tu ratl1e r a u i<fra.I
state of affa irs iu a ~w h oul , but it is wt•ll to 111 ake a11 dTurt.
in this d ir1'c t;iu11 , c1·,, 11 if tl 1ese plans wl1il'l1 I have:: dis<·usst•d
can11ot he full y can ie<l out fu r su1 11e t in1 e !11 eu11 1e. ( 1':11d ut'
a theme entitleu "T iu· :::khoul of Tu-day.")
3. Compari11 g lee tures a1u l rce itatiuns as a 1uca11s of te:whing, we see that what on e Lwks the othe r has. 'l'l H!refure
t he best system is to ham a combinatio11 uf· t he tll'u, auu
this is what is done in 111ost coll eges. ( l~ ntl o f' a t heme
comparing lectures an ti recitations.)
4. As I look back upon t hat ex peri eJH·e, I camiot see
that it gave rn e lllueh wisdom in earnin g ur i11 sµe 11\li11g
money, 11or do l regret t his faet. l i 11 ves ted i 11 pl ea::; ure,
a uJ, in both th e c!tarnett' r arnl t he :.u1101111t of' t lte a rticle
receiv ed, l think tkit 111y vc 11 t11rc was a suel'css. ( E11tl u[
a theme ou "l\l y First Busi11css J.;xperience.")

These exam ples are eno ug h to illustrate the ad vantages
of a proper ending, and to imli cate so me of the ways in
which it may be sec ured. Th e re is 11 0 c<ist-iron fra1n e
to fit wh ich the clos ing parngraph mus t l>c fo rced into a
uni fo rm ri g id shape; the re is only the ge ne ra l p rin cipl e
of Emphn.::;i8, - the prin ciple tl1at t h e last lin es o f the
theme should g ive th e reader the point most importaut
of all.

'
!
,,

45

The principle of Emphasis requires that ..t. writer shall
determin e the relative valu e8 of his ideas..1 and that to
those which are most importa nt h e shall give an amount
of space in hi::; treatment proportion ate t o their im p01:~
tan ce . As a furth e r m eans fo r securing Emphasis, the
id;~~- of g reatest significa nce should be placed in parts of
the t heme where tl iey will most su rely attract the reader"s
attentio n ; anrl th ese par ts a re th e beginnin g and the
e nd. Th e main body of th e theme s h o uld co ntain the
developm e nt of the subject. Th e Emphas is of the first
lin es of Lhe t heme is usually good when they ca n stan d
the te::;t of U ni ty and Coh ere nce. Bad Emphasis at th e
end of th e compos ition shou ld be guarded, against; and
the writ.e r s lt ould take especial care to m ake his final
parag raph su m up the res ults of his thought about the
subjec t o f the t h e me, and leave in the mind of the
r eader as a cone! us ion th e illea which the writer con·
s iders most important.

46

1:3UJH!AUY.

THE JV llOLE CO.If POSITION.

Summary of the Chapters on the Whole Composition.

The subject whi ch is :issign ed to a student for liis
theme is one of which he already lrns some k11owl edgc ,
and it is restricted in scope so that he may treat it adequately within the limits of three pages of th e111epaper, an amount of space that may contain fr um
three to four hundrcJ \\·o rds. Tl1c theme must l1ave
a title which shall d esignate it briefly allll exactly.
In the writing of the whole compositio n, i:;clectio11,
arrangement, and proportio11s of material are the chi ef
things to be consid erecl. Tlic se lection of 1n;ilerial i~;
govern ed by th e prin ciple of Unity; n othing sl1 ou ld
be admitted to the the me whi ch is not imm ed iately
connected with th e main subject. Vi olati o11s of Uuity,
su c h as false begi11uin gs and digressions, the write r
should carefully avoi(l. He must give his work Unity
of expression as well as Unity of id eas selected; that is,
he must show details not in t heir r clatio11s to things in
general, but :;olely in thei r relatio11s to the :;ubject in
hand. Finally, he must carefully observe the point
of view. After the se lection of material, qu es tions of
arrangement a nd proportion must be consicl cred, and
~1~re th.e 1~rinciplcs of Coherenc e and Emphasis apply.
Ihe pnnc1ple of Coherence req11irc.-; a log ical presentation of ideas. The writer :should begin with facts that
are known to th e read er, and 1-;lionld adva11ce step by
step to facts that arc u11kno\\'n. Tlie mea ns that the
writer mn.y use to sh o w th e logical connection of his
thoughts are tra11sitio11 parngraplis, connectiug se nteoces

./
J
f

47

between paragraphs, and a stateme nt at the beginning
of the plan wl1ich the theme is to follow. The principle
of Emphasis demands that the writer shall estimate the
relative values of the different ideas that are connected
with his main subject, and shall give each of these
an amount of space proportionate to its importance.
Em]Jliasis is also sec ured if the writer takes care to
give the ideas th at he wishes to imprcs:; upon the reader
su ch prominent positions as the Legi11ni11g ancl tl1e end
of the theme. Tl1 e opening sentences i:;houlcl pre:;ent
th e subject in s uch a way as to arouse the interest of
th e r eader; in the body of the theme :;hould Le give n
details, and th e development of the s ubj ect; the final
•
sentences should be a summary, or :;ome statement that
will give the reader th e results of the theme. By mea11s
of the tl1rce prin cipl es of Unity, Co he rence, and Emphasis, theu, the writer is able to govern carefully the
selec tion, the arra ngement, and the proportions of the
substance of the wh ole composition.
Alternati·ve Exa mples and Exercises in Connection with the
Chapters on the Whole Composition.
1. Titl es. p. 13. "Talk" and "Newspapers" are titles too large
for ad ec1uate treatm ent in a three-page th eme. Wh en al Lered to
"What My Schoolmates Talk About" and "H ow I Head a N~s ­
paper," th ey are su itabl y restricted . The foll owing are titl es of various merit that suggest themselves for use in co nnec ti on with a theme
on tu e advantages of athletic contests between schools : -

Athl etics.
Athl eti cs in Schools.
Interscholastic Games.

Should Th e re Ile Contests be.
tween l'reparatory Schoo ls?
The Advantages of lnterscholaatic Athl etics.

48

49

THE WHOLE COMPOSITION.

EXERCISES.

2. Selection of llfalerial . p. 17. The ful!•>wi11 g i<leas may suggest themselves as material for a theme entitled · • How I Head a
Newspaper": -

G. A study of the theme printed on p. 109, and entitled "A Character Worth llaving," is valuable in illustrating the practical application of the three prin ciples of composition. The following questions
give hints for exarninalion of the theme in detail : Unity. Are th ere any vi olalions of Unity? Do the firsl lwo sentences belong to the theme? Is their connection with it cl ose enough
so that l.Jy a more careful altention to Unity of expression they may
st.and ? What is the point of view of the theme? Is it consistently
maintained?
Co herence. What is the sequence of ideas in the th eme ? Why is
paragraph 1 at the beginning of the the me? Should paragraph :.!
come first? Is th e connection betwee n paragraphs good?
Empha.~is .
·why are th e first two paragraphs longer than the last
two ? Why i8 not lhe second paragraph placed last? ls th e opening
senlcnce good? Does the last se nte nce make a good ending to the
theme? Is a concluding paragraph needed ?

1. Number of people who read news papers.
2. Extent to whi ch I r ead newspapers.
3. Pape rs wliiclt I prefer.
4. Hour for read ing the paper.
6. Amount of news which I read.
t:l. What I read first.
7. l!ow I read t!te Sunday paper.
8. What I alway s read in a paper.
!J. What l never read.
10. ls my tirne wasted ?

Of the above top ics. which clearly bcloug in th e theme? Whi c!t do
not? Whi c h are on th e liu e? ur these la.st whi c h may lie inc!nJcd
if proper atte11tio11 is g ive n to Uni ty of Expression?
3. JVays of f11diw ti11!/ C<1 IU1"P, /U"(' . ]l. 0 1. A th c111 e Ull "What
Read in the Bostou 1-frrald" bt·gins as follows: . Th e th i ng-~ _whiclt I read i11 tlt e Rosto 11 lfl'l·a/d are the mos t
important arucles of 11 e w,; on the lirst pag<', the ath le tic and
sporting news, all!..l the short paragraphs ou lhe editorial page.

E

.,
: ~i
i

iii

l'~

·iii

~r
:it!

The nexl three paragraphs begi n as follows: First of all I read the importa nt news on th e first page.
Next I turn to the atl det1c a11d sµurtinµ: coi11 111 11 s.
Last 1 ge nerally reaJ some of th e brightes t paragraµhs on the
ed1tonal page.

'

~·.

;:ii

!ii'

~~!

.<:!

4. Poor Propo1·lion. p. 3G. Th e following i11Ji cate!l the proportion of a theme e ntitled " Why A - - AcaJ e my lla.s No Baseball

Team'':A year ago last spring our lmsel.mll tcalll had a hard time
and before the e nd uf t.lw len11 it wu1l tu picce!l, etc. (Para'.
graµh of two hu11d red and lifty words.)
Then the re wa.s no t.!t1th11~ias1n an1011g the Htudcuts a.nd it was
ha.r~ to collecl subscripliuns, etc. (l'aragrnph uf fHty words.)
. Fmally we los t three ganH's in succession, aml e very one got
discouraged, etc. ( Paragraph of fifty worJ s.)
{_.

Which of lhese ideas is m ost impo rtant?
amount of space for the first paragraph?

What is lhe proper

.

THE PARAGRAPH.

CHAPTER VI.
THE PARAGRAPH : UNITY.

r"·~·['I

.. .

1

•1

(i'

• 1

I

'I

A PAHAGl{AP11 is a whole composition on a small scale.
A theme is maJe up of paragraphs, but these are not
merely divisions or fractional parts of the whole. Each
paragraph is a unit by itself, although of a lower
d eno111i1mtion, as the meas ure which is one-twelfth of
a foot is also, co nsiJered as an inch, a unit. The relati on between a paragraph and the whole co mposition
consist'> in the fact that the paragraph presents the
development of one of the iJcas which go to nrnk e up
the wh ole theme. vVhat from the point of vi ew of the
whole composition is a subordinate idea, is from the
point of view of the paragraph an i<lea to be amplified
and expanded to as great an extent as the limits of one
paragraph will allow. A piuagraph, being thus complete in itself, needs to have the three principles of
composition applied to it, in order that in structure and
in treatment it may conform to the laws which g~vern
the expression of all thought.
The principle of J1.!:1ity__a:s applied here requires that
each paragraph in a theme should be devoted to the
_§_tatel!_l_!i!!_!<_a ncl~b~. ~.! Pl anation of a single id~~ About
this idea should be grouped the thoughts that are necessary to explain it; and no thought that does not plainly
63

54

56

THE PARAGRAPH.

UNITY.

contribute to the explanation should be admitted to
the paragraph. Every paragraph thus represents tlie
way in which a single idea has grown up in the mind
of the writer. An illustration may help to make thi 13
clear. In a theme on "The Needs of My Fitting
School," the writer intends in one paragraph to speak
of the need of a new gymnasium. Certain fact:> immed iately group themselves about this idea, - the reaso n
why there is no gymnasium, the low comlition of athletics in consequence of the lack, the general toning up
of the sehool which a new gymnasium would give.
All these thougl1ts bear on the subject, aml all are
needed to present it in its completeness. \ V he n, accordingly, they are all grouped together iu one paragraph,
they represent the sum and substance of the writer's
opinions on that especial matter, namely, the need of
a new gymnasium. The reader thus gets within the
limits of one paragraph one idea fully developed. In
much this same fashion every paragraph should, 80
to say, grow together, each representing a group of
thoughts expressing one idea.
It is unfortunately true, however, that this notion
of a paragraph as a unit is one which inexperien ced
writers are slow to appreciate, and still slower to put
into practice. \Vith them paragraphing is a matter of
accident or caprice; one paragraph may contain ten
words, and the next two hundred. In view of the bad
paragraphing which a large proportion of themes exhibit, it is well to examine in detail some of the com·
monest faults.

Some write rs seem to think that a single sentence,
inasmuch as it represents but one idea, is all th;it is
needed to make up a. paragraph. As a matter of fact,
this is hardly ever the case. Such a lazy supposition
produces a theme every page of which contains four or
five paragraphs, each paragraph consisting of a single
sentence. In the following example the writer has
gone even further, for in one paragraph he has put only
a part of a 8en tence: -It is claimed by a great number of people that the lecture
~y s tem

IJ
I·
f,

does not produce so good results as th at of recitations.
That the student fai ls to prepare himself upon the subject
as well as he would if he knew that he wonld•he rnarkPd
according to the recitation he made.
Again, at a lectu re the stud ent may if so disposed spend
his time in preparing his lesson for his next recitation
instead of paying proper attention and taking nntP.s.
As an actual fact the majority of students fear the recitation more than th e lecture, and therefore pay more attention
to it.
An examination of the substance of these so-called paragraphs shows tliat what the writer has said in them is
in fact all about one subject, - the objections that are
made to the lecture system. These objec tions, accor<;lingly, instead of being separated into four apparent
paragraphs, should all go together to make up one real
paragraph. A paragraph is not a unit if it contains
a fraction of a complete idea.
A paragraph is not a unit when it contains more than
one complete idea. The indolence of mind in a writer

56

THE PARAGRAPH.

which allows him .Jo pass from one part of his subject to
the next without taking trouble to mark the transition
by beginning a n ew paragraph, protluces in the reader
first me ntal confusion and then disgust. Such a theme
offers a co mpact mass to break up which into its proper
divisions will defy t he brains and the patience of anyAs for being intelligible, it might just as
body.
well have been written with all its sentences run into
one sentence, or with all its words joined into one
word. Imagine the lucidi ty of the present chapter
if it were printed as one word eigh t pages long. The
reasons that forbid such a proceedi11g are exactly the
reasons that pre,·ent a writer from co mbi11ing two or
more complete and separate ideas into one paragraph .
In paragraphs, as in whole co mposit io11 s, there is constant danger of digressions. If the writer does not have
a clear id ea of the Unity of his paragraph he is likely to
admit into it some fact which is out of place there. It may
properly enough belong to some other paragraph of the
theme, or it m:iy l1ave no logica.l connection with any
part of the work; but in either case for the paragraph
in question it is a violation of Unity. Such digressions
may consist of a se n tence or more, or a clause in a sentence, or even only a phrase . Some point of e xplanation or interes t suggests itself without at th e mome nt
seeming irrelevant; yet when it is referred to the main
idea of the paragraph, it is plain at once that it is a
digression. In writing the paragraph on the need of a
new gymnasium, for example, a student might naturally
on first thought set down a sentence like the following:

UNITY.

57

Besides, a new gymnasi11m would do a great deal to re·
vive interest in lia.seball, whi eh is justly call ed the national
gam e, :wil abo i11 football, which I for 011e tl1i11k is th e
finest gam e t.l 1at t here is.
B.ere th e two relativ e clauses that modify baseba ll
and football respectively hav e nothing whateve r to <lo
wi th the prirticular subject of the paragraph in questio n.
Th ey acl<l ideas that co me out:.-;ide the limits of ll1e pa1:a·
gr:Lph, and unless they are strnck off tl1 e se n u:nce \~ill
destroy tlie Unity o f the r~•rngraph. Ev e ry d1 gres:s1011
of this sort shot1l<l be avoi<led, as otherwise a parngmph
becomes an i 111 propc r fraction wli e11 it ::;l1ould he a unit.
The IA:st for lJ nity is wlt etl1 e r the gist of a paragraph
can he co ndense1l into a single se11te nce. lf a paragrapl1
is t he tlev elopm c nt of one idea, that itlea in its ::;implest
form shouhl ue ca pable of brief a11cl co mpact st:ite ment.
The act of frami11 g such a seutence as may st1111marize
th e paragraph brings quickly to li g h t a11 y di gression.
Th e two rehLtive clauses in the sentence qu oted at
tlie top of the page, wl1en they n.re on ce referred to the
main idea of the paragraph, phrased in the sentence,
.A n ew gymnasiwn is needed, cannot for an instant
stand the test. An attempt to state bri efly the subject
of the following p:tragraph shows that the wi;.iter is
really discussi ng two subjects togethe r: Altlwncrh th e gt1itn.r is capable of :;olo work it is essentially an ~LCcorn1 ;any int: instrnm ent. Th e body is shaJied
roughly lik e tli:Lt uf a violi n, liut it is seve r:d t i.mes as large.
The neck is nea rly as lon g as the body, aml 1s broad an<l
ft.at. There are six strin gs, three of gnt antl three of silk

58

THE PARAGRAPH.

wrapped with wire. Th e register of t he gu itar is low, the
high est note being a full oetave lower thau that of the
mandolin. It is oft.en crnployed as an acconqm1Jim e11t to
the uanjo or t he mand olin, and it is also much 11scrl as an
accon1panime11t to the voice. As a solo irn;trumPnt the
guitar is considrretl \\"i t hout exception the most llifticnlt of
all in strurn enl.s to n1astt-r, but a good degree of proli ciency
in accompanim ent is eas ily acqu ired.
Here the first sentence implies that the paragraph is
about the guitar as an acc orn 1mnying in strum ent. The
next three se11tc nces, howe ver, are e vide11tly a de::icription of its appearance. The rest belong::; to the firnt
subject. To tita.te briefly th e substance of t his paragraph, th en, it is necessar.r to say t hat it describes (1)
the guitar as an acc ompan.ring i11strnm e nt and (:2) the
appearance of the guitar. The lack of U nity is evident.
\Vh en the three sentences on the appearance o f the
guitar are cut out, the diffi culty is removed. The possibility of condensed stateme nt in a co mpact sentence
or phrase is thus a sure tes t of the Unity of a pamgraph.
Up to this point all that has been said about the
paragraph ha1=; applied to it as being a group of ideas
that not only ex ists as a unit in ikielf, but also forms a
part of a theme. In many cases, however, the paragraph
exists as a unit not related to ii whole of larger dimensions. Brief descriptio ns and explanations, anecdotes,
and co mm ents 0 11 matters of passing interest are sulljects to which t he writer can generall y give adequate
treatment in <t paragn;ph of from one hundred and fifty
to two hunched words in length. Such paragraphs are

UNI1'Y.

59

in every respec t whole compositions. As such th ey
'.>fier an admirable opportunity for the inexperi ence<l
wri ter to give himse lf practice in the exercise of tlic ,
principles of compositiou. If he write::; a <laily theme
consisting of a single paragraph , he is obliged to co nside r in tit is miniature wl10le co rn position q ucsti ons of
ch oice an<l restric tion of subject, of ::;election, arrangement, and proportion of material; and all this with the
greatest regard to econom y of space. Tlie co nstant
exe rcise of his mirHl 011 th ese important lletails of co lllposition is the best practice tl1at h e coul<l possihly
hav e; and the writing of daily themes, eal:h a co mplete
paragraph, will give the studeut a ~·ea1 irntion of the
practical v<Llue of the principles of compos iti on an<l a facility in expression whi ch he can obta in in 110 other way.
The writing of single paragntphs is especially valuable for prac tice in Unity. The writer is obliged to select tliose details only which are absolutely necessary to
his s ubj ec t, for t he space is small and e very word co unts.
The sli ghtest l1igress ion is glariugly appareut. A violation of the point of vi e w is likely to ruin tbe Ullity
of the paragraph (compa re t11e example ou page :2-t ).
The writer must for the time ueing concentrnte bis
attention on liis subject, and, excludi ng eve ryt~ing else,
first realize for himself and then express ::;o tliat others
shall realize it, tliat subject as a unit, separate ::t.11(1 complete. By the Llrill in the writing of single p:uagraphs
he is more and more able to give all his written work
that Unity which is the first requisite of all good
writing.

60

THE PARAGHAPH.

A paragraph, to :sum u ) ..
on a small :sc·de TJ
. ~' i:s a whole composition
. .
le !Jl'lllClple of Unit r
1·
req uire:s tliat eve. . . .. .
} a:s app ied to it
I.} lJ•tJ,tg1 a1JJi :s]l'lJl b .
·
ing a g ·
f
e 'L lllllt, repr esent'
10up o L1ioughts about ·i s1· 11 0-J . l
. I .
'
"' e H ea
Co mm on
v10 at10ns of Uuity are (1) the o . ., .
ar·icq"
l
·
l
eglllrung
of
a new
P' ' b .ip i w1l 1 every sente nce @
· ) tJIC f "L I·1 LI l'C t L .
'
a new 1iararrz"tn!t
,VI·ti l"l.ll CW J. ..
'
o ucgrn
b'L
the result b.ci nrr tl. t
'
t iv1s1_on of tlrc thought,
. . , . i.t o ne pamn·1"tp l1 111 l J
one com1)lete id ·a . I (3: ) ·-: , . . c u es 111ore than
•. .
'1'1 ie division
0 \,::;::;roii s.
of tit tl . · e.' .u11 ~ U1crr
e. ieme 111to Jiat".l.<rr"
.
1
. . b .tp lS l :S t 11e lll e' LllS of i j' t"
t I1e J1fferent ::;uli I' .. ·
· ·
11 t 1ea rng
.. ( iv1.,1011:; of tlic rnai11 :suVe ·t . J,
paragraph ma}' also , • . . . .
J c , uu t a
. exist llH1epend e 11 tl)' of a •J
a whol e co
··t·
.
. .
' " 1eme, as
.
mpos1 ion 111 1111111ature
'J'J
..
· 1
· · 1e wnt111g of sue!1
srng e par:wraphs ff...
·
writer for ~ t.
.o c1 s a. good opportunity to the
p1 ac ice 1n 'lJ>J l)·
ti
. .
Th· ~
,. .
.
. J rng ie pn11c1ple of Unit
.
i:s pnn c1ple 111 parng rapl1-writing i::; of th• l . ·I ~1mporta11ce, fo r it is the j)rin c i1d·, to l . l el l1g iest
. l
,.
w 11c 1 t 1e pa .
giap 1 really owes its cxi~tence a.nu it;i identity.
za.

COHERENCE.

61

CHAPTER VII.
THE PARAGRAPH : COHERENCE .

THE principle of Coherence, whic h gove rn :,; the whole
compo:>i ti on, governs no less the imrngrapli. 111 e:tch
group of sentence:> i t <letermi11 es th e or<ler a11d the
arra11 gcme nt of itleas. The e11d so uglit i;; to sec ure
a seq uenee of ideas uatural and clear, s uch as th ere
must be if the s ucce::;::; i ve steps of t he writer's thouglits
are to be ev itl ent. By the aid of Coh erence the wri ter
aims to make the way plitin itnd stra ight, so that the
most careless and erratic rer.der canno~ help walking in
in it; and Cohe rence means ch iefly a proper seque nce
of ideas .
The especial fo rce of the phrase "seq uen cc of ideas"
mity perhaps best be brougl1t out liy ft comparison with
the sequence of operations in a ch emical exper im ent.
The student firnt co ll ec ts hi s apparatus aud material.
He then starts the e xperim e nt and performs in order
the operatio ns indicated. The fact tliat li e Jias begun
with operation A nmk es it nece:ssary that he shou ld
next perform I3; that involves hi s doing C at once, and
so on. Th ese several operations connect thems~ lv es in
a natural itnd even inevititble sequence . Seq uence of
ideas in theme-writing, therefore, means a naturally
connected series of thoughts, as the putting of a substance into a test tube, the heating of it, and the observati on of what happens form a naturally connected
.series of .o perati0ns.
Such a connection of idea&

62

THE PARAGRAI'IJ.

COHERENCE.

63

al ways exists, although the careless and haphazard way
in which a lazy writer ofte n flings hi:; ifleas into a paragraph may at fi rst mak e t he rea.<ler doubt the fact. An
examination, however, reveals the relati on, and it is
then possiule to reconstruct the paragraph acco rdin g to
some methOll of sequence. Such a seq uence may be
t h at of e ve nts in the order of Lim e, that is, chrnnological; it may Ge that which foll ows fr om Lhc known, step
by :;Lcp, to the unknown ; or that wlii ch goes from what is
near at hand to wlrnt i:; remote. ln any e vent the result
will be a s uccess ion of ideas natural tl1rnugl10ut, logical in arrnngement, and clear in conn ection.
Th e necessi ty for a strictly chron ologica l arrangement
of ideas, wh ene ver that is possil>le, is shown by the
faults in the followi ng paragraph, a one-page theme on
" The Track Inspection of the Pennsylvania Rail·
road": -

done with the purpose of attaining prize excellence. The
rails are particularly well laid, and no water is allowed to accumulate below them. This effort to sec ure a general appearance of excellence does not, as at first might seem probable,
involve a neglect of detail, for nothing escapes the scrutiny
of the engineers. Thus it happens that every year the P ennsylvania Railroad has its housecleaning, and a very thorough
one it is.

Each October the road-hrd. tlrn t ra.ck, the bridges, the sign als, and eve rythin g else a.long the lin e of the Pennsylvania
Railroad are in spec ted hy a. party of its civil engineers, cons istin g of th ecli ief engin eer, the superintendents of divisions,
and the supervisors of the subd ivi sions and their assistants.
To the division ha1·i11g tli c best ge 11 eral lin e of track a prize
of on e hundred dollars is given. Tl1 e traek fo reman having
the best ont> h und rcd feet of track rece ives a prize of fifty dollars. Early in the sprin g the supe rviso rs or th eir assistan ts
are out linin g n p the t r;1.cks, co rrectin g cm ves, and establ ishing
grades. The workm en under them are busy all summer getting
ready fo r the fol] in spection. Freshly broken limestone or
ball ast is laid; ditches are cleaned, stra,gglin g stones are gath·
€red, many of tb e s tations are repa inted, - all of this being

The track inspection of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which
takes place every October, is looked forward to by all the
employees of the road.

In this paragraph, although the use of specific language gives a good notion of what the track inspec tion
is like, the details of the work do not follow chrouological sequence, and for that reason the Coherence is faulty.
The position of sentences three and four next each othe r
is especially bad, for there is no real connpc tion between
them. To improve the arrangement it will be necessary
to transpose the substance of the first three sentences
to its proper place just before the last sentence, and to
begin as follows : -

When the paragraph is re-written in this fashi on, it is
easy to see th e gain in clearness from the arrange ment
of sentences in their proper sequence; and this gain is
,;
due to increased Coherence.
In the preceding example Coherence has bee n obtained by an arrangement of ideas in chron ological
sequence; but there are plenty of cases wlt ere such an
arrangement is n ot poss ible. Hardly any of the paragraphs in this book, for example, can have their sen·

..J

64

THE PARAGRAPH.

tences ananged in the order of time, be cause the
matters with which they deal are llot event~. The
ideas, neverth eless, <lo hav e some relation, although it \s
not so evident, and they are susceptil>le of arrange ment
in a logi cal seq uence, according to the prin cipl e of Cohere nce. H ere, as in the whole composition, the writer
will find it n goorl plan to take the reader sente11<.:c by
se ntence, step Ly step, from the k11ow11 to the u1ilrn ow 11,
fr om th e nea r to the remote. Ev e ry sente 11 ce tha.t is
added not only shou ld be intelli gihl e because t he preced ing se ntence :;ta11ds where it docs, but als o sl1oulcl
help to rende r i11 telligible the selltence whi ch it precedes. G iven t hi s rnlc, the write r may test th e sequ ence
of se ntences. arlll determin e w l1at should be th e pos ition
of each in order that it may bes t help the reade r in his
progress from wha t is clear to th e mind to that .whi ch
is obsc ure. To illus trate by the prese nt paragraph,
the known fact with which it begins imm ed iately suggests a question as to the meth od by whi ch Coherence
in other cases may be sec ured. Th e answer to th is
naturally comes next, an d is stated i11 the form of a
rnle. R emarks about the rul e foll ow ; an analysi:; o f
sequence ot ideas in a ddinite paragraph is giv en; rrnJ
at last the idea is complcLely before the reade r. So
with each sentence the advance of the reader is a natural
one, and he is s upplied with the next fact which the
progress of his information lias prepared him to receive.
Finally, the gist of his iu crease in knowl edge is summed
up in a single se ntence, as follows. Th e sequence of
ideas, in order to seem most clear and natural to the

f

I ..... L

t

J

. COHEIIENCE.

I l

65

reade r, and therefore be intelli gible to him, must take
him from th e known to the unknown, from the near to
the remote.
\Vhen e very pains bas bee n tak en to arrange the
sentences of a paragraph in their proper order, the next
step is to indi cate this logical relation of ideas in such
a way that th e reader cannot help see ing it.
Th e
re:tsons that were g i vcu on page :20 to ex plai 11 th e
ne cess ity o f sh owing to the read er just wl1at is Ll1 e plan
of the wh ole th eme apply here, anJ it is only necessary
in arklition to show the means by which I.h e reader may
be brou ght to realize the logical strncture of a paragraph.
111 parag raphs, the relation betwee n ideas is :; how n
\Jy words a11d phrnses linking th e sentences one to
another; just as in whol e co mpositi o11s it is indicated
by transition paragraphs and cormeeting se ntences.
These wonls anJ phrases are called "connec tives. " The
simplest and most frequently used connectives are, of
cour:>e, and and but. They perform for lan g uage th e
same work that th e signs + and - do for arithmetic;
anrl, lik e the sig ns of addition anJ s ubtrac tion, tl1cy are
the first means that a ch ilrl learns to employ to e xpress
connection between ideas. When it comes to the writing of themes the student often finds that these two
words are still alm ost the only conn ec tives wl1icl\ occu r
t o him for use. He puts them in e very wh ere, even at
the beginnin g of sentences and of paragraphs; to him
every possible relation of thought can be denoted by
the words and and but. This is as if he tried to use
the signs + and - to signify operations in multiplica·
F

66

TllE PAUAGUAPfl.

tion, fractions, decimals, and proporlion. Unfortunately
for him, rela tions in the worlJ of iJeas are co mplex and
manifolJ. There are relations of cau::;e a11J effect, of
co ndition, of time, of concession, of opposilion, of balan ce, and hundred:; of other intermediale a11J intermi11gl ing shades. For all of these are provided a multituJe
of worJ::; and phrases. The Coherence of a writer's
paragraphs, conseq uen tly, will 11ot be comple te until, in
addition to a clear aud logical arrangement of ideas,
he has learned the use of the words by which th ese
id eas may prope rly be conn ected.
First, it is well to discover what are ·s ome of the commonest of Lli ese co1111 ccti ves. I 11 th e :;econ d pa rag mph
on page 61 of Lhis chapte r, t he wonl .first in th e :second sentence co nn ects that with the opening se nte nce
of the paragraph. Tlten links the third ::;ente11ce to
the second; therefore tlie sixth to the tifth; ltvwever
the eighth to th e :seventh. Each of tliese co nnectives
indicates a relation betwee n two sentences, a11d if
omitted would leave the se nse in co mpl ete.
OLher
wonls tliat are repeateJly used as connect,i ves are tlms,
moreover, nevertheless, agri-in, ,ljd, since, .~u, on t!t.e otlier
li and, for example, accor dingl,lj, in the .first place, consequently, finall!J, in conclusion. All of these words should

be at the writer's command, rea<ly to slip into place a::i
needed.
Beside the use of these connectives, th ere are other
ways of joining sentences toge ther.
Tlie adject ive
pro11ou11s tltis, tltat , .rn c/1, otlu'r, another, som e, sa me, lllay
be employed to show co nn ection of id eas. In tl1 c para·

COHEREN CE.

.,\

67

graph whi ch ha::; just supplied ex;unples of co11'.1ectives
t he fifth se ntence begins, 1'hese 15eve ral operatw 11~, the
phrase referring directly back to the preceding sentence.
Such a. connection of ideas and Such a serzurnce at tl1c
beg innin g o( tl 1e seventh and the nintli se nten ces
respectiv ely perform the same \\'Ork of co1rncct1011.
In these cases, howe ver, the words the.~e aml .rnr:/1
modify nouns that arc repeated from tli c prece di11_g
sentence.
By this means any possible aJllb1gu1ty JS
a voided. Too often one of th ese adjective prono un s,
standing alon e as a pronoun at the beginning of a sentence, e vide ntl y has its antecedent in the ,.;e11tRnce
that has prece ded it, but ex actly \\'hat . 11 0 1111 JS the
antece dent is open to rloubt. It is usuall y well, therefore, to repeat the noun in the new sentence, as '.n lh e
cases aliove, and then there can be no roo m for mistake.
If a pronoun proves really necessary at the l.Jcginning
of a sentence, it must be clear at a g lan ce what word
in the sentence before it serves as antecedent. ·w hen
there is th e least un ce rtainty on tl1at point, th e connection between th e two sentences, however ::;imple it may
be in thought, is not brought out in expression. The
use of adjective pronouns as connccti ves, therefore,
requires considerable care, lest they confuse the reader,
instead of indicating to him the logical relatiort of
ideas.
The nee d of connectives to join sentences together is
as g reat as the need of mortar between the sto nes of a
building. Without connectives the sentences h:w c a
tendency to fall apart. There il:l nothing to ::;how that

",.

68

COIIEUEN CE.

each senten ce is in the positi o n wh e re, log ically speak.
ing, it sh o uld be. A s it res ul t, a parag raph in whi ch
conn ectives are n ot use<l, no matte r ho w careful the
arrangement of ideas may really be, is in effec t in coh ere nt. Th e parag raph fro m wlii clt e xampl es of conn ectives were tak en reads, when those words are all
r e mo ved, n.s fo llo ws : -

a g lan ce .
Furthe rm ore, th e se nte nces d o not read
s moothly, 11.ml tl1 c je rk y and choppy e ffect whi eh th ey
prod ucc is cl uc p ri 11 ci pally to th e ab:;e nce of co11ncc ti11 g
words. On e e xamp le is e11 011gl1 t o sli o w th e imperativ e
n ecessity o f s uch a careful u se of co11nec lives as s hall
incli cate, beyond possilJility of mistake, the logi cal

,././,.

/

69

THE PA HAGRAPH.

The especial fo rce of th e phrase "sequ e11 ee of id eas "
ma,y perhaps hrst he brought out hy a corn pa ri son w itl1 the
seq11 encc:,$.f'1 operati ons in :t chemi cal experim c11 L. Th e
s tud en t~oll ccts hi s np parat11; :uH1 mate ri a l. I le'\tiuts t he
expe rim ent and perfo n ns in orde r the opr rat io11 s i11 ,] i('atr11.
The fact t hat he has l1Pg1m wi th ope ra t ion A rna.kcs it necessa,ry that he shollld next perfo rm H ; that in vo lv es hi s doin g
Cat once, a nd :>o on. Th ey co nn cet t l1emsl' lv cs in a n:ttural
a nd evep i ne;·i~ah l e seque nce. ~ eq u e n c· c of id eas in tli ern ewri t ing\1ueans a natm a lly conuecte11 sc• ri cs of th ongl1ts, as
the pu ttin g of a substance in to a test t 11 1ie, t he l1 r.alin g of it,
and th e obsr. rv:i.tion of. ir~1 ~t" lE11_~.\;?1JcS-.~ur111 a nat11rally connected se ri es of oper:1.t.1ons. !_t rtlways exists, alt.ho11 gh th e
carele::is and ktp haza rd way in whi ch ; ~ la zy writ.er o ft. I' ll
flings his id eas into a p:trag-1·aph may al first mak e the
reader doubt th e fad. An e x amin ati o n "'rc.J~~:l s t he relation, a nd it is t he n poss ible to reco11stru ct th e pa ragraph
aecording to some method of sequence: ' "j t 1~ay be tha t of
events, etc.

In the parag raph thu s mu t il a t ed the stud e nt cannot
fail to noti ce th e loss in clearn ess t hat co mes from the
omission of all conn ec tives. Tn som e pl:tces th e re see ms
t o be a compl ete break in the train of tli o ugltt, in oth er
places the mea nin g is n ot, a:> it should be, evid e nt at

stru ct ure o f t h e p arag raph.
\¥h e11 se nten ce:; arc thus join ed t oge th er the sequ e nce
o f ideas in each parag raph sl1 011l ll lie reasonably d ear .
Co11nccLin g won1s, it mw;t ho weve r lie n .: rn e mbe red , do
u o t c reate this ser1ue nce, bnt me rely mak e it e vid e11 t
to the read er. T o sec ure Coh e rence , th e wri te r mus t
firs t be slll'e that th e tl1ou g lits i11 a11 y ,paragraph are
arran ge d in t h e o r<le r which is mos t clear a11d 11 a tura1.
H e th en ch ooses his co n 11 ec ti vcs to e xh iui t th e cl earn ess
a11d naturnlne:;s of t,h:tt orde r. A rnan can11u t nmke a
!Ja rag mpli cohere nt by droppin g a hotl'eve r in tu on e se nt e n ce, a so into the 11 e x t, a 1u•11e rthele.• s i11to Ll1 e third,
and so 011. H e mig-h t as well expect to mak e th e wi11d
bluw fru111 t he 11 o rtli l>y t11rnin g his wi:: Ltli c r van e in tl 1at
direetio11. Th e wonls 111ust g row 11aturally out uf I.he
in e vitabl e course of the thougl1t, eb e they are a:; fah e
and flims y as flow e rs o f tissue paper. D oguen y , in
"Much Ado About Nntl1ing," is a man who has li ved
lon g e noug h to di sco ve r that thinking me n are expcc tecl
to define an<l d esi g nate th e orde r of tl1 e ir th o ug hts by
words sn cli as first a11d lastl.'f; but his 11ative stupidity
is su ch tli:it h e ne ve r realizes that th ese word:; do not
supply tl1 e place of iclcas. H e consequentl y runs full
upon th e ridi c ule of D on l'edro .

.

70

THE P A UAG IL4PB .

.Dogberry. Marry, sir, they have commi tted false repo rt;
moreove r, t he.y have spoken un t ru t hs; :;econ da ril y , t hey a re
sla Bcl ers; si xth anJ. lastly, they have lwl ieu a lady; th irLlly,
t hey have ve r ified un j ust t hiB gs; and , to conclude, t hey a re
ly in g knaves.
D on / ,erlrn.
Fi rst, I ask t hee wh at they have J.one ,
t hi nll y, I as k t hf'e wh at's t heir offeuce ; sixth a ud lastly,
why t. h ry are l 0111111i ttcd; a nd, to co11cludc, what yo u lay to
t he ir el 1a rge.
·
0

Tl w ease o f Dogbc n y L1i ffo n; not in kiu<l b11 t only ill
<l eg rec fro m t hat of the rn :tn wh o tloes uo t a tte11d li rs t
of all to t he carefitl a nd log ical ana11 ge rn e11 t of l1i s iJca:;,
let tin g t he q uestion of co nne ctives foll o w after, 2.S a
matter o f co u rse.
Th e p rin ciple of Coherence as appli e<l to paragraphs
r equires t hat the a rra ngement of ideas s hall be clear
and natural. The seq uence o f ideas may be ehrnn ologi·
cal, o r fro m t he k no wn to t he unkn own , or fro m t he
11 ear to th e remote ; but it 111 us t a l ways be s uch as to
lea<l t he read er 011 e se ntence a t a t i111 e, caeh ne w ::;e n·
te nce co nt rib u ting to hi s know ledge t he inform a tio11 th rt t
t he p reced in g sc n tc 11 co has prepa re(l hi111 to rece ive. In
Ol'lle r to make t he reader ;;ce still more clea rly th e logical relation of t he ideas, the wri te r must employ co nnectin g words. These ar e prin cipally co nn ectives, and
adjective prono un s use d with or wi t hou t a noun at
t he beginnin g of rt se nte nce . S uch words, howeve r,
11 1e rel y in d icate t he relation of i<l eas in the parag raph.
\Vh a t r eally e::;tabli sh es its Cohere nce i::; th e close and
tirm conn ection of th oug h t which nothing but a logical
arrange men t can effect.

EMPHASI S.

71

CHAPTER VIII.
THE PARAGRAPH : EMPHA S IS .

A ccortnr NG to the p rill ciple of E 111pl1 asis, t he ideas
th a,t t he writer co n::; iJ e rs it mo::;t neees::;ary to enfo rce
upo n t he rc<uh: r s ho11ld be put in pl:tce::; that wi ll sme ly
attract h is atte n t ion . The place::; wh ere h i:;; atte 11 t iull i ~
mos t activ e a re t he beg inllin g <Lll<l tl1 e e nd of wh at he
r eads. T he mai n illea of a lmrng rnph , t l1 en, stamb th e
be::;t cha nce of im pre:;;::; i11 g i t::;elf upon t he reader if it
r ece iv es state me nt in t he (i r::; t <Ln<l tlic last sen tences .
The fi rst se n te nce ::;houl d onlinarily in d itiate in plai n language t he ::; ubj ect of t h e pa rag raph , an<l th e fi 1ml sent ence sh ou ld s um up the res ults, a nd cl ose the matter
wi t h a la::; t word.
Th e t wo sentences are conspicu o us in pos it ion, tli ey sho ul<l also be sig Hifi ca11 t in
th o ugl1 t .
-The fir:-;t se nte nce ::;hould in trodu ce tl1 c subject of the
prtrngr:tph . To do t his well it must al way s l>e clert r, a 11 d
sl1 ould u::;n:tll y Le sh ort. vVh e n one per::;o11 is in trodueed
t o an other, an y statement beyond that of 11 a mes is ::; uperflu ous aml likely t o be co nfu ::;ing. T lt e main i<lea of
the parag raph is then th e t hing wlticl1 fir::; t catdaes t he
eye of t he reader, and s in ce it is put into a ::;hor t se n·
tencc it can be com prehe nded immedi a tely . Furth er,
when th e p:~rag rnph is a pa rt of a th e me, some wonb
mus t be used i n tlt e fi rs t se ntenc e to ::;h o w t he r ela t ion
of th at pa rag ra ph to the one preced in g. A numbe r of
consi<lera t ions a re thu s involved in the constru ction o f

72

THE PAllAGRAPH.

In order to bring out clearly the value of Emphasis

the first sentence, and ca refu l work is necessary to frame
a sentence that shall satisfy them all.

in paragrapl11:;, an examin ation of the chapter on the
Uuity of th e 'Vh ole Co mposition may be of service.
There are thirteen paragr:iphs in th e chapter, an<l in the
following sy nopsis are given the first and the las t sentences of each paragraph.

In the body o f t he paragraph shonl<l be placed tlie
details, which of cou rse arc llecessary to tlie co 111plete
p resentation of the Sll i1ject, UUt which are not OlllfJha tic.
To put at eith er end of t lte paragrn11h a sentence that
merely co ntributes 011 c fad to Ll1 c d uvdul'111 e11t o f the
1:rnin idea is to g ive t.h:tt fact 1111d11c E1npliasis. The
reader thus fails Lo sec t l1 e rul ativ e v:d11 es of tire id eas,
because some idea whiuh is not espee i:tlly signifieant in
thought has bee n put out of its proper place in the body
of the paragraph.
The final se ntence needs care, because it sho uld g ive
the last wonl on the s ubjeet wliich the first sentence
introducecl. 'Vh:tt it co nt:tins is likuly to renrnin in
the memory of the reader, both hcca11sc it is follow ed
by nothi ng adding another i'1<:a on the ~·n1l.jed of the
parngraph, an<l because after it co 1111•s t !t u bri e f pause
whi ch is instinctively 1na<ln 11y the reade r l1efore l1cgi nni11g the next lin e. ff, t.ltcreforc, Lliis se 11Le11 ue <Yives tire
condusion of the matter under discussion, the l~mphasis
of the paragraph is goo d. So, to push the principle still
furth er, if the words that hri efly phrase tire main idea
come at the very end of the final sentence, the Emphasis
is even better. The gis t of the paragraph is then put uot
merely in the last sentence, b11t in tl1c last words. In
this way, by carefol aUe11Linn to Emphasis at t11e end of
the paragr:iph, the fi 11al i mprm;sio n whi ch tl1c rea<ler
gets will be that of Lhe concl usion stated about the
main idea.

73

EMPHASIS.

Unity of the Whole Composition.

1.

1. The first thing which a stud ent who starts to write a
theme should realize is that the theme must be about one
thing. . . . lt is highly important, therefore, for the writer
to realize at the outset that Jie has to write abo ut one thin g,
a single subj ect, clearly and unmistakauly •separated from
e\'erythi 11 g else.
2. Tlie principle by which this separation of ideas and
selection of mrtterial are aceomplished is call ed Lli e principle
of U ni ty .. . a.ml the principl e that uf'<·id ns wl1ich of
tliP111 shal l he a1·.<·1·pt.ed a.n<l whieli rejected is tli c prineiple
of U11i ty .
.). \Vli fm a m:-i.n sits down to write a theme li e must, remember that the principl e is a practical one a11<l 1u Pus to
be constantl y applied. . . . No i<lea is admitted until it has
sncressfully passed a rigid entrance examination for Un ity.
4. A spccilic case may serve to show more clearly the
practical value of the principle of Unity. . . . In t hi s way
tlie writer sifts his material; what is properly relev!mt to
his subject he saves for use, the rest he throws away, and
the principle that guides his choice is tl1e principle of
Unity.
5. Transition paragraph.
G. The first of these violations of Unity has to do with a
fals e beginning of thP- theme. . . . Examples of this sort
0

74

75

THE PARAGRAPH.

EMPHASIS.

show that in theme-writing, as in every other undertaking
of life, great advantage is gained from a fair start.
7. The great c~wse, however, of all this trouble at the
beginning is that some young writers seem to think tl1at
any start which t liey may happen to mak e is necessarily a
part of the th eme. . . . A dozen suggestions may seem
plausible fo r the beginning; but only such a one of them
should he taken for the opening se11tenr.e as can stand the
test of the principle of Unity.
8. The second way in whi ch a violation of the principle of Unity is likPly to occur is by digressions. . . . A
constant gnarrl against snclt digressions is necessary in
order that the writer may keep to the main line of his
thought.
9. It is not enougl1, however, merely to select such things
as are closely connected with the subject and to reject
everything else; the whole composition must have not only
Unity of ideas selected, but also Unity of expression . . . .
A writer's work does not have Unity of e xpression until,
along with eve ry fact which he states, he makes clear the
reason why that fact belongs in t he theme.
10. One of tlie best ways of attaining this Unity of
express ion is by atten tio u to what is caller! the point of
view. . . . Thrn11gho11 t t lie tlwme every cletail should be
presented from one unalte rabl e point of vi ew.
11. \Vh en one point of vi ew has been c110sen for a statement, every other aspect of the matter is thereby excluded.
To secure this Unity, there is need of a fixed and
definite point of view.
12. ·with regard to th e point of view one caution must be
given . . . . It is determined by the mental attitude of the
writer.
13. The principle of Unity as appl ied to the whole composition is a principle of the first importance. . . . To
observe this principle strictly is the fundamental condition

of producing a good theme, since upon it depend both the
matter and the manner of the work.
Taking the first and the last sentences of the first paragraph, one finds that they contain the same thought,
with the clifference that the first sentence has the air of
introducing it and the last sentence of finishing it.
There are thus two statements of the main id ea, a11<l
each of them is in a conspicuous position. The leading
thouglit of the paragraph must, conseque11tly, attract
the reader's attention, aud will also probalily n .: maiH in
his memory. In the same way, each of the other
paragraphs ~gins and ends with a statement of the
domin a ting idea. It is also well to noti.ce that the first
sentence in each paragraph is fairly short. What is
needed first is always a simple statement of the idea to
be presented, so that the reader may apprehe1 1d it at
once. Whatever modifications, qualifications, and state ment:; of de tail are necessary should find their places in
the body of the paragraph. The final sentences in
these paragraphs happen to be somewhat longer; in two
cases in the synop:;is, only the latter half of the sentence is given. Generally speaking, however, there is
a decided ad vantage to be gained from a short and
vigorous final sentence . It serves as snapper ,to the
whip. As another pojnt in beginning a paragraph, it is
worth while to notice that many of the opening sentences in the above synopsis contain connecting words
that refer back to what has preceded. In the first
sentence of the second paragraph the words this separation refer to the last words of the last sentence ot

76

TIIE PARAGRAPH.

EMPHASIS.

the first paragraph; tlie principle 111 the third para.
graph, 'l'li e fir.~t of these violal'i ons 111 the sixth, tki~
trouble in th e seventh, Tli e ser:ond way in the eighth,
and this Unit.if in the tenth are all expressions that
perform ::;imilar service in linking paragraphs together.
In the ninth paragraph the first part of the se nte nce
as far as the se1nicolon serves as a co 1111ecting statement; and the introduction of the main id ea of the
new paragraph is ma<le in the latter part of the sentence. lo such ways as these, the work of connection wliich usually falls to the first sentence may be
accompfohe<l, aml yet not impair the Emphasis of th e
begi11ning of the paragraph. Anotlier thing whi ch may
be note<l of the fi11al sentence::; in the ::;ynopsis is that
they often e1Hl witl1 a word or a phrase that conveys
the sul>::;tance of wh:tt ha!:> preceded. Four of these
sente11c es end with the wor<l Unity; two end with
the phrase point of view. As th ese are expressions
that indicate the lea<ling ideas of the pamgrn1Jhs, their
position as last words gives them every advautage of
Emplmsis. A study of the Emphasis of paragrnpl1s as
shown in this synopsi8 thus gives one an idea of the
practical value of the principle.
In the writing o[ single paragraphs known as "daily
themes," the principle of Emphasis is of great importance. In such a paragraph, standing as it does entirely
by itself, a11d being of such a length that the eye with
one glance can eas ily take it in as a whole, the beginning and the end :Lrc especially prominent. In the very
first wore],; the reader needs to know what is tlie subject,

11

and in the very last words what is the conclusion about
it. Particular care must be taken to mak e tl1e final
sentence emphatic. lf this is not <lone, - if, for example, the writer breaks off su<ldenly, or ends with
an inconsequent detail,- the paragraph seems left at
loose ends. It l1as an annoyingly in co mplete appearance, as if the writer did not know how or did not care
to make a neat job of it. The paragraph q uoLcd 011 pa,ge
24, "Inside a Church Organ," that on page 57, "The
Guitar as an Accompanying Instrument," and that on
page 62, "The Track Inspection of the P ennsylva11i ;1
Railroad," were written as daily th emes ; and an examination of them shows the great valu ~ of Empha,;i,.;
in single paragraph::;, and the purposeless and ineffeet ive
character of work in which this principle has bec11 disregarded. In the first example (that on page 24), the
opening sentence introduces the subject i11 a general
way in as few words as possible, The last sentence,
which, it may be remembered, is faulty i11 it'l point
of view, is not empliatie, since it enumerates detail s
where it should aim to give a general impression. A
sentence ending with the phrase which occurs in the
middle of the paragraph, namely, "a veritable whirl·
wind of sound," would make the Emphasis of the ;Jara·
graph much better. In the second example (that 011
page 57) the Emphasis at both ends of the paragraph is
good. What the paragraph needs, after the digression
is cut out, is the addition of more details to bring out
specifically the characteristics of the guitar as an accompanying instrument. In the third paragrapli (that
\ ,

78

THE PARAGRAPH.

on page G2) the first sentence, as it originally stands, is
too long, and is enc umbered with det,ails. As it is rewritten on page 63 it is short, introduces the subject in
a general fashion, and is therefore emphatic. The last
sentence of the paragraph is admirable. It is short and
comprehensive, and ends the theme with a snap. In
these three examples, to sum up, the body of the
theme contains the details that g ive the reader an
exact and definite notion of the s ubjec t described . In
placing them in this position the several writers did
well. In the matter of the fin;t and the final sentences,
howev er, the paragraphs are not equally good ; and it
is by notin g the differences in this respect that the
writer is able to estimate the value of Emphasis in the
writing of single paragraphs.
The principle of Emphasis, then, as applied to paragraphs, prescribes that the writer shall give especial
attention to the opening and th e closing sente nces.
The first sentence must introduce the subject clearly
and briefly ; the final sentence must complete it. In
the body of the paragraph should be put details. In
single paragraphs the principle of Emphasis is of great
im portance . By thus placing the main idea of a paragraph in positions where it will certainly attract the
reader's notice as being sign ificant, the writer does his
best to make evident the relative value of his ideas.

7fl

EMPHASIS.

Summary of the Chapten on the Paragraph.

The paragraph, like the whole compos ition, is a
gr·o up of ideas, but it is on a smaller scale. Like the
whole composition, its construction is governed by the
principles of Unity, Coherence, and Emphasis. According to the principle of Unity the ideas in a paragraph
must group themselves about a single thought. These
ideas must not be distributed through several so-called
paragraphs that are in reality only parts of one paragraph, and one paragraph must not contain several
groups of ideas; but eve ry group must stand in a paragraph complete by itself. Digressions in paragraphs,
as in whole compositions, must be car~fully avoided.
Ease in forming paragraphs is gained by daily practice
in writing single paragraphs; and such practice is
espec ially valuable for the training which it gives in
Unity. According to the principle of Coherence, tlie
ideas in a paragraph must be arranged in such an order
as will best make the sequence of thougl1t evident.
For events, the chronological arrangement is generally
the right one; for other cases, the arrangement which
begins with ideas that are known and proceeds to the
unknown is the most coherent plan. The means by
which relation and sequence of ideas are indicated
are connecting words and phrases, especially those of
the class called connectives, and words such as some,
such, another, etc. These words serve as mortar to
hold together the stones, - that is, the sentences, - of
the paragraph. It is the proper laying of the stones,

,

80

TIJE PAUAGllAPH.

however, that forms the real strength and Coherence of
the structure.
The principle of Emphasis d e 1w~nds
that the first and t he last senten ces shall g ive a :statement of the on e domi11aLi11g idea of the paragraph .
The fir::;t sente nce should be clear· and bri ef, and the
final sentence should give the last word on the subject.
The body of the paragraph should co ntain the statement of details. Thus, by the aid of these three principles, a writer is able to mak e in each para.graph a
clear and logical arrangement of sentences developing
a 8ingle idea.
E.cercise:; in CunH ectio 11 w ith the Cha.piers

Oil

th e Purograph .

A s tud y ,,f the parng-raphing in t he th e me 011 p. JO\) , e ntitl ed "A
Charal'tCr Wc>rLh I!a vin µ; " will sho w th e practi cal appli catio11 (If the
prin cipl cH of Uni ty, Cohc rcu ce, :rnd Emphasis. Th e following are
hiu ts for a detail ed exarniuation of th e paragraphs: Unit y. ~ummariz e each pa ragraph in a s ingle se nte nce. Is th e re
a viol ati o n of Uni ty in the first paragraph? In any othe r paragraph ?
C'uh er e11c1'. Wh at govem H the seq ue nce of ideas in the l"irst paragraph? In th e seco nd parag ra ph ? Acco unt for th e w1all nu111ber
of conn ec tives . Arc th e paral! raplis th e refore incohere nt ?
En1plta'i". Is th e Emphasi s of th e lirst pa ragraph good at th e
bei;:inni11g i' At th e t•11d i' \\'hat of th e Emphasis of the sec ond parngraph ? A re th e details in the third paragraph in the proper position r

THE SENTENCK

CHAPTER IX.
THE SENTENCE: UNITY.

A SENTENCE has the same relation to a paragraph thab
a paragniph has to a whole composition. It is a unit,
but a uHit of a lower denomination. The UHity of a
paragraph is due to the fact that the several thoughts
contained in the different senten ces are all grouped
about a single idea. The Unity of a senten ce results
from the fac t tliat a sentence is a simple s'tate ment of
one thought, with its modifications expressed in phrases
and clauses. The de velopment of a paragraph depends
upon its sentences; that of a sentence upon its various
parts.
From the reader'::; point of view the principle thii.t
every se nte nce should be a 'unit is one of the greatest
importance. For him, generally speaking, th e length
of one sentence measures the amount that he comprehends at one time. He takes in a sentence at a glance,
and takes it in as a whole. If, now, what it brings to
him is not a whole, if it forms an incomplete stateme~1t,
or two statements crowded together, the reader does not
g et from the unit of expression a unit of thought. In
order that there may be no confusion of this so rt in his
mind, each group of words that represe nts a sentence
should represent also one idea, no more and no less.
88

84

THE SENTENCE.

In this way each thought is shown comple te and singl e,
an ind epend ent thing separated from c vcrythi11g else.
From the write r's point of view, also, the prin c iple of
Unity is one of es pecial and practical consequen ce. By
its means he is abl e to make a separation of his ideas, to
recognize one id ea as it stands by itself, and finally, isolat ing it, so to say, in a single sentenl:e, to make its
Unity evid ent to the reader.
By this p;·in ciple he
decides what modifications and qualificati ons do and
what tlo not belong to a senten ce, anrl accordingly by
it h e tests words , phrases, and clauses. F or the writer
t h en, the prin c ipl e of Uni ty as applied to se nten ces per:
forms a twofolcl service. It teaches him to recognize a
thought as a unit to be expressed in one sentence, and
it forms a test by whi ch may be detected in that sent ence, wh en it is written, the presence of any word or
phrase that i::; irrele vant.
The development of a sentence, as has been said, depe nds upon its various parts; that is, upon the phrases
and clauses that co ntribu te to the main idea. Subject and predicate form the nucleus, and round this
gather different fragments of thought, many or few as
t he case may be, wh ich uni te thems elves to it, and so go
to make up th e whole . Only, however, wh e n a person
stops to an aly ze his mental processes does he see that
this is the way in which a sentence grows up in his
mind. Usually he conceives it all at once,-subjcct,
predicate, and modifiers all com e to him simultan eo usly
as a whole. At the sam e time, it is worth while to
carry this analysis a little further, or rather to apply

UNITY.

85

the method of synthesis, and to see how a sentence may
be developed by its modifying clauses. The foll owing
example::; show the way i11 which subordinate ideas may
be a<lde<l to a sentence, contributing to and qualifying
the main idea, without, however, violating the principle
of Unity:1. The man who works his way through college has a
hard pull.
2. The mau who works his way through coll ege has, in
spite of the help that is likely to be given him, a hard pull.
3. Th e man who works his way through coll ege, and is
obli ged to earn money at the same time that he is carryin g
on his studi es, has, in spite of the help that is lik ely to be
given him, a hanl pull.
4. The man wlio works his way through coll ege, anu is
obli ged to earn money at the same tim e that he is ca rrying
on hi:; studies, altlwugh he will probably have help given
him, will ueverth eless, uwi11g to the fact tliat his e11ergies
are so severely and co11stantly taxeu, l1 ave a hard pull.
5. The man who works his way through coll ege, and is
obli gell to earn rn ouey at th e sam e time th at he is carrying
on l1i s stllllies, al though li e will probably hav e help giv en
him, will 11evertheless, owing to the fact that his energies are so severely and constantly taxed, have such a hard
pull that the effects of it will tell on his later life.

Here the original sentence has received as additions
various subordinate clauses. These clauses are not so
importa11t as the main idea, but they are necessary to
expa.nd and to explain it; they add the details to the
sentence, but they <lo not destroy its Unity. It is not
meant, of course, that all sentences should be con·

86

THE SENTENCE.

UNITY.

structed upon t.liis motlel. Far from it. Some sen.
ten ces a re long, so me are short; no two sente nces, any
more than two persons, are e xac tly alike. These exampl e;; merely se rve to indi cate one way in which
though ts may group themselv es about a ce ntral idea to
fo rm a se n tence tl1at is a unit. Still, n o matter in
how ma ny different ways the arrange ment may be made,
th e va rious me mbe rs of a se 11te nce have wh a t may be
called an orga nic relati on, a11d tak en as a whole they
sl10uld al ll'ays give co mplete expre:;sion to one iJ ea.
This orga 11ie rdatio 11 of the me n1ben:1 of a ;;entence
is t he fa ct wlii elt tli e wri te r of themes n eeJ s most of all
to apprc c iate, and uy wl1i elt li e must g uid e lti;; ow n
work. H e must take in to co nsideration ma tters of
co-ord inate a1Hl ;;ubord inat e clau;;e:;, of parti cipial co ns t.rn ctions, of prepositional plira;;cs,- in oth er words, tl1e
co nslrn ction of the se11 tcnce in i t8 gram matical aspcet.
This organi e rela lio11 as made e vide nt ill the <Tran1mati"'
cal strncture he may realize most quickly and put to
vrnctice i11 his ow11 work 111ost conve ni tm ily by study
of what i;; known as the pe riotlic ;;e nte nce . A pe riodic
;;en te nc e is one so constru cte<l that it is imposs ible for
the ;;e nse to be eo m['lt~le ucfore the e11J of the sent e nce. Th e objec t of tl1 e ve rb, a nece;;sary part of the
predicate, a11 imlispe11sable p re positional phrase, an
i11v e rsio11 wli ieli p:1t s tl1 e subjeet at th e e11d of the
se n t.e 11<..:e, - :lil y 011 e of tl1 ese may, Ly re11d e ring the
se n le11 t.:e grn111111at ic:lll y a11d log ically in com plete until
th e ve ry last wmd:;, mak e it peri od ie. Th e exa mpl es
given in th e preced illg parag raph, and also the se nten ce

87

preceding this, are pe riodic sentences. In th e first
four ex::i.mples the last word of the sentence is the
object of the main verb, and conse quently the se nse
is not completed until the word pull is reached. In
the fifth e xample the presence of the word such rn
such a hard pull mak es it imposs ible to stop as before ,
for the word requ ires the addition of a depe nd e nt clause
of expla1rntion . In th e peri odic sentence already refe rred
to in this paragraph , the main verb is divided by the
insertion of a participial clause, and a necessary part
of this verb with its object, nam ely, rnn/ce it periodic,
is not s uppli ed until the last words. The im portant
point to be noticerl h ere is that in all th es~ exampl es
the writer was obliged, before h e wrote down his sentence, fi rst t o con ce ive it as a wh ole. He co uld not
begin the sentence with no thought of how long it
sh ould last or h ow far it mi ght carry him. H e had to
see t he end at t he same tim e that he saw th e beginnin g.
So with all periodic sentences, the pecu liariti es of the
grammatical construction make it naturnl for one sentence to express one idea.
In a periodic se ntence the grammatical requirement<;
are such that the idea which it co nveys must be a unit.
For thi s reason the practice of making as many se ntenc;is
as poss ilile periodi c in form i~ recommended as the best
method fo r bringing an in experienced writer into the
habit of giving his se nte nces Unity . Such practice
will st rengthen his writing at one of the poin ts in wlii ch
it is lik ely to be weakest. Th e great fault in most of
the sentences found in themes is that they are not

,,

88

H9

TllE SENTENCE.

UNITY.

formed. They <tre simply written down in any fashion.
Th e necess ity of making a sentence periodic requires
the writer to stop to consider its form. Stopping thus
to th ink how his se ntence is to be constru cted and ho w
and wh ere it is to end, he naturally takes thought also
as to what id eas it shall contain, and so makes an effort
to give it Unity. It must not be supposed, however,
that the peri odic sentence affords t he r eg ulation patte rn
and th e norm al type of sentence structure, for s uch is
far from th e case. I ts oppo:si te, the loo:;e sentence, in
whi eh th e sense is co mpl ete at one or more places Lefore
the e ncl, is as a matter of fact mu ch more common in
good writin g. Qu est ions of the co mparative frequ ency
and ad vantage of the u se of each are points that are
not h ere of the first im portance. The thing for the
write r of themes to real ize and to accept is the fact that
great gain in ability to con ce ive his ideas as units co mes
from practice in g iving them th e form of periodic
se ntences.

write he strin gs one idea after a nother, co nnecting th em
at rand om by 1md, f or, b1,1,l , so, o r yet, stopping at co nvenient in tervi1ls to put in a per iod and t l1en to tak e
a fresh :start. Tl1is practice produ ce:,; in co mpos ition
what is kn ow n a:s t he" bad loose sente11ce,'' and is at once
easy and fata l. I t is becauRe th e untra ined write r so inev ital>ly falls in to this error, and thereby renders himself in eapable of co nee iving a se ntem:e as a unit, that li e
is advi:sed to mak e as ma11y of his seutences as possibl e
per ioclic. The utter laek of U nity in :such Lall loose
sentences is :;l1 own by th e following e xampl es: --

The dan ge r of a violation of Unity in sentences mu st
be constantly guarded against. A sentence occupies
less space than a paragraµh, and so, in inverse ratio,
a violation of U ni ty in it is much more glaring. Some
of the ways in which the princi ple is commonly disregarded it is well to speak of in detail.
The loose se ntence is, as was implied above , by its
very grammatical fo rm, pecu liarly open to violations
of Unity at t he hands of a carel ess writer. To su ch
a person it ne ver occms to deal with his ideas as units,
~ac h in a sente 11 ce by itself. Wh~n h~ i;iits down to

1.. I h:ul bee n in Hoston befo re, but only for tl1ree or four
days, so I kn ew nothin g abo 11i t he streets, .w hi ch, by the
way, seem espec ial ly crooked to me, co min g as I du from
Chi cago, where they are very straight and reg ul ar.
2. The room used for th e pu rpose is in the base ment, and
as soon as the girl s a re dism issed at recess tl1 ere is a wi!J
rush do1Ynstairs, fo r each one knows that if sl1 e does not get
there first the choices t morse ls will be gone, and not onl y
that, bu t sli e may get notl1ing at all to eat, fo r the pres iJin g goddess is a close calcul ato r.

In each of these cases the writer at the beg innin g of
the sentence h atl no notion whateve r what the end
would be. It was entirely a. matter of chance. U nd er
such ci rcum stances, the sentence co uld n ot, except by
acc ident, hav e Unity. Sentences of this sort, tlt e11 ,
should be e nlil'ely avoided, as being flagrant violations
of the pri nc ipl e that a single sentence should prese nt
but r~ single id r.a .
The cal'eless and easy notions about th e constru ction

90

91

THE SENTENCE.

UNITY.

of s e nte n ces that produce in some write rs bad loose
sente n ces are r esponsilile in oth er write rs for r es ults

5. This t eache r was always spying upon us a t all h ours.
And if h e fo u11J any thing wrong, h e made a note of it, and
t old the p rin cipal.

exac tly opposite, li11t equally bad .

Frequently a se n-

t e n ce is brok en in tw o at a point whe re co-o rdinate
clauses arc con nec ted by the w ord and or bnt.

Th e

proper u se of th ese t w o co njun c tions is in co nn ec ting
11 ot whole se n te nces bu t parts of se n tences . ll c nce it
is v e ry rarel y w e ll to beg in a se nte nce wi t h and or

In each of th ese cases the r emeuy is t o unite the parts
o f the se n te nce , and so to mak e that wlii ch is already a
unit in tlio11gl1t also a unit in exp ression.
S ubo rdinate n.s w ell as co-o rdin ate clau ses a r e fr e-

l11tt.

quently detach ed in t h e sam e way, and give n a pos ition as ind e p e nd e nt sente n ces, in plain v iolation of

go thro ug h hi s w o rk a nd strik e o ut as supe rfl uo us eac h
a nd and but in t his posit io n ; but li e shou ld try if pos-

separate a cla use i11 trnd 11 cc tl by wlt ile or tli at, or a

In ap plying t hi s rul e, h o w eve r , to se n te nces co ntaining th e fault und e1· discussion, t h e write r shoulu not

s ilile Lo make a 11 y tw o s uc h s e nte nces i11Lo o ne , an d t hu s
a ll o w th e conn cc ti\'e to pe rform its prope r fun c tion .
Th e foll o win g c xam pl es illustrate t his fault: l. In appl y ing t he rnl e, l1 owcvc r, to se nte nces co ntaining
the fault und e r di sl' w;s ion, t h e writt' r s hou],] not go t hrough
hi s work n.1 1d strik e out as sup(' rflu o11 s eaeh mul anti Vil t in
this pos ition. Hu t he sho ul1I t ry if poss ibl e to mak e n.ny
t wo ;;11t h sPntc nres into one, a nd thus allow t he co nn ec t iv e
to p e rfo rm its prope r fu11 rt ion.
~. T ouch ston e d id 1111 t care rnn ch for t hi s kinrl of life.
H e said t hat, i t was t.oo slow. An ll it was 1Hi t 11 e:Lr c11 crng h to
court life fur him. T ltnl\ were no .f in e ladi es a 11<l ge nt lem en to talk to. r: 11 t it S<'l'lll S that latc• r he Le<:am e more
pl ease<l wi t h it; for he ft.II in lov e with a co un try g irl.
:1. D e 'Wi lton was a yu1mg kni g ht, a nd he was in love
with Cla re. -;\l:trm i1111 al so prete11dt:"d to lol' C t h e sn.me lady .
Hut des ired reall y lwr r i1·li• ·s ~u11I estat ('s.
1
!. H e t olJ mo t ha t I sho uld be ab le to prepn.re in three
years. And h e assu re1l me that it probably wou ld not be
hard work.

U nity.

It is a co mm o n fault of young wri te rs t o

final particip ia l p h rase , fr o m th e se nte n ce to whi c h it
properly be lo n gs, a ml to set it up as. a sente n ce by
itsel f. Su ch a n ex press io n , fr om tlie ve ry fact that it
is subor<li nate, ca nn ot stan <l alo n e; it must uepe nd fr o m
the se n t e nce of whi c h it is logically a part. A mistake of this sort iii, o f course, n othin g Lut a n open disregard of a simpl e rnle of grammar ; but neverthel ess
its occ urre n ce is frequent.
lustrate this fault: -

Th e following e xamples il-

l. Th e fir st fiv e week s of t li e t erm were h ard. Vniil e
after t ha t rn y work wa;; rnuc h eas ier.
~. I h a.J n o t roubl e ill pass ing tlw exa minat ions.
'\Vhil e
many whom I kn e w reeei vet! conJ it ions.
.,
3. Jl e sa itl that he cou IJ n ot give me the book . A llu
that h e did not know wh o hn.d it.
4. Hes iLl l's all tl1is t h e tinan ces of t lw Atlil etic Assoc iation we re al way s in a good co nd it ion. Th e gate rece ip ts
from the games we pby ed a l wn.ys lw ing :; ulti.eie nt to pay
expenses, ancl sollletirn es gi viug us a hand trnme surplus.

92

!)3

THE SENTENCE.

UNITY.

5. This mee ting, whidt is held early 111 the term, i3
Some person who
cannot be k ept qui et always giving all !tis op1111ons on
e very suujec.t, an<l caus i11 g no em! of fua and laughter.

and obscure the thought in the larger groups. The
principle of Unity in sentences it1 thus of the widet1 t
importanee, and tlie neglect of it produces serious con-

al ways well attemlell a11d very Ii vely.

Iu th ese exa11111les tlic llepende11t clmrncter of the
cl:rnses referred Lo lias been completely ig11ored. As
each of the clarn;es mak es a part of the preceding idea
log ically, it cannot Le ~eparated from it grammatically.
A se ntence cannot be a U11it expressing a complete idea
whe n one member of it is <letached.
A compariso11 of tl1ese several violations of Unity
Lrings out the fact that in all the cases the und erlying
troubl e is the sa me. Th e writer lias faile<l to realize,
or at leas t fail ed to show that he realiz es, th e µrin ciple
t hat eael1 se nte nce slioultl be a unit, eontaining in its
various parts the c0111pl ete de velopment of one idea. He
has c rowde<l tw o or more ideas into one sente11ce, or he
has lopped off an important member and tri e<l to make
a sentence of it Ly beginning it witl1 a capital, as if a
:-;enten cc we re depend e nt for it..,; identity upon nothing
Lut punctuati o11. ln all these efforts, however, he has
Lee n guillell Ly notliing Lut the wbi111 of the momeut.
As a ret1ult, his senten ces are without form. They only
half do their duty . Further than this, it writer's paragraph8 and even the whole tli erne may suffer from the
lack of a proper princij>le to guide tli e cnustruction of
his senten ces . Se11tcnces make up Lotli the paragraph
and the whul c compos iti on, and a failure to keep distinct and separate the details of thought in th ese, the
t1mallest complete groups of words, it1 sure to confuse

sequences.
Since, then, the sentence has the same relation to the
paragraph tl1at the paragraph has to the composition, the
principle of Unity as applied to sentences de mands that
each sentence shall contain the dev eloµment of one idea.
A sentence thus constructed aids the reader in comprehending and the writer in conceiving ideas as units.
The development of a sentence depends upon its various
parts, and the different members taken together hav e an
organic relation. Practice in the c onst~·u c tion of periodic sentences is the bes t way for the inexperienced
writer to realize this organic relat ion, and to learn how
to show it in his work. Violations of Uuity occ ur in
(1) bad loose sentences, (2) in cases where a co-onlinate
clause beginning with and or but is made a sep<trnte
sentence, and (3) in sentences from which a subordinate
cl1tusc is detached and set up as a se ntence by i t.<;e]f.
All these violations result from the writer's failure to
think of each sentence as a whole, with parts having an
organic relation to each other. The importance of the
observance of Unity in sentences is great, for t~o11 it
depends the strength of both paragraphs and the whole.
composition.

94

THE SENTENCE.

COHERENCE.

as antecedent is clearly ev ident. Coherence requires
that the relation of the pronoun to its antecedent shall
be clear beyond mistake, both in the way of connecting the pronoun with its antecedent, and in the way of
ideutifying that noun as its antecedent. The following
sentences show the incoherence that arises from neglect
of this rule : -

CHAPTER X.
THE SENTENCE: COHERENCE.
THE principle of Coherence as applied to the sentence
deals with the relation a11d the arrani:rcment of words
phrases, and clauses. I 11 paragraphs, "'Coherence is se-'
cured wh en the sequence of id eas is cleal' and logical;
and the only problem for the writer is to find out what
is the natural ordel' and then to arrange his ideas accordingly. 111 sentences, the case is diffel'ent. Here matters
of gl'ammatical relation must be co nsidered, for the connec tion of the varions mc muers of a sentence with each
other is chiefly a matter 0£ grammar. On the clear and
unmistakable indi catio n of this connection Coherence
depe nds; and therefore Coherence of sentences is the
result of certain rules of grammatical construction.
RULR 1. Whenever a word or a plira.qe depends inform
or in sense upon another word 01· plirase, the relation betwee n tli.em should be evident.

This rule applies to the relation of verb and subject, of adjectives and their substa11tives, of adverbs and
the verbs that they modify, aud of prepos itional phrases
and r elat. ive dauses to othe r parts of th e sentence; it applies with espec ial force to 1ierson;d, <l e111011strative, and
r elative pronouns, and to participles and verbal nouns.
,\ pru1i11un is a W(lnl wl1i cl1 1<ta11d .-; in pla!' C of a noun.
Tl1i:-; 111H111 i:-; call ed ii:-; ant e(:cdt:nt. ( ;t·11 cra lly the antecedent is ex11res;;cd . \Vh c1 1 it is 0111itted, as in the :,;en ..
t ence, "Ile \\'ho ru11s may r c; td," llie 11nu11 whi ch stands

95

I

1

1. John told my brother that he might come to see him
if he woulcl let him know when he would liuJ it most co11veni ent.
2. There is a <loor at either end of th e car, although in
some cities they al'e made with a door at only one end.
3. She diJ not consider it right to tra11slate Virgil aud
Cicero with a "pony,'' which most ~f the class had no
obj ection to whatever.
4. He ls so good an organist that he can han<lle one
admirably the tirst time that he plays on it.
5. Although John knew that he must learn his lesson before he could go home, he struggled against it. \Vhen he
found that he could not get round it, he gave in and learned
it iu fiftee n minutc::i.
6. Although he had been in business much louger,
Mr. Adams found his new partner surprisingly ignorant of
many details of the busin ess.
7. I was greatly interested in yacht-racing, yet, owing to
th e fact that I had always lived in Columbus, I had never
seen one before.
8. Most of the men ha<l arranged their own costumes, and
they mat1 c them look :;i 111 ply riui cu lous.
9. Th e R ecord which I Lought this noun is an enterpris~.ng paper and costs only a ce nt.
10. Th e fol<liug-betl, an apparent wa!'Jroue which my

97

1'IJE :iEN Tft'N CE.

Cu ll EU E .\' <.: /<7.

cl1 um al ways speaks of as such, is tl1e large::;t vi ece of furniture in the roo m.

The proper use o f par l i1.: ipl e:s aml verbal n oun:;, or
g e runJ.s, is also dele rniin e<l uy tl1 e tirst rule of Culi erence . Since t hey are form s of t l1e ·,·e rli, ll1cy hav e tense
a nd voice, and are tra11siLi ve ur i11tr:wsitin~ . \\'li en a
participle se rv es with an auxilia,ry l<> furm 1.:c rtain tense:;
of t h e verb, its gnirnmati eal reLLtiu11 lo th e rest of th e
s e nt en ce is easily see n. In ot l1 e r cases its gra1nm at ica l
CJ !lllec-tiun is - lik e t liat uf a n : rlJal w i1 1u - witli tlic:
wr1 rd wl i•:l 1 d r:si;;nalcS l he subj•:<:t ,,f Ii ·: w: i r, c1 i11 di 1:;,.t<:d f,., .. Ii •: ·,;,rfy,,.j f•,n ll.
f 1,r •:l.i1fl1f1 l•·. ici r}, , ... , j.f' ·" ·

96

11. Uood natnrn is a eha racteri::; t ic Am eri can trait, and
on e whit.:!1 th ey often s uffer for.

ln all these e xam p les th e incohere n ce is due to obscuri ty or ambiguity in th e relation bet wee n th e pronoun
and it.-; antecede nt. Sometim es th e antecede n t is omitted
altogether (e xamples 3 and 0J; som e times it is implied
in a worJ Jeri>ed from it (e.xamtiles -1, i. and 11 ) ;
: mr:r iru e.:5 when .e aIHecc.-d en r i.5 expn:-.·S<:d it ~ .andis
oe.ar an :·:!i :-!" word n1id1 mi15I,r *rn: a.'! a c1U: <:edt11t for
t he 11ron11trn anJ ,oo amliigui ty ari-"e::! ( example::i J, c;. and
8); som e tim es the pru11uu11 dues n ot agree i11 uumber
with its antece J e11t (e xampl e 2) ; 1;ometimes tlie pron oun refers to a meaui11g of th e a nteceJ e ut which is
slighL!y cli1Iere11t from its m ea ning a::; used or as qualifi ed in the ::;e nte nce (exa mples 9 and 10 ) . In eve ry
on e of these in sta nces, there wa:; in th e 111i11d uf the
write r, as h e set down th e words in th ei r vrese11t order,
n o thought of possible ohscurity or amhiguity. T o him
th e rela tion Letween pronoun and ante1.:e<lent was entirely clear. He simply did n ot take into account the
fact that in t he hanJs of an u11train ed wr ite r the English
language is a diffi c ul t and obsti11ate mac hin e to manage.
It has him at its mercy as co mpletely as the bicycle
has in its power th e person who i:; beginnin g to learn
to ride. A consla11 t effort to overcome the 11ati ve difficulti es in eithe r case is t he only thing that will tinally
give mastc r_y. In sc n te 11ces th ese diffi1.:ulti es are definite and well kno wn, and one of th e most vex ing of
them is the proper use o f pronouns.

1;j i J(,-.

(,'/:flrlr~.

/ 1, r, /:/ 11.J r11rl r:/ l /11' 11·/11 rfr,11! . !· fr , ,,,, 1)

ufl /r.,r_,k/ri;J &IJl rl

( '/1r1tfl'~,

fft~ /l'ltl'fr111•, l:f!· . , (//,f!rf1 1' I ~ tf 11• .-:11f 1.Ji'I t. 1,f.
1

t li e action impli ed in ll1 e word lu ok i11!J, a11d s" Ll1 e 1r(Jnl,

wh eth er [l<Lrti 1.: ipl e or v e rbal 11"11n,' grn11111iati cally Lelougs to C'lta rles, 11111cli as a11 adj eeti ve belongs t o a
uou 11 . Th e eo11net.:tio11, i11 cases ::;uc h as tl1 ese, li owe ver,
is not always iuun eLliate ly evi <1e11l; fur t hi s reaso n the
prupe r use of parti ciples a11J. vcrLal 1wu11 s is a 1natle r
whi ch d e1n<Lllll s of t h e ex peri e11 t.:eLl writer a good lleal
of e; tre . Tl ie sli g htness of the grnm111ali cal t ie between
th e modifier aml the wonl rn oJifi ed puts all th e g reate r
(JL!ig a t ion upo11 him to m ak e their r elativ e positiuns i11
th e senten1.:e such that the counection hetween thelll
cannot be lllistak e n.
\Vh cn t h e exp ression co ntai ui11 g tl1e particfple or the
verbal 11 0 1111 stan<ls at the beginning of a se nte nce, to
t;d<c a specifie case, the wonl to whi ch it i::; attaehe<l
sh ou l<l be t l1 e su \1j ect of tha t sente nce . An exarnina·
Lion <if the four folluwing se nt.e u ees will show the n eces·
~ity

for tliis practice : l:l

98

THE SENTENCE.

COHERENCE.

99

1. After pouring the mixture into a tube, it was heated
slowly.
~. After pouring the mixture into a tube, the book directed me to heat it slowly.
3. After pouring the mixture into a tube, I saw him heat
it slowly.
4. H avi ng poured the mixture iuto a tube, I heated it
slowly.

usually that the relation between th e participle and the
11oun with which it is co nn ected is a mbigu ous or obsc ure . Study of the following examples a11d co rrectio11 of the false participial eonst ru ction;; fo1111d in them
will show tlie strn1ent tlic co mm onei;t a.11d most serious
offe11ces aga.i11st Colierc11cc: -

In all these cases the word d es ignating the person who

1. HYturning to li er i:: 11 r;;t::;, on<: might have notice1l that.
h f'.r m:urn er lia11 ul1:uq."' 'd pr· rcl' ptibly.

<lill the pouring is the word with wl1ich the verbal noun
or the participle should IJe counected. Ju the first example t here is no :rnch word in the sente11ce; in the
n e xt two ex ampl e:; the word is there, Lut since it i;; the
ohject of tl 1e main verL t he eye <lDes not meet it until
afte r encoun te ring the two subjects, book anJ I, respectiv ely. Jn the fourth sentence, howeve r, the noun to
whi ch tl1e par ticipl e belongs is also the subject, and the
r elati on Lct\\·een the two is perfectly clear. The practice o f µutting at the b eginning of a sentence a phrase
containing a participle or a verbal 1101111 is 11 ot always
to Le r eeu 111111c1Hled; but when :;ueh a co nstruct ion is
used it is well to reme mber that th e noun with which
th e pl1rase is ('01111ccte<l shnuhl stand as the subject.
\Vith these ge neral notions as to the proper use of
the parti ciple, the writer should be able to avoid the
in coh erence that springs from false participial constructions, and to correct it whenever it does occur. The
errors that are caused Ly ignorance of the functions
of th e participle take so 111any different forms that it is
hard to classify them. The un<lerlying fault of all is

2. Being petted as li e was by liis mistress made FiJo a
spoiled dog.
;). Drshorougli , howeve r, farr·11 worsr· tku1 tl1e rest, li avi11~
had hi s bP1l t.11rn ed upside Jow11, Ll1ru wi 11 g l1i111 out on hi s head.
.f. The hPavy r:1in ronti11ni 11 g made coining li ome in a
carriage a11 absulu1P 11r1:(·ss it y.
5. I haJ sca r<"e ti 111e to 1·at('h my breath in, anJ he ready
to meet her, as sl 1c st<' p1•ril upon th e deck, smiling, and
mak ing my hest bow, which was now vastly finer than so me
months before.
6. I obse rved that crystals were formed. Being in a
test t nhe, I rould watch th em grow.
7. \Vrinkl etl, pai11 t<:ll, with an irritable temper and
affected mann ers, Johnson bestowed on li er during thi,
whole of his life the most sincere love, and mourned her
death as a loss incousolablo.
8. The old Forge House at Fulton Chain was struck by
ligh t nin g last evening during a heavy thunder show~r, tearing away a wall from th e roof to the base ment, and demolishing the bar-room and the laundry.
9. The first gas which I collected exploded with a sharp
report, showing the presence of air. Th e second tube of
gas burned with less noise, being purer.
10. The gas which had collectetl in th e bottle on being
tonched 'Yith a m~tch lit and burned.

100

COHERENCE.

TllE SENTENCE.

101

knowlc<lge of tl1 e ir firn etio ns will help l1im; observation of the prac tice of the Gest writers will h elp him;

upon th e proper placing of WOl"(ls. A<lverhs, for e xample, shoulLJ n ot bu scp:uate<.l from the words that tl1L'y
rno<lify; a reLLtive pro nou n must stand as n ear as po:;sible to its ;wteccdent. Whe n e xpress io ns go i11 pairs, ::i.11d
th e pair:> are irnlicateLl by the words callcLl co rrespondents - su eh as eitl1 cl', or; ueillier, nor; &otli, and; n ot
011 (1/, lJUt also; on the one !tCrnd, on tl1e oth er hand - the
fir~t eorre:-ip oml c nt 11111st lie l'll t ne xt to t.l1 e fir st rn emht; r of the pair, and t li e second in tl1e eo rres pu11d i11 gpusitio n just Lefore tl1 e secollll membe r of the pair.
The arrangement of words aecording to tli es u direction s

but n othing will give liim co rnpl ele maste ry of this
difficult cons t ru ctio n ex cept ccm sla11t a11d careful att entin11 tn its proper use in his own work .

aids the Coherc11ce of a se nte n ce in two ways: first, by
gro1qJing toge ther parts whi ch are associated in th oug ht;
and , seco nd, by sep:trnti11g parts wlii eh m·e disti11et i11

In the correction of th ese e rro rs it will ofte n be found
that it is impossiole to retai n the parti eipi;d eo nstrut.:tion.
Sometimes tlie only thi11g that will 1m1duee Coh eren ce
is a c han ge to the co11.-;trnd io 11 of a d e pe11de 11t clause,
in which the word t ha t was formerly s lig liLed 111ay have
the full rig hts of a s ubject, and may abo perform the
duties ~e'.ongi11g to that position. Tl1e whole l!Uestion
o r part1c1plcs an<l Yt·rl1al 11111111s is 1111 e of t1 1c most
vexing witl1 \\'l1i,:l1 tl1e y oung wrill'I' lias tn deal. A

RULi~ ~-

1Vorcls or clau.~es that ore cfoul!J associated

in thou,qlit sli.ould he closel!J associated in e.1p re/j.~iu n.
. In the ~nglish language , inflec tion, that is, a change
m t~e e nding_ of a word to show a diffe renr,e of grnmm;i,tieal relat10n (as wlio, u·lt0 1$e, 1d1om) i.~ lmt little
-employed . Co 111p:Lretl with <X reek, L:ttin, and Cerman
E11glish is an. 1111i1if'.eelud langu;tge. \Vh e n a laiigu:tg~
·d oc.':) not use mfleeturn, it is ool ige d to show the grammatical co11ne c ti11 11 of words by mea ns of their r elative
position. ln the sentence, John saw 'l.'lwmas, the read er
knows at once that Joh n i::; tlie subject and Thomas
the ooject of the verb.
He knows it beca use the
gra~1.matical r elatio n is indicated by the r espective
pos1t10ns of the two nouns with refe re nce to the ve rb;
and this relation can be indicated by nothing else.
Coherence of sentences therefore depends considerably

tliought.
Th e faults that the secoml rul e of Coh e re u ee aims t o eorrect are shown in the followiug se11tences : --

l. H ere t11e cat-o'-nine-tail fl ags grow in abundance,
wl1i ch th e children <leli ght to h av e in the fall.
3. J\ 1.out s CVl'll yP:Lr:> a!-io a rn:rn was ll1 a<le Pri11 eipal of
l,li e Hi gh ~dwul who k•<l Juul co11 si<leraul e experi l' llt'l' as a
teach er, allll who tl1uroughly nml erstuo<l hi s bu siness.
:l. If a st1Hlt-11 t kts <lo11e hi s work Wt'll he will know,
wl1 enev er ~· pi1:t11re uf a li gure is placed uefore hi111 , in wh at
position it is placed, a nd frum what tlireetio11 th e. light
strikes t he obj ect, at t he en<l of the tirst term .
4. I li:.l\'e tri ed to sk etch t he plan the writer !tad in view
wh en the theme was writte n, on the opposite page.
5. I fuuntl that I could only <lo five problems.
6. l e\·e11 touk tl1e English examination, for wl1ich I ha<l
not stu<lieJ, but in this I failed.

102

TllE SENTENCE.

7. Our football tearn not only wus vi ctorious, Lut also wa
we re success ful in baseball.
8. We either had to stop the game or lose the last train
home.
9. H e both gave me what I ask ed for and more bes ides.
10. I kn ew that on th e one hand he co uld not get here

before ten o'clock; and on the other hand, his train might be
an hour late.
The violations of this rule which are most troublesome
are th ose in se nte nces where cones pondent.-, are not
properly placed.
Tli e fault is especially coufusing
because it puts the r eader on the wrong t.rack and at
the same time mak es him think that fie is on the right
one. Corre.-;pon<lents are used to et off two expressions
one against another, and their place is next to t.h e words
that they connect. The purpose of this rule of Co·
herence, as also of the first rule, is to enable the reader
to see clea rly what th e writer means to say. Every
possible li elp to the reader's imm ediate and easy und erstanding of a se ntence the write r is Lound to g ive, and
help Ly no means th e slightest comes from the juxtaposition of words that are closely connected in thought.
RULE 3. Similarity fo the relution of 'idea s should be
made evident by u11ifur111ity in the construction of the sentence .
According to t his rul e, an infinitive clause mu st not
be followed by a parti cipi al plira::;o wh e n tli e ideas expressed by tlie two are parallel; th e active voi ce must
not give place to tlie passive vo ice, or the re verse, wh en
there is no chauge of thougl1t to demand the change

10!1

CO llRUR NCE.

of construction; and, unless tliere is s uffi cient cause,
the sul>jec t must n ot be chan ged in any other way.
This rul e does not, of co urse, require all sentences tohbe
. ., Lut only
hsliion ed after the :;arne pat t ern
. wa rns t e
,:riter agai nst vary in g t he con:;tru ction of parts of] a
rre is not only needless
sentence w }1el·e •a clnn
• n
.
. but a so
con f us .rn g . How nee1ll ess a nd
. how co nfu sin g is . sue 11 a
lack of uniformi ty the followrng sentences show. l. Im agin e yourself on the bank of· one of

beautiful
riven;; aud th at th e time IS the n1 onth of O c tob~ .
d
9 .. ,On approaching t he house I pei.ceiv ed him. seate. on
th;· piazz~, and that he was short, thick-set, with han as
o~r

white as snow.
h
llent edu
3. H e appears well-bred, and to have a exce
cation.
·
f the
4 I ris general method seems to be the separation o.
·
· el emen t ~' an d t o obtam . an
sub ··ect' under
discussion into its
J
k nowIe·lge
accurate
1 of th em .' then to nmte them, study mg
the const ruction thoroughl y as t he work goes on.
.
5 \ Vhy do people al ways put o11t the flag on any festive
. .
?
In t hP. first place bera11se it stand s for the
OCCitS IOll .
.
. t'
'tizen will do
U . . te l Shtrs 'llld of course any pat n o ic c1 . ·.
Ill
l
' ·•
. ' •.
. . . in the secollfl, because it reprethat m11 e 11 for his co un t iy, .
.
'bl f
'ab1' t
t liberty and free d om; an d tl11"rdly ' possi Y rom 11'
·
· . but just before
senG. s Th e afternoon was spent m
. s.1eepmg,
dinner l went ont for a walk.
~
7. Si 11 re we folt su re t hat he would co i_ne to th e drnn er, a
.
)]ac:c was rrsc rvrd for him till t he ia~t rnm11te.
l 8. Tli e term Hl10m
. .
.18 t1 s1:11 ·. 1·118
. ·tiy, to denote
anyth111
·
.g
. 1 c011
. 1'; 1.1.11c·t·1011 of ''l Ja1wuaire;
and
belon •ing to thP. gran11natll'a.
o
"
g
l
eeo n<ll
· whateve r has
tu lo wi. t i1 ti ie •·11·1"1ngemen
'
· t of words
. ;
11
,
y, grammati cal construct1on
·
. 18 language which
third,
t he
of o1
cannot be li terally tran slated iuto anoth er.

104

THE SEN TEN CE.

E.'fPfTA8IS.

10. After he had been gone te n days I received a Jet;.
ter from him, anll on the very next day he se nt me a
telegra m.

CHAPTER XI.

In th ese sente nces the reader, once started on a particular constru d ion, is led to expec t it in wlt at fo ll ows. Instead, he finds tl1c id e;t whi ch woul d naturall y be pnt in
the paralle l cons trn cl ion ex pressed by a tota lly differe nt
one. As a res 11l t, he does not u11d e n;ta11d the fornt of
the se nte nce so qui ck ly as he mi g ht, n,11d, fur ther, is not
helped, as he should be, to see the sim ila ri ty i11 the relati on of ide:ts. ) 11 correctin g any one of the above sen
tenees the stude n t mn,y adC1pt eit her th e first or the
second of t he co ns tru ctions used . Th e point i:,; t l1 at t he
express ions shall he uniform, for hy su eh uniformity of
con:;tru r.: tion tl1 c similarity of i<leas is 111ade evid ent.
Tl1 e prin cipl e of Co herence, to s um up, requires t hat
the a rrange ment of words :;hall uring out clearly the,
grammatic;tl co nstruction of the sente nce. The three
rul es by wliit.:11 Coherence may be secured are:_

1. TV'lt e11 r1·er rt 11·ord or rt pltraiM dep ends in form or
-in sense upon a 11 utli1 •r 1rord or ['hrase, tlte r elation .between
tl1em slwu ld be l'Vidmt .
2. l Vord s or cla 11 ses tl1 at fl re closely associated in
tlwn:;ltt slw 11ld li e clvscfy a.~sor:i11ted in express ion.
ii. 8imila rit,'j in the relation of ideas should be made
evident by u11ifor111ity in tlte con8 1ruction of tlie sentence .
By observing th ese rnl es tl1 e writer mak es it poss ible for
Ii is thoug ht to ue as dear aud co herent to th e reader as
it is to himse lf.

105

THE SENTENCE. EMPHASIS.

IN the sentence so me wonls are of greater importa nce
than oth e rs, just as in th e paragraph and the whol e
zomposition the relative values of ideas are different.
On th ese words i11 a spok e11 sc11teu ee tlt e voic e lays
some stress . Unimportant words - sueh as th e articles
a, an, aml the, prepositions, conjun ctions, verbal auxiliaries, and the lesse r words in the se nte nce - are pas:;ed
over quickly; the significant words arn dwelt upon, and
thu s given prominence. The important word in the
se nte n ce may be alm ost any part of speech, 6r in almost
any g ramm atic<tl co nstru ction, but on nei th er of these
matters does its value in any sentence greatly depend .
Grammatically, of co urse , the subjec t, the main verb,
and the objec t of the v erb are important, and the
speaker may often make use of the m to h elp in giving
a certain id ea prominence. What really makes a word
emphatic, h oweve r, is the significance in that especial
sentence of tl1e idea for which that word stands, and the
stress wi th whi ch it is uttered.
Th e h elp of the voice in denoting the important word
is, h oweve r, wanting in the written senten ce. H ere ihe
emphati c word must be indicated t o th e eye ; it must be
give n such a position that its importance· shall be easily
apparent. The beginning and the end of the sentence
are s uch po:;itions, and accordingly th e principle of
Emphasis as applied to sentences requires that the most

106

TJJE SENTENCE.

significant words in the senten ce slrnll he the first and
the last words. The writer is not to begin hi s scntr·ncc
at random with an apolo.i:;etic I thin le or Tt .~nm~ tn ?!IP-;
1'.e i:; nut to start wi th :some mod ifying cla use 011 which
ltttle stress is to be laid; Lut he is t 0 crmsirlrr, fir~t,
wha L important word will bes t introdu ce his thought,
and, second, how he may fo rm his se nte nce so tliat this
wo rd may st:i11d at t l1 e beg inning. Jn lhe same way
he must make the e ncl e mphatic. Tlie sentence shou ld
not be cho pped ofI :short; it sl10uld not be a llo wed to
wa nder away. in an ineffect ual :s uccessio n of participial
and prepos1 t ional phra:;cs; but it should e nd with a
word of wei g ht. It is not po:ssible, of co urse, that e very
sentence s hould bo t h begin an d end with important
words , fo r other prin ciples, suc h as t hat of Coherence,
for exampl e, must be regarded in t he construction of
sentences , but at lea.st o ne end of the sentence should
be emphatic. No matter wheth e r the writer is able to
carry ou t t he pri nciple compl etely or not, he at a ny
rate sh ould stop to plan a se ntence be fore he writes it
down , ~ nd shou ld mak e an espec ial effort to put at each
end of 1t words t hat are im po rtant.
In thus plannin g hi :; se n tenee:; wi t h a view to Em·
p~rns i s, t he writer is brou g ht faec to face with a :seriou s
d iffi cul ty . In E11 g lisl1, as has bee n already explain ed
(see page 100 ), tl1 c re lati on of word 8 to each olher is
::ihown large ly _Ly thl'ir orde r. Su ch bein g t he case, any
a rrangement dictated hy Emphasis mu st not run cou nter
to the order of wunb Lhat g ramma tical considerations
req uire . In othe r word:;, En glish id iom mu:st not be

-=¥

*

JO! f' ff As f ,</,

107

sat.: ritice<l tu E111pli<Ls i,;. \ \Tlit.:rt.: tl1 e re 1,; a 11Loadluck u~
these two principl 1~s. tha.t i .~, wli crc tli c placing of tl1c
emphatic exprl'ssio 11 at the eml will rl'sulL i11 a11 onl1·r of
words co1 1tra ry to tlJt.; prnct ict.: of tl1e l·:11.~ lis li la11gu:1.c;e,
t here is al way s a \\"<t\' ouL ot' the ditli c11lty . E1rqil1;tsis
mu:;t ue obtai ned not in sp ite of tlie requirement<i of
g rnmrn ar. bu t l1y means of the m. Th e co 11stru etion
whi ch is ineco 11 ciLtl11 c with the de:s ircll arra11gcmc11t
should acc unli11 g ly lie done away wilh, and a n ew 0110
sought for whi ch will allow th e important wonl to take
th e e mplmtic position. In t he sente nce I tried tu get
here sooner, 611t a l1a.d a 1"Cidod dela.!Jed 111,IJ traiu, t he
important ex press ion is d earl y bad accident, b ut as the
A11y change
sentcl!(;e n ow :st:wds it is irn em phatic.
in tl1e order of w ords t hat put:; 6ad ar:cide nt a,t the
end of the sentence r end ers the se n te nce u11intclli g ilile.
Th e diffi culty is avo id ed by a chan ge to :s uch a co nstru ctio n as will not interfere with the orde r necessary
for Emplmsis. If th e senten ce r eads, I tried to g1~ t l1 ere
soon er, b·11t m!J train was clela..1Jcd by a. 6ctd ar:cident,
the s ubstitu t ion of th e pass iv e for th e aetive voice
brings t he important words into th e e mph atic position.
Th e write r must thus always be ready, if the Emph asis
of a sen te nce is faulty, to searc h for a co nstruc tion dif
ferent from the on e whi ch he has first used ; and h1.1must not lie s:itisficLl until he has found on e in whi ch
th e two opposing principles ca n be brou g ht to a n agree·
ment, ye t in whi t.:h uoth Emphasis and English idiom
are r eganlecl.
Most sentences, however, m which the Emphasis is

108

THE SENTENCE.

bad owe this fault to the fact tha t phrases and clauses
of trifling importance occupy the e mphati c positions.
All that_ these sentences n eed in the way of con ec tion is
~h~t tl_leir d epe ndent parts shall be r ea rra11ged, that the
m s1g111fican t expres:o ions :ohall be imt away in the middle
of the sente'.1ce, and the promin ent word::; be thus given
the Emphasis that th ey d ese rve • !11 ti 1e f o 11 o wrn
· cr examples the sentences marked a are un e mph atic th1:u h
faulty arrangcme11t of tl1 eir sulJOnlinale parts; and ~n
the se n te nces mark ed (, tl1e rna 1-ra11ge rn e nt of phrases
and cla uses rcmedic::; the fault aml l.irings out the
Emphasis:1. a. The Putnam Memorial Rock is in the town of
Redding, in the western part of Conu ecticut.
b. In ~h e town of_ Re<.klin g, i11 the wes tern part of
Con nect icut, is the Putnam l\l emorial Jtock
2. a. I n_otice ~h e expression of a man's eye and th~ way
m wh'. c· li he carri es his head, if I wish to form
an estim ate of his character.
b. If I wi sh to form a u estimate of a man'ti character
notice tho oxp rcss io11 uf his eye, and th e wa;
111 wh1 eh Ill' earries l1i ;i l1t ·ad.
3. a. H e l1 eld hi s luHg :mns free of lii s Lou
.
.
.
·
y, an d swung
t I1e111 lik e H:ul s when he walk etl.
b. 'VheH li e walk ed, he held his long arms free of his
body, and s11'11ng t hem lik e Hails.
4. a. The in stitutiou was trul.)· a coll ege iiot
.
.
.
,
Oil 1y Ill a
stric~ teeh111cal sense, but also in th e broader
appl1cat1011 of th e word.
b. Not only in a st ri t:t technical sense, but also in the
broa<.k•r ap11l i<"ation of the word, the i11stitution
was trn ly a coll ege.

!

EMPHASIS.

109

5. a. It had always been my wish to be a chemist; and so
I had already determined to come to the Insti t ute
when T entered the High School, fo11r years ago.
b. To be a elif'mist !t :ul always been my wish; and so,
wh r 11 I rn tr n·d t he High School, four years ago, I
had already <letennined to come to the Institute.
Almost at the first exa minati on of these faulty sent e nces one can see what are th e important words, and
what rearra11ge mc11t will give these words the emphatic
po:sitions. Wh e n this is once done, the gain is evident.
The value of th e gain, moreove r, is as great as the
labor to obtai n it is trifling.
In furth er illus tration of the importance of Emphasis
in sentences, a study of the following •theme may be
useful.

A

CHARACTER WORTH HAVING.

If you should meet my friend , you would see a tall, slim
man with a short, dark beard and black hair. You would
notice in stantly t he sparkling black eyes and th e high forehead. I fi s ex press ion suggests a thoughtful di sposition,
but a fow mom ents of co nv ersation wou ld conv ince you that
wit and hum or were also in l1i s make-up. His manner at
first seems a little awkward, but his easy flow of language
in conversation completely holds the attention of the hearer.
You wou ld be pl eased to have my fri end for a seat1'i.ate on
a long rai lroad journey. His fascinating way of telling
stories, by which the most common occurrence is made to
possess interest a nd charm, is supplemented by a keen observation of men and things.
He is a persevering man. A poor boy, he worked for five
years in a factory to earn an education, in the meantime

110

THE SEN TENCE.

studying evenin gs. He spent a year teaching school, and
earn ed enough to atte11d a law school. At ti mes he wore
the worst of r loth es and went witl10ut nec(:ssari e:; in ord er
to save his money. A lawye r must have fri end:;; he knew
scarcely any on e. A lawye r must be ready to speak to any
and every body; he was extremely bashful. J[e resolved
to make fri ends and to overco me his diffidence. P erseverance accom plishecl both t hese resolves. P erseverance carri ed him throug-h the lrtw sehool. J'Prseverance caused him
to start in hi s profession without any promise of success,
and perseverance gave hirn success.
. He is a kind-hearted man. He is fond of ch ildren, and
his fondness is rec i procatcd. Though not ri ch, yet during
the summer he often mv1tes hi s fri end s who are not so
favored as he to spend a week at his seashore cottage. No
amount of mon ey or persuasion will induce him to undertake a case against the poor or opprcsse(l. H e has himself
been poor, an rl with tlie poo r are h is sy mpa~hies.
1-le is a contented ma n. \Vh en he had 11 ot hin g-, he could
be co11tont, and now, in hett•·r 1:ire11111 stan crs, he can also be
conte_nt. This c·ontc11t m ~ 11 t shows it.self in his chee ry talk
and m the fact of hi s alw;tys loo kin g on the bright side.
Happin ~ss wi th him is a, comm od ity, and is drawn from his
immediate surroundings, whatever th ey are.

In the first paragraph of this theme the same cause is
responsible for batl Emphasis in three sentences. If
you sltould meet, You 11·0111d notice, a nd You would be
pleased are all un cmp liatic beginnings. There is no
stress whateve r on th e word you in distinction from
I or lie, and the position that it hall in th ese sentences
is entirely unjustifiable. Further, the use of th(, second person whe re nobody is addressed is 111 itself 8

EMPHASIS.

111

fault. The end of tl1e third sentence is also unemphatic. In the second paragraph the fourth sentence
may be mad e more e mphatic by a cl1ange in the order
of phrase:; and clauses. In the final paragraph the last
sentence is emphatic n eith er in itself nor as the last sentence of the theme. So much for the faults . The
number of 1:>entences, on the other hand, whi ch have
fairly and sometimes noticeably good Emphasi1:> is
large. In most of the sentences the first word is the
subje ct, and as the sentences are short the subject
cannot h elp being an important word. In the series
of sentences each of which begins with Perseverance
the Emphasis is well brought out. Here the reiteration
of the word and its position every time' at the beginning give it a prominence that makes the reader realiz e
its full importan ce . No other sentences in the theme
are, it is trnc, so strikin g ly e mphatic as these; but, on
the oth e r hand, in extre mely few case:; is the principle
of Emphas is e11tirely di srega rded. The the me as a
whole is interesti ng and forcible, a 11 d the presence of
these qualities i1:> due in great measure to the good
Emphas is of th e sentences.
Another point to be noticed in connection with this
theme is that there is often within a sentence a sort of
secondary Emphasis. A mark of punctuation ~ the
middle of a sentence forms a resting-place for the eye,
and so the nearest word is emphatic in position. This
application of the prin c iple of Emphasis is evident in
the pl1ra~es and clauses of some sentences of the theme.
The word cltarm in the first paragraph and educa.

112

113

EMPllASIS.

1'1JE !5ENTENCE.

Still a no ther means of obtaining Emphasis, as iliustmted in thi:,; theme, is the use of climax. By climax
is meant the :urangement of words in a series that
beg in s with tlie l eas t importa11t and ends with the mos t
important. At t he end of the second paragraph of tl1e
theme the statements of the different things that perseverance enabled the man to accomplish are given in

tion in the secon<l are words of some importance in
their respective clauses, an<l they stand n e xt to co mmas.
In the fifth aml the sixth se11tences of th e second
paragraph, the wonb nearest to the semicolons a re important. Toward the en<l of the theme t l1e words
poor and commodit!J are followed by co mnHLs, and are

thus given a place of secondary Em pliasis. If the
general principle of Emphasis is a logi cal one, there
is as much reason for applying it to clauses as to sentences. It is umlers tood, of course, that in neither case
must there be a change in the order of words such
as will obscure t heir grammatical relation s. ' Vithi11
the bounds of this limi tati on, sccomhry Empl1asis in
clauses and phrases is a thing that contributes de cidedly
to the force of a sentence.
Anoth er mea ns of securin g Emphasis is what is call ed
the balan ced se ntence. It is illustrated in tl1e follow·
ing example from tl1e theme al ready quoted: -

this ortler : He resolved to make fri ends and to overcome his diffidence. P erseverance acco mplish ed both these resohes.
Perseverance carried him through the law school. Perseve ran ce cam;eJ him to start in l1is profession without any
prom ise of suceess, and i:-erseveran ce gave him success.

•

H e re tl 1e climax is one of sentences in a paragraph; but
ill the same fa,_;hio11 a cli1rntx of words in a sentence is
always e mph:ltic. The opportun ity of arranging words
in a series i,; constantly occurring. Three adjectives or
prepositional phrases modify o ne noun, a number of
st;\te 111 c11ts arc ma<l e about one subject, a numbe r of subjects have th e same stateme nt made about them. In
every case t h e se ries of words thus a rising should go
from the leas t to the most important. If this is not
done, an anticlimax is the result, and nothing is more
fat.tl to Emphasis than anticlimax. The following !\l."e
sentences in which the writer shoul d have employed
climax an<l in which, owing to his neglect to do this,

A lawye r mu st have fri!'uJ s; he kn e w scarc·t·l y any one.
A lawy er must be ready to speak to a ny anu every body;
he was extremely b:tshful.
Here one half of the sentence is set off or halan ce d
against the other. In each half the g rammatical construction is the same, but the thought is in stro ng
contrast. The similari ty i11 forrn thus enforces the tlis·
similarity of ideas . Th e structure of the balan ce tl
se ntence is so plainly artific ial that its freque nt use
becomes annoyingly monotonou s ; but an occasional
employment of it to sec ure Emphasis is, as in the case
':l.bove, highly effcct.i ve.

the arrangement of words is unemphatic: 1. In morals, in appearance, and in manners, he is distasteful to me.

J

115

1'11 E ::;ENTENCE.

EMPHASIS.

2. The new process is more nearly perfect, quicker, and
safer.
3. We beat every school team in the state and even the
Harvard freshmen, and we also won from all the local
teams.
4. A bad accident in March prevented me from graduating with my class, and from attending school for the rest
of the term.
5. Much of the furniture in the room and the carpet and
the wall paper are dingy.

series of words there must al ways be a climax. The
necessity for Emphasis in the sentence is as great as it
is in the paragraph and the whole composition, for it is
by means of this principle that the writer indicates the
words that he considers important.

114

To improve these sentences it is necessa1:y to reanange
their misplaced words so that th ey 81iall mak e a clirnax.
When thi8 i8 don e, the gain in Emphasis i8 apparent.
It is natural enough for a speaker to make use of
climax, to begin with his weakest argument, and so,
advancing step by step. to lead up to his strongest one;
and the same attention to climax is required of the
theme-writer in arranging the wonh in his sentences.
The principle of Emphasis as applied to sentences
requires that t!te writer shall determine what won];.; in
a sentence are most important, and shall then give them
prominence by placing them at the beginning and the
end of th e sentence. In thus making his senteuces
emphatic, he must be careful not to disturb the order of
words which the grnrnmatical requirements dictate. In
general, Emphasis i8 secured hy care in placing dependent constructions of Rmall importance in the middle of
the sentence, and thus making a place at t!te ends for
the words that are really significant. The balan ced
sentence is an aid to Emphasis, and in the order of a

' .,'

l

116

TUE SENTENCE.
Summary of the Chapters on the Sentence.

The sentence is to the paragraph what the paragraph
is to the whole co mposition, and its construction is governed by the principles of U11ity, Emphal:!is, and Coherence. The principle of Unity requires that a sentence
shall be the development of one idea. This development depends on the various parts of the sentence.
Practice in writing periodic sentences gives valuable
training in U nity, because it makes tlie s~udent plan
his sentence before he begins to write. Violations of
Unity occ ur in bad loose sentences, and in sentences
from which a co-ordinate or a subordinate clause has
been detached. The principle of Cohe rence requires
that the constrnction of the sentence shall be such
that the reader may see clearly the relation of the
words to each other. To this end, the relation between
words connected in form or in sense sliould be made
evident; words or clauses closely associated in thought
should be closely associated in expression; and, finally,
similarity in the relation of ideas should be made evident
by uniformity in the construction of the sentence. According to the principle of Emphasis, important words
should be put in important positions at the beginning and the end of the se nten ce. At the same time,
the order of words necessary for grammatical clearness must not be disturbed. The balanced sentence
and climax are other means for indicating what are the
important words . Thus by means of tli ese three principles the writer is able with due clearness and emphasis
to present in eaeh :;entence the t1evelopm e11t of one idea.

WORDS.

,.

CHAPTER XII.
WORDS: GENERAL AND SPECIFIC.

A WORD is the unit of lowest denomi1rn.tion in the
table which is made up of whole compositions, paragraphs, sentences, and words. As a mile, a rod, and a
foot each re present from one point of view merely a certain number of inches, so the three divisions of composition already studied represent in the last analysis
nothing more than different groups of words. Of the
•
combination of words into these higher unit'5, enough
has already been said; the work now in hand is to consider what part in English Composition is played by the
lowest of these units, the single word.
The number of words in the English language, according to the Century Dictionary, is more than two
hundred thousand. Such an enormous stock of words
to express our ideas does not exist for nothing. It could
hardly be the result of accident, or indicate a large and
unn ecessary surplus of language. There are, comparatively speaking, few duplicates. Each word has a history, n.n individun.lity, and a place of its own to fill, "and
thus it maintains a claim to existence. The dictionary,
how ever, it must not be forgotten, contains the words
used in every branch of knowledge. All of these words,
or even most of them, it is impossible for a person of
llll

120

:l'i·I

i:!

I

,,
'I

. I~

GE NERA L A N D S PECIFIC.

WORDS.

general educa tion to kn ow, and still less to use. As
a matter of fac t, the number of words needed for everyday use in writin g a nd speaking is, in proportion to the
total number in the lan g uage, e xtremely sm all. The
ordinary working vocabulary of an educa ted man is
usually estima ted at thre e t housand words.
\Vi thin th e narro wer limi ts of t hi s vocabulary, whatever its extent, t he writ.er must be th oroug hly conversant wi t h t he mca11ing a nd th e use of l11c words that
it con tains. A word , as has bee n sa.iJ , has a distinct
individu ali ty. It is th e sig n of a ce rta in idea, and
whene ver tha t idea comes to a wri te r's mind, he must
g ive it e xpression by means of th at word and no other.
O ther words, to be s ure, may h ave nearly the same
meanin g , or may co nvey somethin g approximate to the
given id ea; bu t the writer mu st not be so easily content.
He must e xa mine words, and then se lec t the right one.
For him to s uppose that the first word whi eh comes to
hand will ad eq ua tely e xpress his th o ug h t is as illogical
as it would be for him to fee l th at he may be sure of
p aying fo r an y purchase wi th the first co in which he
pulls ou t of his po cket. T he chi e f thing fo r a writer
to learn abo ut wonls is to d istin g uish tl1 eir values and
uses, to ha ve a word fo r eve rything an<l every word in
its place.
This distin g uisliin g of the meanings of words is, of
course, in its more d ementary stages, som ething which
everybody does from th e tim e wh en he begin s to talk;
but it is also a process t.hat he co nt inu es or sh ould continue all throug h his li fe. With the constant training

121

in la ngmige whi ch a growi11 g mind is sure t.o g iv e i ~elf,
there co mes a steady de velo pme nt in the auili Ly t o d isc rim ina te q uiddy and e xaetly the fin er sli a.d es of me anin(l" in word s . This (le velopm eut is a ided lJy study in g
ety molog ical (le ri va tion of words, tl 1e h isto ry of
their ui;e, by coll ectin g in l n g roups all tl1 e words th at
e xpress differen t shades of 011e general i<lea, - fo r exiim ple, g o, conu:, r un, 'l// Oue, tl"alk, sa1f.1;, hop, shz), adr11 11 ce,
p ro,qre x 8 , .f u.in p, lear)• 1J f11rt, H1 id1', xl·ip, an<l all tl1 e oth e r
words used to ex pre,.;::; rn nt in11 h y a pe rso n, - lJy tho
st udy of sy 1}1)11y 111s, a111 l lJy s ueh otl ier way" as a n ~ 11;:Pt1
to arouse :L pupil's in te res t in h i:;; n at ive la11 g1wge .
Such s t udi es can be carried on in de pend ent of lh crnewri t in g, and they g iv e th e pupil his first kn(}wledge of
kinds aml class ifi ca.ti ons of words.
vVh e n, howe ve r, th e stude nt co mes to d o work in
English Compos iti on he is met by a nother dis tin ction
in t he kinds of words, and it is one with which h e must
becom e th oroug hly familiar befo re he can do satisfactory t heme work. It is th e distinction between g eneral

th:

a.ncl s pec ific words.
L et the stu<l ent imag in e fo r th e moment t hat eve rythi ncr i 11 cl ud c<l unde r a gi ve n idea is represe n teu by th e
spn.c~ whi ch a circle e ncloses . Thus within the circumfere nce of a ce rtain circle is conta in ed, for example,
wh :ite ver a nswers t o t l ic 1'd en. o f b on. t . If it is des ired
to narrow thi s idea to ste amboat, a s mall e r circle drawn
within th e space of t he first represe nts t his s ubdivision
of the first iclca. Th e sec ond circle is insiLle and not
out.side the larger c ircumference, becirnse steamboats

122

'I

WORDS.

are one kind of boat; and it is smaller in size because
the class steamboat is smaller than the clas8 boat. To
narrow the idea still furth er to iron 8teamboat, it will
be necessary to draw a third circle within the second;
and to represe nt t he idea iron steam yacht, there is
required a fourth circle inside tlte tl1ircl. Th e relation
of these circles to each other stands for a relation
which exists among these words. 1t is based on the
comparative extent of the appl ication of words. It is
the relation that exists between genus and species, and
it i::; acco rdingly denoted Ly the term::; "ge neral" and
"specific." The words that are represented by the
larger circles are called "general " words; those represented by the smaller circles are call ed "definite" or
"specifi c" words. This class ifi cati on may be extended
to words of almost any kind. Loo!c at, for example, is
a more specific expression than see, a nd .~tare is more
specific than loo!c at; fine WPatlicr is general, clear and
cold weather is specific; liapp!J is a general adjective,
exubera11t, l1oi.•lcro118, follff, are specific . Sometimes the
number of cirel cs betwee n the outer and the inner one
is large, sometimes it is small; but the relation indicated is t hat of ge neral a11d specific words, and it is one
that, with every significa nt word which a. writer uses,
he must take in to acco unt.
As to the value an<l use of general and specific
words, it is evident that the writer needs to have
knowl edge of both kinds and to e mploy both. H e has
dealings with hoth sorts of id e a~ , antl li e cannot make
the words of one class perform duty for two. It is

GENERAL AND SPECIFIC.

123

here that his great difficulty arises. v:ith. general
word:; he is fairly familiar. His temptat10n 1s to use
them in places where definite words are th e only ones
that will express 11is meaning clearly and exactly . . In
the c<ise of words, then, the business of th e them~-wnter
is to m<ike an especial point of employing specifi c language. On any sul.Jject whi ch is assigned to .him. he.
.
cl to l1ave definite ideas. These id eas, Ill. o1 de1
1s assume
to produce on the reader the impression of defi111 teness,
must be co1{veyed in no loose-fitting terms under co~er
of which half a dozen other ideas may be smuggled Ill;
but every idea must be clothed in definite language,
. ~ tel
to the character of the
thought.
exac tl y a d JU::;
L
•
When a broad and general notion is to be expre~sed,
it requires, of course, general language. In precisely
the same fashion, a definite idea must always be phrased
definitely. In either case the rule is the same, - th e
word must exactly fit the thought.
The especial value of specific language lies in t~e fact
that e~ery Jefiuite worJ has the power to m<~ke 1~ the
mind of the reader a complete picture. The idea 1s not
a vague form with a shadowy outline, but is well defined, filled in with detail, and stands out clearly· The
difference in the images created by the wonls uoat ~md
iron steam. yacht illustrates this. The first worJ C<L~l~
up t he notion of an indefinite something, .whos~ cl_'.1eE
qnality is that it floats; the second express10n bnngs.to
mind, in all prol.Jability, the rem embrance of some. la1ge
yacht as the reader once 8a.W it, and all the Cll'C~nn:
stances of its appearance then - the color and the 1111es

124

WORDS.
GENERAL AND SPECIFIC.

of the hull, the rake of t he masts, the litt
f
brass-work th
l b fl
g er o the
.' e c u ag and the private signal back to turn and f .
.
come
d u ·1 I .
. o1 m a pi cture co mplete and full of
e u .
t is plain eno ugh, then, tliat the
greater the
number of definite words in a theme, the
more fully
and accurately will the reader see the
writer's
ideas.
Th e phrase a go d
.
o cour8e m G erman gives 110 notion
.
whatever of the 8
·
pec1a 1 men t;..,; of the course 1'h
actual fact;..,; that tl· .
I
.
e
· 1.
'
i1s lJ Hase so t'tm
J
b '
• elJ' d esc nues
may
1have eehn, ~or exa mpl e, that the work was thorough
t e teac e r rntere ·t'
'
. I
Of 11 I .
. s rng, an< t 1rn st11dent;..,; enthusiastic.
a t rnse t he va:;t and vacrue
word go l .
0
hint. Tl
. .
.
Ol
g ives no
.
h 1e I eader may rnfe r these c hara cteristics or
any ot ers that he pleases, or none at all 1'h
'
word
.
·
.
' ·
e general
atouses rn lum no interest in the
k . G
b
.
wor rn er~an, eca use it throws hardly a ray of light
th
b
Ject. A . cl .
.
on e su i ea e1, to take an rntelligent interest in the
:~em~~ mu st sec clearl y and d e finitely and eve n vividly
1e l cas that are in the write r's mind.
d
accon1P 1ts
· h ti11s
i ·
result the 'd · f
. ' an to
indillpe nsabl e.
'
a1 o specific words is

~he following one-page theme illustrates the way in
which specific laiw uacre
.
b
b
calls up a definite and vivid
picture to the eye:_
\Vh en I was returnin,,. home th1's
.
. rr from a .-, , ll .
s t earn ri.s111
. · eve11111
. t>rr • I not'ice d th e
811
1
.
"
'
·• pipe m a li ttle ,
l
.
vooc en shanty
nes t] 1ng close urnl cr t he prot t' ~
building Th ·t
cc ing 1ieights of a ~rea t brick
.
e s earn came out with th
. ,.
which always mahs me ti. k f
at wl1isthng sound
llll
o peanut venders
d I.h
sounds so warm and "'ratef I
tl·
.
. ' an w lie
"
u on iese cold Decem ber even-

125

ings. True enough, here was a tiny fruit and peanut stanJ.
Cosy and snug in hi s little box, warm ed by hi s smoky charcoal fire and his <lingy lamp, the vender sat reading hi s
evening paper. He had no care but to atten<l to a ch ance
customer, no trouble but to µrotect hi::; stock from the raiJs
of marauding boys. I env ied. him in hi s happin ess. H ere
am I, an atom in thi s student world, thrown by fate with
thousan<ls unknown to me, and J equally unknown to t hem;
struggling with them one day a11d away from them the next.
But with the vend e r it ii:; diffe rent; he re::;ernbles lllOre the
molecule, he can exist by him self, he is J epeudent on no one,
he is free.
The scene h ere described is familiar enough, but it is
the enumeration of details rath er than the , familiarity
of the subject that makes the reade r see the picture so
vividly. \V ords such as shanty, nestling, cosy and snug
in liis little box, dingy lamp, and others make the scene
real. Without them the theme would be vague, and there
would be nothing to give point to the contrast in the
last lin es. It is well to n otice, too, that the writer has
not allowed himself to employ a general expression in
the description until he has first presented a picture
fill ed with concrete, spec ific details. Then he sums up
in general la nguage : I envied him in his ltappinesH.
The phrase here, though general, is not vague; for the
write r has just tak e n pains to show what this happiness
is. Now h e re has he failed to select the word that happily
suggests some idea needeu to fill out the picture. As
a resu lt, the description make:; 011e see the objects described, it makes one see them in clear and s harp outline;
and all this it does pmely by means of definite language.

126

WORDS.

The use of example and illustration is one of the best
ways of Lri11gi11g specific worJs into a theme. The11 the
l:rnguagc is of necess ity J e fi11ite , lieing appli eaLle to only
one co ncrete case; an cl so the example, if in the first
place it is a gooJ one, cannot help giving the reaJer at
least one clear view of the subject. The man who wrote
about his "good course in German" would i11sta11tly
become specific, and so arouse his readers to attention ,
the moment that he introduceJ an incident or cited
an example which sho wed the thoroughn ess of the
work, or the interesting methods of the t eacher, or the
enthusiasm of the class. So a student, no matter on
what subject he is writing, will find that he is obliged
to make use of specific language whe11ever he introduces
an illustration.
A man's thinking, if it is to appear clear and exact,
must be expressed in clear and exact language. The
word must fit the thought. As the witness is sworn to
tell the trn th, the whole truth, and nothing Lu t the
truth, :;o the writer is bound to make each word express
his meaning, his wl10le meaning, and nothing but his
meaning. The ways in which he may fail to <lo this are
various. Too often in the case of young theme-writers
the word or phrase that is tak en to express an idea does
not do this because it is lmckneyed. It is some wellworn expression whi ch has <lone service again and again
in the work of untrain ed newspaper writers and careless
speakers . It serves as a convenient means of conveying
a11 idea cheaply and quickly, and saves t,hose persons
the trouble of finding the word which expresses exactly

GENERAL AND SI'ECJFJC.

1 .,- 1

what they mean. Such expres:;ions may have had a
sharp and <lefi11ite me:rni11 g in the beginning. liul C\JI1sta11t use o f them fur all sorts of purpuscs kis worn
away their fre:;hn ess and exactness . Their pre~e n ce
consequently is always th e mark of bziness or ig noranr:c in writing. The 11111nher of these phrases is large,
and as they vaguely indicate the uature of an idea, arnl
at th e same time come readily to hand, they offer a11
easy temptation to writer:; of Loth the above classes.
The lazy writer uses them because it is too much work
t o think of the proper word ; the ignorant writer l1ecause
he does not know how far short they come of expressing his thoughts. Further, the practice of employing
these worn-out phrases damages not only a 'man's style,
but also his powers of thinking. The use of vague
means of expression reacts on his brain, and tends to
produce vagueness of thought. With such a vocaLu·iary, clear and exact thinking is out of the qu estion.
Of these time-worn expressions the number, as l1as
been said, i:; large. The examples i11 tlie following list
arc all familiar both to eye and to ear; and the familiarity of these vague a.nd meaningless terms is what ha.s
bred the contempt in which they are held : Every walk of life.
Victo riou s conflicts.
MisguiJed youths.
FaJeLl into oblivion.
J{eturns that accrue.
Blessed with liberal endowmen ts.

Praiseworthy innovation. "
Duplicate the ]JCrforruance.
:Fraught with consequences.
Accede to demanJs.
Retrace his steps.
Pale as death.

128
Consign to earth.
Assembl ed multitudes.

GENEUAL AND S PECIFIC.

WORD S .

A feature of tl1 e even ing.
Obtain the best res ults.

The foll owing theme is curious for its mixture of 1rnch
hackneyed terms with well-selected, appropriate, definite
words:'l'he approach of cold weather has already set th e youth
to thinking of skate;; and ho<;key, an<l visions of deli ghtful
hours spent in skimmin g over t he glassy surface have been
realized this week. Even yesterday morniu g, whil e tl1e ice
was in a. very un safe state, the small vmnipreseut urel1in
could be see n caut iously navigati11g tho soun<ls am! iulets
of th e 1-'ublie Gard e11 }'on<l. Last ni ght's cold wave strengthene<l tlie ice tu wc h <t11 ext(' nt tl1at t.110 urchin s were not
alone in th eir Hport to-day. ll11ndreds of lith e furm s could
be seen ski11lll1i11g in and out, wliil e other forms less li the described cird es, curves, and tange nts that wou l<l have created
envy in the lircast vf a <lrawing in stru ctor. Ne verth eless,
all were joll y, aIHl differences of cla;;s, cree<ls, and nationality seemed enti rely ou li te rated; tlie old-fasl1i oned rocker
kept time with the click of t li c lin e "nickel pl ate," and the
rough gnarletl hoc key battl ed with th e "select1,<l asl1."
Here most of the la nguage is tame and t.awdry, while
the last senten ce is specific and vivid, and therefore
interesting. The contrast is sufficiently sharp to bring
out all the fault-i of the former kind of words and all
the advantages of the latter kind.
The vulgarity of t,liis shoddy vocabulary it is the duty
of every writer to avoid . The escape com es in his living up to the prin ciple tl1at the word and the th ought
must fit. Not the first shop-worn phrase that comes to

129

hand, but the one ex press ion which in this especial case
prope rly clothes the idea, the word which gives the
writer's mea ning, !tis wh ole mea ning, and nothin g but
his meanin g , - th:it i;; th e word which he must feel
it liis duty to Jlnd. S uch pati ent and co nstant practice is Hot with out effect. The ques t for the right
word becom es to him :~ matte r of greater and greater
im po rtan ce; h e re fuses to be satisfied with the easy a nd
self-evitlent phrase, because it does not tell the truth
abuut his id ea. Finally the r eward comes in his fuller
pow er to acl:tpt the word fitly to the thou g h t .
·w h en the word is thus fitted to the thou g ht, the effect
on th e r eader is striki1~g. If:tVing once recog nized this
fitn ess, he begins to think of the co nn ec ti o~ 1 be twee n
th e wo rcl aud the id ea as a thin g that is, in a way, in evitabl e. I [e cannot now imagine any otl1er wo rd that
could possibly d o the service so well as this one does,
and li e wou ld as soon offer to substitute anotl1er expression n.s he would to c han ge a meas ure of one uf Beetl1ov cn 's :,;y rnph oni es . It is this quality of in ev itableness that lifts a pi ece of writi11 g i11to the realm of literature. In every great work of literature this quality
is not merely apparent, but all-pervading; and perhaps
nowhere is this more notably true than in Lin coln's
Gettysburg Address . A stu<ly of the words in tlil.s
speech will show that every one of th em fits into its
proper place, and that any substitution or rearrangement is hardly conceivable.
K

......

130

WORDS.

GENERAL A.VD SPECIFIC.

.i

qi·;·,

n
,I
i

.I

])edicute stands tirst, as it lia:; lwen used lll
the preccdill g ::;cntc nce . Co11secr11/1:, w hi ch fullows it ,
expresses a greater J egree of revere11ce an<l sanctity
in the cerernonw.l, and lt altow is, from its assoc ia ti<11 1
with the Loni 's Prayer, tl1c most profound ly n.: Yc 1"1 1t
word of the three. Again, the phrases u sed ill re fo r1·ing to the sold ie rs who fought at Gettyslm rg arc co11 stautly varied , anJ for every change tl1erc is a n· :t.-;011 .
'l'hose w ho here ,r;ave their li ve/! that that nutio11 111i;1lit fi l'1'
- th e brave 11te11, livin,i/ and dead, who 11t n1:1: 1 l~d ft,'rf -what they did here - tl11·.i1 1rlw fcmght here -- tltrxe lw 11 ored dead-tltry gave the la~t f ull r11ea,rnre uf daotiuit
- t/iei;e dead - in each plirase some special puillt i:>
brought out tl1at is need e<l a:; part of th e serltencc tu
which it belongs. No inte rcliange of phrases is pos~i­
ble; to say The world will little note, nor !01111 umo11/,,.,.,
what we say here. b'ut it can never for yet t l1 ose who l1 ere
.<Jave tlieir lives that the nation might live, or tlte unfin -islted work these honored dwd liave thus f a r so nubly
advanced, not only weakens the sense, but e ven iH like
sacrilege. Further, in the la.st sentence the wor<l lti,q!tly
uplifts the thought in a way that no other adverb in
the English language possibly could. A moment's consideration of the other wordH that conceivably might
stand here sh o ws that by comparison with highly they are•
all fatally unfit. Finally, the three phrases introduced by
the prepositions of, by, and for express so completely and
so concisely the whole theory of democratic government, that eve r since these words were first spoken at
Gettysburg they have been the instinctive and inevitaclimax .

l iil
1 11 1

LrncoL.:-;'::; G ETTYsBu 1w

AL>D1rnss.

Fourscore and seven years ago our fa thers brought forth
upon thi s co11tiu e11 t a new 11at iun, cuncei\'f~d in liberty , anJ
J eJicatcd to tlt e prn11us1Liu11 t.liat ;Li] 111c·n ;u " n.-;dnl ""'Jltal.
K uw we a re eugaged 111 ;t gn:;LL civil war, ksli11g wla: Ll1er
tha t na t ion, or auy J1;1Liun su eu11eei 1·ed ;u1tl ~ " deLlicaLeJ,
can long e ndure. \Ve arc met on a gn·at ha tt ll'-ticlrl of that
wa r. \Ve have comn to d.-·.Ji cat<• a portio11 of th:t.!. fi r'111 a.s a
fiual re:stiug-place for those who herr. g:i.v1e t li1e1r lives t:liat
that nat ion mi ght li ve. It is ;d togethe r fi ttiug a11d proper
that we siwulJ Jo tliis. 1h1t in a large r se11se we ea11uut
dedicate, we l:auno t consecrate, we c;rn 1wt hallow t.his
ground. The bra1·e lll<:11, li 1· i11 g a11d d1·ad , wl «> strnggle1l
here, h:we consPc ra.t.ecl it far above our JHlWter t.o a.d.J or
detract. The world will li ttle note, nor long remember,
what we say here, but it can never fo rgr.t wlrnt thn.v did
h ere. lt is for us, th e liviug, rather to be deJi ca,teJ here
to the unfinished work which t lt ey who fought here have
thus far so nobly adva nced. It is rath er for us to be .here
d ed icated to the great task remai 11ing before us, that from
these h onored dead we take in creased d evotion tu that cause
for whi ch th ey gave th e last full meas ure of devotion; that ·
we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died
in vain; that th is nation, und e r God, shall have a new birth
of fr eedom, antl that governm ent of the people, by th e people, anJ for the people, shall not perish from th e earth .
In the first sentence t he words conceived and dedicat ed
are worth noting.
That they are chosen with evident d es ign is plain from the fact that th ey are repeate<l in the ne xt :;entence. The tliree verbs in th e
sixth sentence are se lec te d to produce the effeet of

131

132

WORDS.

ble utterance of every person wishing to characterize
democracy. Thus analyzed, tliis speech, undoubtedly
the greatest short speec l1 of modem times, is seen to
be in its whole characte r a11<l effect inevitable; and
this qwi.lity here, as in all writing, is due to the fact
that tl1e words are cx:actly fitted to tlie thoughts.
The word represent8 the lowes t unit in the table of
which tl1e higher unit.-; are the sentence, the paragraph,
and the whole co mpositi on . \Vith only a small proportion of the words in the lan guage can any person
be famiEar; but of the words that he <loes employ,
he must know the exact meaning and use . The writer
needs to realiz e the distinction between general and
specific words, and to be especially careful to make his
ideas definite in express ion by means of specific words.
Tlie great value of such words consists in the fact that
each one of them calls up s.orne clearly define<l image
of the idea which it stauds for. The use of example
and illustrati on always brings specific words into a
theme. Certain exprcssious are to be avoidc<l because
th ey are liackneyeJ al!ll l1:we only a vague meaning.
The paramount thing is that the wor<l shall fit the
thought. It is only l>y this means that the reader is
able to get the exact itlea of the writer. When this
adaptation of word to thought is as nearly as possible
perfect, the association of the two then seems inevitable, and it is impossible to represent that idea by any
other language. This quality of inevitableness is essential in eve ry work that is called literature, and, wherever
it is found, it.s presence is Llue chiefly to the fact that
there is a complete union between word and thought.

CONCLUSIONS.

<' llAP T El t XIII.
CONCLUSIONS.
EVERY man when he sit:s clown to write must have ar.
object. He is in possession of a ce rtain id ea, a11d his
purpose is to deliver it into the bands of the reader.
He cannot produce anything which really deserves consideration as a piece of writing, if in the first place he
has nothing to say, and if in the second place he does
not make some effort to present his idea in su ch a way
that it shall appeal to the person to whom he js addressing it. An id ea an<l a reade r are thus the two elements
of the write r's task, and his object is, chemically
speaking, to unite them. Without both these elements
he can have no real object, and consequently no reason
for writing at all.
While a writer must always have an object, the
character of the object may vary greatly. Ideas are
of many different sorts; so are readers, so are the circumstances under which the readers are addressed.
Along with the variety of objects thus created, there
must, of course, be great differences in the kinds of w~t­
ing used. The means naturally adapt themselves to
the end; and thus all the numerous classes of writing
have arisen . For the man who adopts literature as a
profession, familiarity with the technique of all these
kinds is a part of his equipment. To the person who

136

136

TILE PRINCIPLES OF' COMPOSITION.

CONC'f. IT 8ION8.

is not a profession;1[ write r, su c h acquaintance is unneces-

exl'Lti 11 i11~· to a c hild the e:wsc of <lew, he nat11r;dly
givi:s :u i :u:cutlllt uf tlit' pl1<·norn1·111111 diffrn:11 t frt1111 tl1;lt.
witli wlticli lie wo uld s;tLisfy tl1u q11t:sti .. 11s uf iL 111a11 ul
Jiis own :tgt:. I-k t:huoses his lau g 11age, ,: uqili:t:-;iz cs or1 r•
aspect 0 [ Uw 1natter, nmiLs tu mc11tio11 :l!lut l1l'r, antl

sary.

In one kind of writing, li owc ver, -

in that which

is lir:st oI all a sLrnigl1Lforward and orderly presentation

of ideas, - no man can itfford not to be co m petent.
Ability to write, as a m eans of communicating with

0

clearness and accuracy ideas th;:i,t all men employ in
the every-day affair8 of life, is <lemandeil os. every man.

in gt:lll 'J"al :ulj11sts l1is e xl'hnation su that it will come
as near!,. as 1''1ssil1k "·ithi11 the range of \\hat a ,.JiiJ1l

Here the object of the write r is to convey a given

can nii<i l' rsta11il.

thought as completely and exactly as po8sible.

lt is a

question of its transmission from one intellect to another, and the wri ter's aim is to mak e that thonn·ht

'"'
appear and appe<tl to the reader's unde n;tanding pre-

caprwit,y ;rnd tl1r:ir :n11ou11 t of kno\\'ledgl-. and 1·xperi,,,.,ts a f:tir l1otio11 of what he 111ay take for
Cllr' C, l IC ,_,c

cisely as it dues to l1is own. In this kind of writing
the three principles of Unity, Coh e re nce, and Emphasi~
are indispensable. They represent, as was said in the
Legi1rni11g, Lruad alld ge neral principles, and arc e8sential to all the unde r taki ngs of life. \Vriti11g wlii e h has
for its object the elear and orderly presentation of
ideas is closely allied to the reg ular work of every man
who uses his brains, and is, moreover, likely at any
time to be demand ed of him. A reasonable ability in
this sort of compo8ition is therefore required of e~ery
educated man.

He pnh l1i111sdf in to11cl1 with the

person to whom lie is talki 11 g. This the \Hi ler must
try tn do. He mm;t n111glily 1·.~tim:dn \\·hat liis readers
• h t: snppos1·1 } t.o ]< ll<J\V. }'>_Y g:tugmg
.
ti 1c l·l. 1·11L·nt.a\
may

--,i-

~,,

i
.

~

gra 11 ted.

H e soon co 111 cs to think of tl11s ' l•·grel: nl

intelli.-re nce not as an alJstract thing but as being 1:n1bollie •l in a cn11< Tt ".lt! t"on11 . Tl11-. rt".:ukr for wl11J11 1 l11.:
gds in the h;dJiL of writi11g sta nd s as tlw per,.;1i_i1ili<'at io11
of it, >- a PL. rso 11 of g e11eral ed1H::tti1111, lrnt 11otlilllg rnon· ;
of some experience of life, Lut none too wi<lc; of moder·
ate mental ability, lH1t 11othi1q.( nmrnrkahl e; solid, IJ11t
nnt hrilli:rnt; wil.ling tn h e interes ted, but not quicK to
appre h e nd, -

in short, a composite individuality be,.;L

In order to accomplish

represented by the phrase "the average man. "
T hi·
writer thus has a genernl standard by wl1ieh he m;:i,v
examine his work anrl determine with wl1at s11cce!'!s

this, it is necessary for the writer to know beforehand

he has accomplished his object of making the rea•lt, r

approximately how much knowledge on the reader's
part he is safe in taking for granted. Any explanation

unders tand clearly and co mpletely.
All these consideratio11s imply that the stu dent

of an idea needs al ways to be graded to the intelligence
of the person to whom it is addressed. When a man is

rapi<lly outgrowing class-room work, and the writint.;

The object of this kind of writing is to make the
reader inevitably understand.

j,-

of what his instructor has called themes, or essays, or

138

139

TIIE Pl?INCI PLES OF COMPOSITION.

CONCLUS IONS.

compositions. His written work, along with everything
else that he does, ucgim; to be Oil a larger Scale ; abstracts, reports, and theses occupy him. No longer is it
possible for him to do his writing in a spirit of perfunctori11ess. A certain idea is in his mind. Ile must,
at all hazards, make his readers see that iuea as clearly
and completely as he himself sees it. That is his object.
It compels him on, aud stimulates liim to use e very care
in selecting, arranging, proportioning, and wonling his
thoughts that will help to put them into the possession
of his reade rs. The principles of Unity, Coherence, and
Emphasis serve him now as never before; he sees that
they are ind eed fund<i.mental. Further, his growing
acquaintance with the ways and manners of his fellowmen, as he meets them in the world at large, awakens
him to the supreme importance of presenting his thoughts
so that they will appeal to readers. On every side his
work of writing broadens him; and finally he comes
to consider his ahility to put a thing clearly and adequately as an indispe nsable instrum ent of his business.
So English Composition is a serious thing not only
in the class-room, Lu t also in life. If a man is to find
his life good for profit and for pleasure, it is because he
keeps himself in touch with his fellow-men, and keeps
them in touch with him. The more numerous and
diversified are his points of contact with the rest of the
world, the broader and more useful and altogether happier will his life be. The sphere of his immediate and
daily influen ce, however, is small. His hands to do
and his voice J,o speak, cannot extend far. It is only in

proportion as he is able to keep up correspondence with
friends at a distance, to plan business operations witl1
associates in other cities, to prepare a report which sha,ll
convince persons of his knowledge of the special subject
with which it deals, to address a meeting where his
experience or his enthusiasm will be a 8trong influence,
to write a magazin e arti cle setting forth the importa11!;c
to the world of some new scientific discovery or inve ntion, to put into permanent form the truth about any
matter which concerns the human race, - it is, in short,
only in proportion as he is able to plan and organize his
thoughts and phrase them in clear and adequate language that it is possible for him to enlarge his life most
generously. He may bid farewell to this 'book, but the
opportunities to practise its teachings will come to him
all the clays of his life.

i_J
~

·~

j_
~

-1

APPE~

DIX.

-A

_j_
GOOD USE.
GooD use, as the t erm i:; rmployed in English Composition, 111 e an~ th e prac ti e , ~ uf reputabl e writers of natiunal
reputation at the present tim e. (~uU1.I use as a standanl
of authority determines (1) in th e case of wurd:;, what words
belong and what words do not Leloug, for th e purposes uf
English Composition, to the lauguage, anJ the exaet weaning of each word; anJ (2) in the case of sentences, matter&
of grammar anJ punctuation.

1.

WORDS.

A wo rd which is not in national, reputabl e, and present
use is called a Barbarism.
A word which is used in a se11se uut giv c11 to it by 11ar
tional , re pu tabl e, and µr esent use is ca ll<!d a11 Impropriety.
Barbarisms. - \V onls that an~ tu Le avo id ed \,e .. :u1 se tl1 ey
do 11ot fultil one or u.11 of tlte requirnn1cuts uf guud use are
Foreign words : as , anattoir, nee.
Obsole te words: :ts, q11uth, pnudve11ture.
N e w W(1rd 8 : as, pului.-;f, laU11rite.
!';lan g : as, uit ,

8lCip1~,

..

cu.'ts.

Tec hni ca l words: :t,, yeariny , reayent.
Localisms: as, cv- 1:<1, yy111, exum, prof.

Improprieties. -The fol low in g are examples of words
that, altllough belonging to the la11guage and having a well141

"

142

APPENDIX.

Jefi n~d meaning of their owu, are frequently employed with
111ea111ngs uot recognized by good use: _
Aggravate (used for a nn oy or irritate ).
Al te rn ative ( used wh ere more 1.hau two thing8 are refe rred to)
Amo11g ( used fo r betwee n) .
'
Apt ( used for likely or liable ).
Betwee n (used for :11nong).
Fac tor ( used for part).
l•'eatnre ( used for ci rcumstauce or characteristic)
Gen •Jeman ( used for man) .
•
Individual ( used for person) .
L ady (used for woman ) .
Li ab le (used fo r likely) .
Mos t ( used fo r a lm ost) .
Partake ( used for eat ).
Pa r ty ( used for pe rson ).

APPENDIX.
Confer on(= give to).
Coufer with ( = tal k with ) .
Co nfid e in (= tru st in ).
Co n tid e t o ( = in trust to) .
Cunfonn to.
Co11 ve 11ient to (ti pe rso11 ).
Co 11ve ni ent for ( a purpose) .
Con ve rsant wi th .
Co rrespond to (a thing).
Co rrespo nd with (a p erson).
llependent on (bn t indepen den t
of).
D erogatory to.
Differ frorn (a fact or op ini on ).
Differ witli (a person).
Different fr om.

? uite (to be use d u11ly a~ equivalent to completely or en tirely).
Stop ( used fur stay).

Id iom is t he name given to any form of exp ression which
Is peculiar to ou r language. An idi orn cannot lie trauslated
mto another. .lauguagre word for woi· u.
·'
'l'l ie worus
.1
,
t11at
make. up an .1d10 m have, wh en t hu s tak en togetli er, a special
m eauu~g wl11 cli good use has establi she<l entirely independ~nt of t he sense that the wor<l~ mi ght logically and grammat1call y be ex pecte<l to have. To express this idea these
words must alway s be use<l.
The use of special prepositions with certain words is one
of
the
most
impor tan t forms of E11glish idiom • 'f'tie, f 0 11 OW.
]"
J
.
111g 1st. shows what prepositions are required by good use
to go with certain words: Absolve Iron•.
A ccord with .
Acquit of.
Agree with (a p erson ) .

A gree to (a proposal).
Bestow upon.
Change for (a thing) .
Chang11 with (a person).

2.

Disappointed of (what we canu ot
get).
Disappointed iu (what we have).
Dissent from.
Glad at, or of.
I11v olve in.
Need of.
P art fro m (a person).
Part with (a thing) .
Profit by.
Heconci le to (a person) .
Heco ncil e with (a statement).
Tas te of (food).
Taste for (art).
Thirst for, or after.

SENTENCES.

Grammar. - Good use requ ires t he observance of the
rules of E ngli sh Grammar. The foll owing are some of the
most common grarnrn atical e rrors: I. Use of th e plura l fo r the singular of Gree k or Latin words: a.s,
H e gave me a memoranda (for rn emorand ulll ) of hi s ex penses; This
phe nome na (for phen omenon ) has never been noticed before.
2. W rong use of the possessive case: as, The library's steps, for
Th e steps of the library .
3. Use of th e wrong case of a pronoun : as, Wh o sh all I give this to ?
4. Errors in agreement as to number betw.ce n n oun aml ver b, or
nou n au<l pron oun: a.s, 'Vhe n th e co mmittee had mad e their report,
it wns discharged.
u. Use of but what for but or but that : as , I do n ot see but what
his course is ri ght.
6. Use of the cleft infinitive: a.s, To sa tisfactorily se ttle it.
7. Errors in the seq ue nce of t en ses : as, Nobody could do this if
w e caunu t.
8. Th e co n fou nd in g of lie ( in t ra nsitiv e) wi t h la y ( transitive). The
principal 1mr ts of the first verb are lie, l ay, l ain; uf th e second verb,

•

la y, l aid, laid.
1

From Meikl ejuli11's "The English Language."

0. The con fo unding of sit ( intransitive) with aet (transitive).

The

144

.APPEN DIX.

.APPENDIX.

principa l parts of the first verb are sit, sat, sat; of the second verb,

set, set, set.

IO. The wis use uf shall au <l w ill.

Th 1e · foll owing m ies and exam 1J!es bring out the d lS
" t lllC
. .
·
t10ns m the use of shall and will:_
I . a. To indi cate th e future tense in s tatc ni c n t.~ the p rop er fo rms

are:-

St'.ng.

Pitt.

I shall
yo u will
h e will

we shnll
y ou will
they will

Exu1PLES. -1 s ha ll go down town this aftern oon. You will find
me at h ome at live. They will dine with us.
. In these .exampl es th e wortls sh a ll and will indicate n othing but
snnple futurity.
b. T o express in ten tio n, pro mise, or command on the part of the
speaker in statements , th e prop er forms are : _
Sing.

Plu.

I will
y ou shall
be shall

we will
you s hall
th ey sh all

EXHIPLES. - I will never tl o it again . You s hall uot contradict
me. li e sha ll find that I will not all ow 111 y sou to be trea ted thus.
If I have 111y way , t h!'i r hopes " ha ll nnt hr. di Nappoin tcd .
In these exa 111pll's th e wo rd;i •h all and toi/I iudica te th a t the
speaker is express iH I-( so nie intention, promise, or co mmand .
II. a. In ques ti ons u f the fir"t person, shall is the on ly form
allowabl e.
EXHIPLES. train ?

What shall 1 do ?

Sh a ll we be able to catch the

b. In qu es ti ons of th e secoml a 11d t hird person, shall or will is used
accordrng as it mii.y be expected i11 th e iinHwer.
ExAMPLt:s. - Will you i;o tu walk with rn e ? I will. Shall th ey
1
The di stincti on bc twcc u 1ou11/tl and should co rresponds iu the main
to that between will aud shall.

]45

be excused from doing this work ? They shall not be excused. Shall
yo u be at the club th iR eve nin g? I slmll.
In ea.ch case here th e person who as ks th e ques ti ons <l eci cl t>s w h ich
o f the two words to use by co us id er ing w hic h wo rrl will be usi·d i n the
answer. He then employs that word in his question .

III. Wh en a statement is put into indirect diHc:n urne (th:i.t is, wlw u
it is ma.de to follow "He says th at ," or ~o m e s im ila r exp reAA ion), an •l
when, at the same time, the subj ect of the dependent and of the independ ent clauses is th e same, although the person of the pron oun is
chan ged from the first to the third, no change is made in the auxiliary
ahall or will.
ExAMPLKS. - He says that he will take dinner with us. ( I will
take dinner with y ou.) He t old m e that he should not be able to go
to the theatre to-night. (I shall not be able to go to the theatre t onight.) He writes that he shall probably come on Tuesday. (I sh all
probably come on Tuesday. ) He promises that he will n ot make
another such foolish attempt. (I will not make another such foolish
attempt.)

Punctuation. -The following rules and examples indicate
the practice in punctuation which is sanctioned by good
use:GENERAL R u LE. -The functi on of the comma, the semicolon , the
colon, and the dash is to help the reader to understand the construction of the sentence, and to see at a glance the relation of th e different
parl.8 to each other. No one of those marks of punctuation is to be
used, unl ess it plainly serves this purpose. Special rules must always
be corrected by this general rule.
THB Co Miu. -The comma is used (1) to separate words, phrases,
and clauses in a series ; and (2) to mark the beginning and the end
of certain subordinate or explanatory expreBSions (words, phrases, or
clauses) . The expreBSions thus set off are always more or less parenthetical in nature, and easily detachable from the sentence. When
the expre88ions are so closely connected that they seem an integral
part of the logical structure, no commas are used.
I a. The vast, gloomy, and inhoepitable city lay before him.
I.

1 a. Adjectives in a series,
separated by commas.

•

146

.APPENDIX.

1 /J. H e is distasteful to me in
appearance, in ma nners, and in
morals.
1 c. I s hould write better
th e mes if my mind we re quicker,
if I had had longer training , and
if I had th e fac ulty of obse rvation.
l d. 1 pu t on m y hat, opened
th e d oor, a nd we n t out .
:l a. He wa.'l not, howeve r, on
the best te rms with me.
:lb . These, then, were my
h opes.
2 c. I assure you, my dear fellow, t hat I could not h elp it.
2 d . He telephon ed fo r Dr.
Baco n, the l.JeRt phys ician in
town , to co me at once.
2 e. That man, wh o o nce had
my hig hest regard , has turn ed
out a forger.
2f. Ko man who has ever been
im pr isoned can have my confide nce.
2 g. A man must be sure,
whene ve r he nrn.kcs a statement,
that the factB :ire right.
2 h. ·w henever a man makes a
sta te me nt, he must be sure that
his facts are right.
2 i. I advi sed him not to d o it,
because it would injure his r eputation.

1 b. Phrases in a series, sepa.
rated by commas.

I c. Clauses in a series, sepa..
rated by comm&s.

I d. Ind e pe nde nt clauses in a
series , separated by commas.
2 a, 2 b. A siu gle word set off
by commas.

2 c. W ords 0f address, set off
by commas.
2 d. Phras e in appos ition, set
off by commas.
2 e. R elative cla use set off by
commas , b ecause it is in the nature of a parenthesis ( non-restrictive clause) .
2f. R elative clause not set off
by commas, because an integral
part of the sente nce (restrictive
clause).
2 g. Depe nde nt clause, set ofl
by commas.
2 h. D ependent clause at beginning of sente11ce, and so only
o ne comma needed.
2 i. Depend ent clause at end
of sente nce, and so only one
comma n eeded.

TRE SEM ICO LON. -The se micolon Is need (1) when the parts of &
se ntence are but slightly connected, or when they are set ofl against
each oth er; and (2) in long sentences where separati on between
clauses that contain commas mwt be indicated.

APPENDIX .
1 a. A lawyer mus t rnwe
fri ends ; he knew scarcely a ny
one. A lawy er must be ready to
s peak to any and ever y body ; he
was extremely bashful.
1 b. I spe nt th e whole aftern oon in th e Ii brary , and consulted at leas t tw e nty books; b ut
I could n ot find the refe re nce
th at I des ired.
2. Tl1 e ti rnt word ca118 u p the
n otion of a n indefinite somctlii11g,
who8e c hi ef quality is th a t it
tlo;i.ts ; th e seco nd express ion
brings to miud, in all probability,
th e re me n1 brance of som e la rge
yac ht as the reader once saw it;
and all the circumstances of its
appearance the n - th e color and
th e lin es of th e bull, the rak e of
th e masts, th e glitter of th e brnsswork , th e club fiag, and the priva te signal - come back to him
and form a picture complete and
full of detail.

147

1 a. Se micolon s used beca use
there is a more distinct St'paration
of id eas th an a cornwa would indicate.
1 b. Semicolon used Ul Rh ow
that the last clau'e is set off
against the fir:;t two clauseH.

2. Semicolon s used bccau"'
the chtuHeS t hat they Heparnte
contain co mm as. a nd becan:;e a
diffe re nt mark is tlius needed to
indicate th e la rge r diviHions of
the sentence.

TnE CowN. -The colon is used to indicate that a formal statem ent of particulars is to foll ow.
l a. His writings may be put
Into three classes : essays, novels,
and poems.
1 b. The faults that ruined
th eir plan w ere : fi rst, lac k of
care in selecting a location; and,
second, irrespo nsible agents.

l a, 1 b. Colons u sed in th e~ e
two sen tences, becau se in eac l1
case there is a specification of
particulars.

TnE DuR. -The dash is used (1) to mark the begi nning and the
end of any especially abrupt or !er gthy Inte rruption of the con~truc­
tion ; and (2) to introduce at the e nd of a sentence au expression that
l.s particularly significant, or that nmmarlzes the sentence.

1-18

APPENDIX.

1. The artless use of the word
add is direct evidence against the

writer that bis plan of proportions - if be ever had any.,.... has
gone completely out of his bead.
2. An examination of the substance of these so-called paragraphs shows that what the
writer has said in them is in fact
all about one subject, - the objections that are made to the
lecture system.

1. Dashes indicate a violent
interruption.
See also above,
No. 2 under semicolon.

INDEX.
2. Dash used to introduce an
expression explaining and emphasizing the "one subject."
Adverb, to be placed near word it
modifies, 101.
Ambig uity, in relation of pron oun to
antecede nt, 95, \J6; in use of participles, !!7.
.&nd, misused as a connec tive, 65;
not to begin a sentence, 90.
Antecedent , relation to pronoun, 94.
Authority for principles of composition, b:U!ed on the general experience o f writers, 7; not based on
good use , 6.
Average man, the, 137.
Bad loose sentence, 89.
Balanced sentence, 112.
Beginning, of whole composition, a
place for Emphasis, 40; of paragraph, a place for Emphasis, 71 ;
of sente nce, a place for Emphasis,
105; I think not to stand at, 106;
participial phrase at, 97.
Both ... and, 101.
But, misu•e<l as a connective, M;
not to begin a sentence, 90.
Chronological arrangement, in whole
composition, ~; in paragraph,
62.
Climax, 113.
COHEJ<KN CE, a principle of English
Composition, 6: principle of, applied to whole co mposition, 26-33;
to paragraph, 61-70; to sentence,
94--104.
Connec tives, in paragraphs, 65-70.
Co-ordinate clause if detach ed violates Unity of sentence, 90.
Correspondents, proper place for in
aentence, 101.

" Daily themes," 119 ; afford good
practice in Emphasis, 7&-78.
Definite words , see Specific wo rds.
Development of o ne idea in a paragraph, 63; of sentence is in its
various parts, 84; of whole composition in body of theme, 41.
DigreBSions in paragraphs, 116; in
wljole compositious , :to.

Either ... or, 101.
EMPHASIS, a principle of English
Composition, II: principle of, applied to whole composition, 34-4.o;
t o paragraph, 71-78; to sentence,
1or;....110 ; explained, 38--40.
End, of whole composition a place
for Emphasis, 42-44; of paragraph a place for Emphasis, 72;
of sentence a place for Emphasis,
105.
English Composition governed by
the principles of Unity, Coherence,
and Emphasis, II .
Etymology, study of, 121.
Even, 101.
Examples employ specific wordM,
126.
Experience of writers the authority
for good Wle, 7.
,,.
False beginning, in whole composition, lS-20; participial construo-

tiou, 98.
General words, r elation of, to apecific words explained, 121 ; how
used properly, 123; how misused,
127.

149

I.'iO

IN fJE.¥.

Good use, de tined, 6; n"turc of au1.liurit.y of, 6.

tion, 30, ..-iolations of Unity 1n,

cl ear n cs~,

C11IH•re11c~

~ e 11t e11t~I:' tlependt~ Ht

011, Ht; r6--

l';ut ici pia.J 1·011Ht ri1ct ion, fa ls··, ~IH;
pl1ra~ e at l •q;i111ii11g pf :-tt1111t· 1w1

pu:sitivn of

1.._l7, plira:'i 1~ d,·1ad1t·d friHJi Hl'llterw•

Grnmmat ical
of

IN l1E .r.

la t i, 111 indiratt·d
\\'<nni:I', 11~'-

by

Yii•la!t--:; l '. 11ity ,

~ 1!

Hackueycd words, 1:.!6.

l'artit:iµle, amlJiguo\l8 or oli~cure, ~I~).
l'eriodic seutf'nce, rl e tinod, Oti, )Ht8

Idiom, English mnst. not he sacri-

Un ity, 87.
Point or view, dl\tlned, :i:l ; vnlnA of,
'.2:).

1-ked to Em pita.... is, lDl.
l11Nlr11111e11t.... of tl1t_~ 111e- writi11;;,word:-i

and ideas. ;L
"lutrutluet1tlll" fa.I.so

IJc~iuuing-

uf authority for, tl-K; derived
frvm the g"l'.Ht:ral iiriueip lcM wliidi
govern th e lllHl e rtakiHg~ of life, Ii;

uf

I thi 11 k 1 uot needed to give Unitv of 1
Mxprcs...,io11 . ~:;. i.wt tO begin a ~011- j

)!uveru construction of whole compositiou. i.-1ara1.! ra.ph, aud senteucc,

r,:

t.erwP., 10tl.
1

n:Htu•d, .'i .

I Pron oun.

N either . .. 11.vr, 101.

r elation t o anteced e nt, 94:
relative, to be placed near its ant.ecedent, 101.
Proportions o f wh o le composition
I indicate Emphasis, ~1-1-:11.

Not only · · · but also, lOl.

I Re lath·e value" or Idea", 34 .

Loose s entence, defined , 88; "b!!.d ,"
89.

J

I

II

Object, write r alwaya Rhould have
an, 1 3.~.
Obt1Curity In re l~tion of pronoun ~nd
antece<lent, 00; in use of part1c1pl e, 98-100.
.
011.ly, 101.
On the one h.and •. . on the other
liand, 101.
Organic r e latio n or parts of sentcnce, 86.
body of, tho place for
72 ; cu 11 st rt1t•tion of, ,L{OVer11ei l IJy principl es o f cornpositio11
fi; d e velopment of n :ii11Jr{le id ea,
oa j di gr e88 i011~ in, !l6; first may
indicate plan o f th eme, 31; how
r e lated to who le co mpo"ition, 5:1:
principle of Unity applied to, l);\tiO; principle of Cohere nce applied
to, til-70 ; princ iple or Emphasis
applied to, 71 - 78; sequen ce of
id eas in , 62- IH; t es t fur Unity o f,
57; transition, in whole cumposi-

PARAOltAl'll,
d ct aih~.

1

bad loose, 89; balanced,
112; climax in , 113 ; connecting,
ir1 whole com po8iti on, 'l'.!; cu nstruction of, govern ed by principlP" nf eompnl"ition, 0; d<~vulop-·
m e nt o f , is in its vario1.1s parts , 84;
Eng-lish idiom iu, not to be sac rlfi ced to Emphasis, 107 ; false participial construction in , \)8; grammatkal r elati on of parts of , s hooltl
be evident. \14; loose, defined, 1!8;
not to ht•gi11 witli ancl or but, 00 ;
n o t to be gin with I tlii11k, H~i;
participial phrase at bei;:inniug o f ,
U7; participial pllrase detacbetl
from, !JI; parts of, have orKanic
r e lation, 86; periodic, d efi ned, 86;
pe ri od ic , value of . 117; principle of
Unity applied to, S:J- !13; princ iple
of Coherence applied to, !14-1114;
priuciple of Emphasis applied to ,
!0:>-1 J:'i; pronouns in, !4; pro pe r
place in, fur correspon<lent.s, 102;
nniformityof con8truction in, 10'.t '

SKNTKN C K,

e ducated 1nan. t::tJ.

1;4_
f'1~ · 1·i!ii~ wordH, empli >yPd in t-xarn plPs, l:!t-i; n~\atioH of, to geueral

w0rds, l~I: vaJn,. of, 1'.2:1.
Snbnrdinate 1·la11~e i r de1 ached from
~Pntflnr.r Yinlates U11it:·, f"ll.
Su111111ary, a/I aid

l'H1:..;c11·1.tt~ 11 ir C'oMI'•11-1JT10:-1. baHi~

a theme, '..'O.

0 r rl~nRrs as-;oi ·i at~·il in \ ' i11\a tio n 1\f Criity, i 11 \\Ji,.J,. c01n;\oth41u~l~t t-1h1111hl li e a.~!"ociated in !
~itit111, JX--·'.21, i11 1•aragr;qil1, .'"14- ;-,7 ,
in ~t' TllPnt· t:, HH-~'~ f"Xpr~..;~i11T1, it>O.
Aeq nf"nce of id t..'a~ in pa r ag-raph, t;l -- Yoeah11\ary. h ;u·knt-y t•d, l'!ti , of a. 11

w n rdii

('oht•r.-.ricl' of
wh ole c u11qw ti iliou. JO , ~i Yt:::! E rnpha.i;;is at f• nd of whcdc l'Ulllpn~i­
ti1Jll, 4 :L
to

B'hilt!, at

h e~ irrning of ~P lllt·111· e . '.ll

\\'Hol ,Y. Cu~t1- u~1T10N_ 1·hrn111il(• .i:i1 ·;d

arra.n.({t· nwnt

i n,

:!!i:

t'tin11 1.· ctill!.!"

~1:-1nt.ences in,: ~~ ; ('oll~tr111 · tio11
g-o\"1~rrit·d

of .

11f ('11111110 -

digr1· ..; _-.; ions , '~(); fal..,t•
l·" - :,:11;
" Int rod 1H· t.ioll8 , '' :!O; Jilan uf, i11di1·at1·d i11
fir~t para~raplt, ~}; JHtillt of Yit•\\" 1
Synonyms, •t.ndy of, 121.
2'.~; principle of l ~ nit _v applir-d to ,
1!'"1 £D: priiwiple of Coh1•re11cr ap1\~ 1;t. for Unit_v 11f para~raph, :i7
pliHl to, ~t } :u. prirwip l i • Hf LinTit le, rli~tir1 g 1li."<l1t·J fr o m 1-wl1 j t·c·t of .
pha.Mi8 appli1:d to, : ~-t --l."'i, pro1H1r theme , l:l, must tit "ui.Jjcct of
tionR of, :14- :n : Hel,•('t inn of m atherne, lJ; not to Ue cuuuected
t e rial for, 1 .~ lH: Rnnirn1Lr~' i11, :«J.
with first lin e of the m e, 14.
tran!'titl o n
l'ara ~raphM
in, :l-0,
U uity of t~ .xpn· s.'i ii'in, '. .'. ~
Uniforn1itv of ('01.lStruct.ion in sen- Wo1ms, g ene r;J, l'Xplai11•~1. 1.21;
hat·kneyP.d, 1:2ti, ntun1n·r uf. in
t e nce gi~eR CohereucP., ll)'2-1U4.
LTN•TY , a principle of English Com-

position, 5: principle of, applied
to whole comprn~ ition, 15-25; to
paragraph, 5:Hi0; to sentence, 83!l:l.

~ ition,

h y pritwlp!t·H

,');

h1 ~ git1ni1q.~~.

Eu~liMh language, 11 ~•; ~pt·i·if"ir· ,
employed in exam pl es, 12ii ; "l><>cifi~, explained, 12 1; ~tudy of
etymolo),')' of, l:ll; study of •yuouyms, 121.

