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A FIRST BOOK
IN

WRITING ENGLISH
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BY

EDWIN HERBEH.T LEWIS, PH.D.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN LEWIS INSTITUTE
AND IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

New mark
THE MACMILLAN COl\IP ANY
LONDON: .MACMILLAN & CO., LTD.

1899
..&ll ri(Jhts 1·escrvcd

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PREFACE

COPYRIGHT,

1897,

BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped May, 1897.
Reprinted July,
September, 1897; March, August, 1898; August, 1899.

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Norinoob ljJrr!lfl
J. S. Cu1hing k Co. -Berwick .Ii: Smith
Norwood :r.faH. U.S.A.

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IT sometimes happens that the study of the principles of composition is left until the overcrowded
last year of the high school, under the plea that
facts ought to precede generalizations. Is it not
better to .have the pupil begin two or three years
L'arlier than this to frame simple generalizations
for his own future guidance? The first year stutlent daily awakes to new experiences and problems. He uemands rules and reasons : " flow shall
he choose theme topics '? How mnch shall he
put into a sentence? ·why is electrocution in bacl
usage?" If the principle is asked for, should it
uot be given - as much of it as can be digested?
·when such a course is followed, time enough is
ldt in the high school for composition to become
a, habit. '~he complex process wherein invention,
aH it -proceeds, is rectified by criticism, involves
many delicate reflexes. The formulated principle,
invaluable to the student in revising, in turn grows
to be an unconscious factor in every succeeding act
of composition.
The more esseutial rules ought not to be mere
pha.ntoms to tlw hoy just completing his firf;t ypar
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PREFACE

in the secondary school. In regard to other matters of living, great principles are taught him from
infancy, without the.slightest fear of setting up too
· analytic a state of mind. If a boy of three may be
told "always to do one thing at a time," must a
boy be eighteen before he is told "always to
write about one thing at a time"? At three the
child is required to control some of his strongest
emotions; must he be eighteen before he is asked
· to check digressions in the paragraph? 'And is it
possible to implant a genuine habit of checking
digressions except by leading the student from
particular instances to some generalization which
he may keep in mind as a norm for future selfcriticis~? Synthesis and analysis cannot safely
be separated; a good prescription for most rhetorical disorders is, more of both. Indeed, what seems
to be needed to-day in teaching composition is not
one thing, but several: on the one hand, more
utilization of literature and more appeal to social
interests ; on the other hand, more inductions and
generalizations by the student himself; on both
hands, more time for practice ·and self-criticism.
In the present book, originally printed privately
for my own classes and now rewritten and enlarged,
I have tried to present a large number of definite
situations to be faced for constructive practice both
in organization and in diction; and to give in
simple, even colloquial language, all the larger

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PREF.A.CE

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generalizations which a boy presenting himself at
college might reasonably be expected to have been
using for two or three years as touchstones of his
own work. Except in the chapters on punctuation
and grammar, the order of reaching generalizations
is meant to be essentially inductive. In these
review-chapters a part of the principles come
before the illustrations in order to get the help of
all past associations. Even here the induction is
often gone through with a second time, leading up
to a restatement of the principle. It 1s recommended that students should often be asked to
frame generalizations of their own, though the textbook may have led up to similar ones. In Chapters • VIII. and X., on words, I have tried to present conditions favorable to the framing of definitions. by
the student. By various devices I have constantly
tried to avoid separation between exercise critical
and exercise constructive. Occasionally, after the
correct form has been studied, bad English is offored for correction, for the sake of the appeal to
the student's personal pride and his sense of the
ridiculous; but in general it is assumed that the
student's correction of his own bad English will
afford plenty of contact with faulty forms.
The book is ·primarily intended to be used in
close connection with the literary studies of the
first two years of the secondary course. It may
be used later if the arrangement of subjects allows

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PREFACE

PREFACE

little time for literature in these earlier years.
The order of prP.sentation should, 1 in the author's
opinion, follow that of the book. Still, Chapter
VIII., on correct choice of words, may be taken at
the start if the teacher prefers. Where a good deal
of literary study is carried on in the first year, the
first eight chapters are perhaps enough for this
year. But a rate of progress cannot be prescribed.
A text-book is a n:iere help, and bad in proportion
as it tries to be anything more. Its function seems
to , be to supply the supplementary appeal to the
eye, since the living teacher can engage to do this
but to a limited extent. It appears obvious that
the book should be read slowly enough to permit
two things- much parallel literary study, aml .
much revision of themes in the light of preceding
chapters; First drafts are sometimes all that arc
worth making; but usually a task requiring connected discourse is not finished until there have
been several revisions. If the student writes each
.new composition with a view to one particular kind
of excellence, and then revises with reference to
the kinds of excellence he has previously striven
for, he will gradually be able to hold several stylistic principles in mind as he composes. Many
themes should be written i'n class. A limited pe1 From the first, brief supplementary themes, especially reproductions, shonlcl be required. For bibliography of material,
see Chapter Xlll.

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riod should be set for the first draft; and half as
much time may well be spent in revising before
this is handed in. In this revision the student
ma.y profitably read his theme as many times as
there are chapters to be mentally reviewed.
The remarkable strength of the verbal memory
in students of the first two years of the secondary
school is a fact by which every teacher must have
been impressed. 1 Add to this fact the other, that
the pupil's social interests are now in a perfect
renaissance. of liveliness, and you have exactly the
conuitions for enlarging the working vocabulary.
It is now or never. 'rhe boy, though like the man
he hates a fine distinction in conversation, is growing out of the exaggerated reticence which . has
of late seemed to him the manly thing. He is no
longer determined to employ what Mrs. l\feynell,
speaking of the boy of twelve, calls his "carefully
shortened vocabulary." 2 The girl, even more than
the boy,. is full of new ideas which would flower
into speech if the words were to be had. To capture these new interests and satisfy them by literature is of course the best thing. Study of isolated
' words, whether for knowledge or for power, is but
supplementary to the study of the vital functions
of words in the living organism. But even the
study of synonyms, if pursued in preparation for
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Cf. President Stanley Hall's Perla.r;ogicul Seminm·y , iv. i. 76.
The Gh"ildren, p. 103. (The Bodley Ilew/. John Laue.)

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PREFACE

an oral debate, - one of the very best exercises
for first-year students, - or in connection with a
page of spirited prose, rapidly becomes constructive and vital. Although the chapters on vocabulary (IX. and X.) may be given before the student
has begun a foreign language, the best results with
them will not be secured until he has had at least
six months in Latin. The study of prefixes and
suffixes (p. 186 ff.) should not be rna<l.e l>mdensome.
Some general view of the subject seems desirable,
but the detailed stud'y is best given in connection
with an interesting context.
For kindly criticism or advice I have debts of
gratitude to Professor and Mrs. W. D. McClintock;
to Pr~fessor F. A. March, Professor John Dewey,
and Professor Robert Herrick; to several of my
colleagues, especially Director George N. Carman,
Miss Jane Noble, and Mr. Phil B. Kohlsaat; to
Mr. F. A. Manny; to Mrs. Hufford and Miss Dye,
of Indianapolis; to Superintendent A. ]'. Nightingale, Miss Jones, and Miss Herrick, of the
Chicago high schools. I have been particularly
indebted to Carpenter's Advanced Exercises, a book
made familiar to me by using it · with freshmen in
college ; and to Scott & Denney's Paragrapl1rWriting.
For the index I have to thank Miss L. K W. Benedict, librarian of Lewis Institute, and Mr. Lewis
Gustafson.
E.H.L.
CHICAGO,

CONTENTS
PAGE

v

PREFACE
INTRODUCTORY
I.

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5

TUE ART 0.1!' "\VRITING ENGLISH
ON HEADING ALOUD, AND ON SPELLING

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III.

A

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IV.

GRAJ\IMAT1cAL PHAsEs oF vVR1nNG ENGLISH

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V.

ON D1nDING A PARAGRAPH INTO SENTENCES

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ON WELL-KNIT SENTEN(JES

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ON ORGANIZING THE THEJ\IE •

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ON CORRECTNESS IN CHOICE OF WORDS

147

SOURCES OF THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY

181

TUE MASTERY OF A 'VRITING VOCABULARY

194

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VI.
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J<~XPLANATIONS

VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.

REvrnw OF PUNCTUATION

HIGHT

Nm11nER

AND

SKILFUL

Cuo1cE

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WORDS
XII.
XllI.

LETTER-

w RITING

REPRODUCTION,

255
ABSTRACT,

A~~~n
XIV.

xv.

NARRATION AND DESCRIPTION

271

EX·POSITION AND ARGUlllENT

279

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Su111111ARY 1

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April 15, 1897.

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---INTRODUCTORY EXPLANATIONS

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OuR plan provides for a good many short compositions. These, as well as all other exercises,
should be written on uniform theme-paper,1 say
.eight inches by ten, with a broad margin at both
sides. There are advantages in the double margin.
First, it is easier for the reader of the theme to
jot down his suggestions at the right, since he
need not turn the paper to do so. Secondly, it is
well for the student to learn the knack of keeping
a straight edge at the left hand. Only one side of
the paper should be written on~ If a mistake is
made, a heavy line may be drawn through the
word. The manuscript ought to present the neatest possible appearance. Blank spaces are to be
avoidecl at the end of lines, except where a paragraph eucls. rrhe straight edge, referred to above,
is to be scrupulously preserved at the left of the
page, except that when a new paragraph (that is,
division of the theme) is to begin, the first line
of it should start about two inches farther to the
right than the other lines. The pages should be
carefully numbered in the upper right-hand cor1

Some teachers will prefer to use composition-books.
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INTRODUCTORY EXPLANATIONS

FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

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ner, and kept in their proper order. Nothing is
more disconcerting to any person who reads a
manuscript than to ·open the paper and find. before
him the last page, rather than the first. Every
theme should have a definite title. This should ·
appear in the blank space at the top of the first
page and in the endorsement of the folded paper,
on the back of the last page. The theme should
be folclecl once, lengthwise. Iu the blank space at
the top should be written the endorsement which
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should follow this model:_ (1) name; (2) name of
~ourse; (3) title; (4) date.

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Richard Doe.
First year English.
..A Dialogue on Politics.
Oct. 1, 189-.

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After the themes have been read, whether by
the instructor alone or by the class and the
instructor, they will be returned with marginal
comments, and (just under the endorsement} a
summary of these comments. In many cases the
student will be expected to rewrite, and the word
Rewrite will appear with the general comment.
Otherwise he will be expected to Revise, that is,
to interline corrections and improyements on the
manuscript without copying it.
Each student's papers will be filed and kept.
He will often be asked to consult with the instruc-

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tor concerning his own progress, as shown by his
bundle of themes.
· The following suggestive signs 1 may be used
in the margin of themes, indicating the presence
. of errors, the actual errors to be discovered by
the pupil for himself. Some teachers will prefer
a simpler system of symbols, some a more elaborate
systenl. The suggested list can easily be mo<litie<l
or supplanted.
Bad manuscript.
Some obvious fault-a mark which will be used more
and more frequently as the student's knowledge increases. The check-mark will frequently indicate
bad spelling or punctuation, or fault in capitalizing.
Bad spelling (see under check-mark).
SP.
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HY. Fault in use of hyphen.
Fault in punctuation (see also under check-mark).
P.
GAP. Fault in the use of a capital letter (see check-mark) ..
Too loose; structure rambling.
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s. Solecism.
c. Structure incoherent.
J.ack of emphasis in sentence.
u. Lack of unity in sentence .
Transpose order of words.
TR.
v. Vague.
Ambiguous.
A.
iru . Jjack of unity in paragraph.
Proper place for a paragraph.
ir.
Hun two pnrngraphs together.
(
I>assages within brackets to be omitted.
[].
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1 A part of these signs are from G. R. Carpenter's admirable
Exercises in Rheto1•ic and English Composition. .

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Against a passage requiring to be wholly recast.
R1.
Unnecessary repetition of idea.
'" ?.
Questions truth of statement.
B.
Barbarism.
I.
Impropriety.
W.
Wordy.
H.
High-flown, inflated, or over-ambitious.
D.
Commit the dictionary.
HACK. Hackneyed.
Bw. Better word needed - a more exact or appropriate
word.
Rw. Unnecessary repetition of a word.
M.
Metaphors mixed, or other fault in the use of figures
of speech.
K.
. Awkward, ugly, or unpleasing.
BT. Bad taste.

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A FIRST BOOK

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WRITING ·ENGLISH
CHAPTER I
THE ART OF WRITING ENGLISH

~ strong notebook of portable size is needed for

Language may be
studied in various ways. It may be sdentifically
investigated as a historical growth, or as a curious
revelation of how the human mind works. This
kind of study has pure knowledge for its object; if
it learns the laws which govern language, it is satisfied. Again, language may be studied with a view
to applying its principles to the art of self-expression. The attempt to find words for one's ideas
has enlivened many a weary hour for many a person who wrote merely for his own satisfaction. But
the chief object for which language should be
studied is that it may be made a means of communication.
Most that is good in life comes from men's abil~ty
An - Art of Communication. -

the work in spelling and vocabulary. It should
be used from the first for noting new words, etc.
See page 199.

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to make their fellows share their thoughts and
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feelings. But it is not always an easy thing to
make others see how we feel or think. The young
child is called an infant, a word which means notspeaking. .Half his miseries arise from his inability
to communicate his notions. "Men are hut children of a larger growth," and much of their misery
results from inability to tell what they think or
feel. In a sense the case is worse for the man
than for the child. The latter makes gestures and
grimaces to help his meaning out; and he depends
not in vain on pitch and stress. The grown man is
partly shorn of these helps, in that he has to com' municate by letters :!hd other compositions. How
much more work the eye does to-day than the ear!
Before the age of printing, things were different.
Both in speaking and in writing there are many
speCial laws that must be observed if there is to be
real communication. The special laws of spoken
language are not so numerous as those of written
languag~.
Written language has to be much more
careful than spoken; the writer has no chance of
correcting himself on the spot if not understood.
Nevertheless a knowledge of how to communicate
by written words is a very great help in communicating orally.
The art of communicating by means of written
English words is called English composition, or
rhetoric. The latter word once meant the art of

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THE ART OF ·WRITINSJ ENGLISH

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speaking; and it still keeps this sense when a composition is written to be delivered. Rhetoric is a
useful art, like that of curing the sick, or that of
· building bridges. A matter of prime importance
to each man is that, in business or in society, he
should be able to say or write exactly what he
means; rhetoric helps him to do this. A business
man may lose money by failing to make himself
clearly understood; misunderstandings and quarrels arise between friends ]Jecause some one has
failed to write just what he meant; a man is liable
to be taken for a boor if he abuses the English language. Rhetoric is an exceedingly pr~ctical a1·t.
It would not, however, be fair to remove all emphasis from the fact that rhetoric .is a fine art an
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art of beauty. As soon as the student begins to master the use of words, he has a chance to become an
artist in language. In producing a beautiful thing
he feels the artist's pleasure. Most persons like
to play some musical instrument, or experiment
in color, or use a camera. Why should they not
come to enjoy the art of setting down their ideas
in words skilfully chosen, and arranged with delicate precision? The old Greeks enjoyed it-those
people who knew how to extract so much high
pleasure from life. Along with their musical contests and athletic contests, they had triais of skill
in poetry and in public speech.
There is no more delightful art than that of

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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISII

TllE ART OF WRITING ENGLISH

writing, if the writer finds words for his own fresh
impressions. In order to learn the mandolin, a
new player will train his wrist till it aches.
But thrumming music is doubtless small pleasme
compared with writing music; ancl writing English is in a way like writing music, - a fine,
high, creative process, which, in the hands of a
master, results in a permanent, not a fleeting,
product.
A teacher of English recently said that, in a certain sense, if a student likes any study at all he
can be brought to like composition also. 1 She was
right. If he cares for mathematics, and the beautiful precision by which everything in mathematics
falls exactly into its place, he will enjoy showing
the exact relations he conceives to exist between
the parts of his sentence. If a girl likes music
she will care for the music that is in prose. She
will perceive that a ·good sentence is free from
ugly sounds, and has furth~rmore a music of
rhythm, a finely modulated rise ancl fall that a
keen ear readily perceives. A lad declares himself interested in in venting or in buikling machinery. If so, why should he not enjoy building a.
theme? To think out a new mechanical device
requires much the same kind of ingenuity, sense
of proportion, perception- of cause and effect, that

are required in thinking out the logical framework of a composition.
The student should work steadily toward the
point where he may come to have an abiding love
for that which is lucid and beautiful in expression
by words. He will never regret the time he
spends in perfecting his instrument of expression.
No matter how practical the life he plans to lead,
the power of writing down his ideas in good
English, in a way that will leave no doubt as
to what he meant and how earnestly he meant
it, will always profit him. One meets everywhere men who lament that they gave so little
attention to our language when they were young
enough to master it.

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1 Elizabeth H. Spalding: The Problem of Elementary Composition. Boston, D. C. Heath & Co.

The Limitations of the Art. -

It must never be

supposed that, because to some extent a fine art
rhetoric should be studied as an end in itself. ·what'
wa.s said a moment ago about the primary aim
of the study must be kept steadily in view. \Ve
study the art of composition not for the art's
sake, but to communicate our ideas and feelings.
Rhetoric does not profess to supply the student
with ideas, though it assumes that his mind is
stimulated to ne\\- thought by trying to express that
which he already has. The more ideas he brings
to tlte st11dy, - ideas he has thought out in
life or i 11 his other stlHlies, like 1i terature, hi story,

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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

THE ART OF WRITING ENGLISH

civics, - the more facility he will carry away;
for ideas are the very best of material to make
themes of. If composition does only one thing for
a given person, - if, namely, it brings him to a
sturdy habit of finding sornething to say before he
asks other people to listen to him, - it is eminently
worth while.

literature or in life, and to voice one's ideas about
it, is to know a keen pleasure. It is more. It is to
be of some use to one's fellows. As human beings
we want other human beings to tell us the best
that is in them. If a man has ideas we wish to
share them - and wish him to learn how to express them that we may share them. If he hasn't
ideas, the effort to express what he considers such
will convince both him and us of the fact. But
then ! - every body has ideas.

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Writing is usually good
in proportion as the writer is interested in it. If
he cares for it, if he is anxious to find a worthy
thought and make it clear to the eyes of others,
he will be very likely to succeed in doing so.
Something of every student's weekly work ought
to be good enough to come before the eyes of his
friends and to command his friends' respect. The
student will find that his mates are keen critics;
they will not respect poor work. But they are
also fair and sympathetic critics, ready and willing
to surrender on sight to really good work. A class
as a whole will judge the compositions of each
member disinterestedly and appreciatively.
Whatever is most characteristic of you, as different from other people; whatever gift is yours, of
imagination, or reasoning power, or emotion, or
humor, - all will find its fit expression in your
writing. Every human being is particularly interested in something, is peculiarly apt at something.
To find out what most appeals to one's self in
Write for an Audience. -

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ON READING ALOUD, ON SPELLING

Rousseau called accent the soul of language. If
the student reads aloud from writers whose work
was natural, unforced, original, he will gradually
come to see his own ideas more clearly, feel his
own feelings more keenly. Best of all, however,
let him read his own work aloud, habitually. This
will help him to see ·whether or not it is correct,
natural, effective.

CHAPTER II
ON READING ALOUD, AND ON SPELLING

One of the quickest ways of
learning to know good English, is oral reading ..
For him who would write the language it is therefore a great economy to learn to read it. It is an
invaluable habit to read aloud every day some piece
of prose with the finest feeling the reader can lend
to it. In no other way can one so easily learn to
notice and to remember new words. In no other
way can one catch the infinitely varied rhythm of
prose, and acquire a sense of how a good sentence
rises gradually from the beginning and then descends in a cadence. This rise and fall of the sentence is not merely a matter of voice; it is a matter
of thought as well. Similarly, the law of unity
in the sentence, a law which prescribes what shall
constitute a complete thought, is curiously bound
up with the laws of the human voice. A clause
that is too long to be pronounced in a single breath
is usually clumsy in logic. In the next place, reading aloud helps one to spell correctly. Furthermore, it is the best meaus of detecting those useless
repetitions which hetrn.y poverty of vocabulary.
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Spelling. 1 -

Bad spelling should practically be a
thing of the· past for each student by the encl of
his first high school year. Every one can: learn to
spell, though some more rapidly than others.
Perhaps the chief reason why-persons fail to
spell correctly is that they do not ~read correctly.
They have not trained their eyes to see what is on
the page; they do not notice the syllables. It is a
good practice to read every day a page or two very
slowly, examining the words letter by letter. It is
equally hel pfnl to read the page aloud after examining it. In so doing give every vowel its true
value; cut no syllable short that should. be sounded
distinctly.
After writing a theme, go through it, challenging
the spelling. Do not hand in your work without
lrnving consnltecl yom own dictionary. A bad

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you will be glad to review occasioaally.

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ON READING ALOUD, ON SPELLING

speller may not be able to win in an oral spellingmatch; but there is no reason why every page of
his writing should not be perfect in orthography.
Into a little blank-book copy the correct form of
every word you misspell. Each day read over
carefully several words by syllables, and then write
them from memory. The more frequently the
hand writes the word in its correct form, the
better; for the hand has a memory of its own,
and the mere act of writing a given form tends
to fix it in memory.
l\1ake good spelling a matter of pride. Habitual
bad spelling is a slovenly thing, a mark of illiteracy.

words but two, it will be seen, have a monosyllable for the first part. When in doubt as to
whether or not a hyphen is needed, consult
some special manual like Bigelow's Handbook of
Punctuation.
In all your writing, join distinctly syllables that
you wish to have go together. Notice the absurd
and misleading effect of such careless writing as
this: "He was a glass maker and worked down
at the glass house; his gal lant moust ache and
his loud voice trai ned by blow ing glass mad e
him wel come at the harvest home celebrations."

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Possessives. -The possessive sfogular of a monoSpelling of Compound Words. - I t may be well

to call attention here to the use of the hyphen in
compound words.
1. The hyphen is needed in a compound adjective,
if there is any doubt as to the meaning when the
hyphen is omitted. "Red-hot iron" may be a
different idea from "red hot iron."
2. Numbers like the following take the hyphen:
seventy-three, seventy-third.
3. Many a word once compounded is now written
solid, that is, as a single word: railroad, steamboat,
anybody 1 anything, rai~drop, forever, schoolboy,
schoolhouse, schoolmate, schoolfellow (but school
days, school teacher, school district); myself, yourself (but one's self); childlike, lifelike. All these

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syllable ending in s is regularly made by adding 's,
pronounced as an extra syllable. Thus: J ones's;
Briggs's. For the polysyllable ending in s or the
sound of s, merely the apostrophe is usually required, as in the plural. Thus: "Moses' seat";
"conscience' sake."
Spell aloud by syllables,
and write from dictation the plurals of the following? Analysis, animalcule, antithesis, appendix, bandit, cherub, crisis, ellipsis, focus, fungus,
genus, hypothesis, madame, memorandum, monsieur, mother-in-law, mussulman, nebula, oasis, parenthesis, radius, spoonful, synopsis.
What are the singulars - if singulars there are
- of data, errata, magi, strata, vertebral?
Singulars and Plurals. -

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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

Below a.re given the correct
forms of certain words often misspelled by pupils
in the first and second years of a secondary school.
'Vithout previous study write each word from dictation. Afterwards spell aloud by syllables each
word that you misspelled in writing from dictation. ·
Then write at least twenty times the correct form.
The object is to acquire a. kind of automatic correctness. In composing, one should have his mind
free for thought·; on'e should not have to think
much more about spelling than about breathing.
Accompany; advisability; all right; anniversary;
appearance; associated; bargained ; buried; carriage ; catarrh ; cemetery ; characteristic ; commander ; commotion ; conceive; condescension ;
confidants; confidence; deceive; describe; descriptions; despair; difficulty; dilapidate; disappointed;
disappeared; ecstasy; enemies ; enemy; exaggerate; excrescence; existence; fascination; fatiguing; finally ; further'; gram mar; handkerchief;
hating; hemorrhage ; immature ; indispensable ;
irresistible; lightning; literary; Ii ving; loathsome;
lose (the money); manoouvre; melancholy; minister; ministry; misshapen ; necessary; niece ;
occurrence; offered; opportunity ; outrageous ;
parallel; paralysis; peaceable; persuade; planned;
poniard; primitiv e ; principal (objection); principle (of action); privilege; promenading; pursuit; received ; recommend; recloubtable; referre<l;
Written · Exercise. -

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representatives; rhythm; sacrilegious; secretary;
seize; seized; separate; shoeing; siege; simile;
stopped; striking; studied; superintendent; supposing; tenants; theatre; their (money); transferred · until · veil (on face) ; vengeance; very; vii'
'
.
laae · wasn't· whether; Roger de Coverley; George
0
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Eliot; Lord Macaulay; Michigan; Thackeray.
At the end of a line do not
divide (a) a monosyllable, (b) a short dissyllable,
such as real, doing. Divide polysyllable·s according to their etymological composition (to be found
in the dictionary) . Some authors discountenance
beginning a second line with -ic, -al, -ing, -ly. These
breakings are perhaps permissible, if the hyphen is
made very distinct.
Word-Breaking. -

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Written and Oral Exercise. - The instructor
should ask each pupil in turn to recall, spell,
and pronounce some word that doubles the letter
c. The class should then be given a few minutes
to write from memory as many of those given as
they can recall. After this the pronouncing and
spelling should proceed as long as possible, alternately with the writing. The lists should then be
compared, and the pupil who has reproduced the
largest number of words should be asked to spell
and pronounce each one on his list. The other
pupils should then be called upon to read from
c

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FIRST BOOK IN lVBITING ENGLISH

their own lists words that the first fails to give.
Each should then be asked to add to his paper all
words remembered by other members of the class,
but not by him. 1
Pronunciation.-A person who regards good usage

in pronunciation and who articulates with unaffected
nicety, is received at once as an educated man. It
is interesting to see how often Lord Chesterfield,
the best-mannered of Englishmen, insists that a
gentleman is known by his accent. Chesterfield's
letters to his son are full of this idea. A sense
of ease and security blesses him who knows how
to sound every word that occurs to him as he talks ;
it is such a sense as a man feels when he is sme
that his clothes fit him and are cut according to
the accepted conventions. It is accordingly worth
all the trouble involved, to form a habit of letting
no word pass unchallenged as to its orthoepy.
Look it up in the dictionary, or in a good manual like
Phyfe's Seven Thousand lVords often j}Iispronounced.

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Below is given a short list of words
frequently mispronounced. The instructor should
pronounce the words, and ask the class to pronounce them.
Exercise. -

1 The author is indebted for the idea of this exercise to Miss
Catherine Aiken's Methods of Mind-Ti·aining (Harper & Bros.).
If it proves helpful it should be extended to the consonants d,
f, g, l, 1n, n, p, 1', s, t.

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biogi·aphy,
Abdomen,
bitu~en,
abject,
boatswain,
absinthe,
.. bravado, abstruse,
, bronchitis,
-acacia,
canme,
accessory,
·'
cant,
acclimate,
can't,
acoustics,
cement (noun),
)i actor,
cemetery,
adagio,
cerebrum,
adult,/
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cl emat1s,
advertisement,
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coadJutor,
aeronaut,
daunt,
again,
decade,
aged,
devil,
aggrandize,
diphtheria,
aide-de-camp,
disdain,
allopathy,
dislike,
ally,
drama,
alma .mater,
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(noun duke,
and adjective), dynasty,
enervate,
amenable,
evil,
apricot,
exhale,
arbutus,
exhaust,
aroma,
extant,
aspirant,
extempore,
bade,
finale,
bellows,

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finance,
financier,
garrulous,
gaunt,
genume,
gibber,
gibbet,
glacier,
gratis,
grimace, ·
half,
hegira,
heinous,

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imp~ous,

jugular,
/
lamentable, • . ·
learned (adj.),
l~gend,
lever,
literature,
nape,
nomad,
opponent,
pageant,
patriot,
patron,
petal,
precedence,
precedent,

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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

4. (a) Words or phrases forming a series are
separated by commas when conjunctions are
omitted ; and the comma is used between the
last two mem hers of the series, conjunction or no
conjunction. Thus: "Burns, Barnes of Dorsetshire, and Riley are poets of the peopl~." If the
last comma we~·e omitted, we should seem not to
be considering each man separately. Exceptions:
"little old man," "fine fat hen," etc.

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(b) A rapid series of independent propositions,
very closely related in sense, may be punctuated
,b,y .co~mas. Thus: "I came, I saw, I conquered."
Ilus is the only structure in which an independent
statement, not introduced by a conjunction is ever
.
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whether or not the series is rapid enough to admit
commas, semicolons should be used instead.
5. Relative clauses not restrictive 1 are set off by
commas. This is a rather important rule. If I
say, "The moon, wl1ich, as everybody is aware, goes
round the earth, is cold," the wlliclt clause does not
so restrict or define the word "moon " that it is
necessary to our tmderstanding what· is meant by
" th.e moon" ; the relative clause can be picked out
bodily, and the ~entence will still be intelligible.
. cold ," is
. cl ear enough to people who
" Th e moon is
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Such may be called logically co-ordinate, though grammatically dependent. The restrictive relative clause may be called
the necessary relative clause; the non-resti·ictive may be called
the unnecessary or additional relative clause .

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27

live on the earth. They understand that the earth's
moon is meant. But suppose I say, "The moon .
which goes round the earth is smaller th:n o~e of
Jupiter's moons"; now the relative clause iclent1fie~,
restricts the word "moon" - tells what moon IS
meant. The clause forms an integral part of the
subject. It is no longer the moon merely, a .thing
that everybody knows about; it is one particular
moon: the-moon-which-goes-round-the-earth. Occasionally such a clause can be identified by. tl~at,
for many .writers save this Felative for restrictive
clauses.
Copy and punctuate the following sentences, all of which, except the first, are
from Robert Louis Stevenson. Defend orally your
pointing : .
1. There goes President Harper who is so much
interested in everything that interests students.
2. Marquis I said if you take another step I fire
upon you
3. In the midst of these imagine that natural
clumsy unintelligent and mirthful animal John.
4. The terms and spirit in which he spoke of
his political beliefs were in our eyes suited to
religious beliefs and vice versa.
5. Oh yes I dare say said John.
6. Moy pronounced Moy was a pleasant little
village.
Written Exercise. -

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A REVIEW OF PUNCTUATION

FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISII

''re

7.
'vere in a large bare apart111ent adorned
with two allegorical prints of music and painting
and a copy of the law against public drunkenness
8. Now what I like so much in France is the
clear unflinching recognition by everybody of his
own luck
9. If it ever be a good thing to take such despondency to heart the Miserere is the right music
and a cathedral a fit scene
10. But the sun was already down the air was
chill and we had scarcely a dry stiteh between the
pair of us
11. The inn to which we had been re comm ended
at Quartes was full.
12. l\f me. Gilliard set herself to waken the boy
who had come far that day and was peevish and
dazzled by the light.
13. Do you remember the Frenchman who was
put down at vVaterloo Station
14. The children who played together to-day by
the Sambre and Oise canal each at his own father's
threshold when and where might they i~ext meet
15. I began with a remark upon their dog which
had somewhat the look of a pointer
16. The only buildings that had any interest for
us were the hotel and the cafe
17. Not long after the drums had passed the
caJe [we J began to grow sleepy and set out for the
hotel which wa.s only a Lloor or two away

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The Semicolon.

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1. rrhe semicolon is a kind of weak full-stop, i.e.
period. Nearly always it separates clauses that
are grammatically able to get along without each
other, but that are closely related in sense. So
rare indeed arc the cases in which the semicolon
may be used with a dependent clause, that a high
school student may properly ignore them. For the
present, avoid. nsing the seniicolon to point a dependent clause.
2. Sometimes the semicolon punctuates a series
of mere phrases. This occurs if some particular
emphasis is desired for them, or if they are too
long to be set off by commas. Example: An enormous smoke-stack blocks my view; built
of brick, and massive; blue in the cold winter
mist ; glowing like a pillar of foe as soon as the
sunlight reaches it; the most changing, the most
stable, thing is this landscape.
Oral Exercise. -Which statements in the follow-

ing sentences are independent? which dependent?
(It need hardly be suggested that the necessity of
· understanding a subject or a predicate does not
nrnke a statement dependent.)
1. If the sky falls, we shall catch larks.
2. Faults are thick, where love is thin.
3. Happy is he that is happ.y in his children.
4. Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the

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A REVIEW OF PUNCTUATION

3. The dash, like the comma, is often useLl to set
off a parenthetical expression. (See 2, under the
comma.) Examples: ·"His father- that iron gentleman - had long ago dethroned himself." "He
was a man-the reader must already have perceived - of easy, not to say familiar, manners."
Note that in these examples no commas are used
with the dashes, because if the parenthetical words
were lifted out, the sentence would close up without
punctuation. But suppose the sentence were such
that it could not close up without punctuation; then
the comma would be needed. The comma in "His
father being ~ngry, he felt afraid," remalns when
the parenthesis is inserted: "His father being
angry, - thaii iron gentleman, - he felt afraiLl."
Note that in such a case a second comma is used,
- with the second clash.

agam to play with possibility and knock in a peg
for fancy to hang upon
3. You see what it is to be a gentleman I beg
your pardon what it is to be a pedler.
4. Centralization said he but the landlord was at
his throat in a minute
5. There should be some myth but if there is l
know it not founded on the shivering of the reeds
there are not many things in nature more striking
to man's eye
6. "The fire should have been here at this side"
explained the husband "then one might have a
writing table in the middle books and" comprehensively 1 "all it would be quite coquettish ~ci serait
tout-c/.,-fait coquet."
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Copy aud punctuate the
follo·wing sentences from Stevenson. In the first
is there not a choice of punctuation after "difficulties"?
Written Exercise. -

1. All the way down we ha.cl our fill of difficulties
sometimes it was a wear which could be shot sometimes one so shallow and full of stakes that we
must withdraw the boats from the water and carry
them round
2. But this is a fashion I love to kiss the hand
or wave a lrnudkerchief to people I shall neyer see

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Quotation Marks.

1. Marks of quotation, or, as the English call
them, inverteu commas, are placed around direct
quotations. Many students neglect a part of this
little uuty : they fail to mai·k the encl of the quotation.
2. A quotation within a qnotation stanus between
single commas. Th us : " \Ve were gathered ou
shore, watching the schooner. · Gray spoke up :
'She's certainly going clown, and we must let the
saving station know it. l\iaybe the patrol has
1 Comprehensively is Mr. Stevenson's word - uot the lws/)((l!ll's; it is inserted to show the way in which, probably with
a vague gesture, the husband said all .
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.A REVIEW OF PUNCTUATION

FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLI811

·
fully, as you write.
punctuation.

already seen her; I saw a sailor walking on the
beach not long since, and singing, "Yeave ho, my
lads, the wind blows free."'" Note that when
there is a quotation within the second quotation, it
receives the double marks.

35

Then revise it carefully for

Brackets
indicate that the included
'
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.
.
·t
d
by
another
person
than
the
ong1matter is mse1 e
'
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nal authOl' ; that is, by a person who is quotmg or
editing the passage. T hus.· "He [Goethe] tells
.
t hat character is developed in the busy world,
us
.
. d "
though intellect is developed lll sohtu e.
Brae k e ts . -

3. Sometimes a quotation is given in substance,
with no attempt at accuracy; to show this fact
it is quoted in single commas. 'rhus: 'A foolish
consistency frightens little minds.' This is the
substance of Emerson's remark, "A foolish consistency is the bugbear of little minus."

The Exclamation Point.

1. There is a tendency to punctuate with.th.e period
sentences that are really exclamatory; it is better
to use the exclamation point. Thus: "I am so de-

vVrite a dialogue a page or two long.
Show the change from speaker to' speaker by the
use of quotation marks and paragraphing. Each
reply of each interlocutor, with its word or two of
introduction, if such there be, should go by itself
as a paragraph. Choose your own topic; or take
one of these, changing the wording : (1) Smith
tries to make Brown see the difference between
relative clauses restrictive and those merely coordinate. (2) Two girls lament the ditHcnlties of
punctuation. (3) 1'wo lads [or, men] talk politics.
Do not begin each speech as in Shakespeare each is
begun - with the speaker's name. Refer occasionally to the speakers, if you please, e.g., "'Not by
any means,' responded Bangs, rather tartly"; but
do not hesitate to let most of the speeches stand
without comment. Punctuate the uialogue careTheme. -

'

lighted to see yon · " .
··
It is better still to avoid an excess .of exclamatory
sen t ences, 110 \v ever conectly punctuated.
.
2 The word oh I should be followed by an ex. .
. t or. by a comma. This is not the
clamat1011
porn
\

word O, which is used in direct address" 0 thou that rollest above,
Ilound as the shield of my fathers,"

and to express a wish :
" 0 that I had wings like a dove."

3

The exclamation point may s.tand in the midst

of ~ sentence, at the end of .a clause. The ~'~rk
is then not follmved by a capital letter. Thu~. Is
. poss1'bl e.' is it credible!" exclaimed the Bishop.
it

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questions the accuracy of a statement. Ex. : "It is
in New York (?) that the largest m1111 ber of exile<.l
Iiussiaus is found."
2. Like the exclamation mark, the question
mark may starnl at the end of a clause, before a
small letter. 1'hus: "Do you believe it'? was the
way he greeted me as I finished reading the letter."
Or, "Shall we lie here inactive? Shall we plan
nothing? attempt nothing '? do nothing ? "
Copy and lHmctuate the following sentences from Stev~nson: 1. Such a dinner as we were going to eat such
beds as we were to sleep in
2. Where were the boating men of Belgium
where the judge and his goo<l wines a.ml where the
graces of Origny
3. Come back again she cried and all the hills
echoed her
4. All the gold had withered out of the sky aud
the balloon had disappea.red whither I ask myself;
caught up into the seventh heaven or come saJely to
land somewhere in that blue uneven (listance into
which the road way di ppe(l and melted before om eyes

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The Apostrophe.

1. One use of the apostrophe is to mark the
plural of single letters, or figures. Ex.: Distinguish between your S's and 3's; dot your i's and
cross your t' s.
2. The commoner use of the apostrophe is to
mark the possessive case. There is however no
apostrophe in the word its, which is considered an
adjective, not a personal, pronoun.
A row of asterisks is used to show
an om1ss10n. Thus, if a writer were quoting, and
wished to skip a page or two, he would insert this
sign * * * * But if he omitted only a few
words he would rather llSe "leaders"; thus ....
Asterisks. -

Italics.

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Emphasis can be secured l1y some other means;
for instance, by putting the emphatic wonl nea1·
the beginning of the sentence. Thus: "It was
such a very .fine thing to spin along ornr the ice"
becomes, "A fine thing it was, to spi_n along over
the ice."
2. Use italics to show that a word is foreign.
Thus : "Sophronia likes to interlard her English
with such fine phrases as en passant, fin de siecle,
and al fresco."
3. It is usual to italicize single words if they are
specified, - spoken of as words. Thus: "A goo<l
many words that pass muster with most people are
not really in good use; for example, burglarize."

1. Placed iu parentheses the interrogation point

Written Exercise. -

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A REYIEW OF PUNCTUATION

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1. A good rule for italics is to shun them - that

is, not to use them freely to <.lenote empha.sis.
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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING EN(]LISH

A REVIEW OF PUNCTUATION

waiting the expiration of the pcriocl when they
should be sent at the charges of the I-Io~pital to
one or other of our Universities but more frequently to Cambridge, these youths from their
superior acquirements their superior age and stature and the fewness of their numbers (for seldom
above two or three at a time were ina,ugurated into
.that high order)'d rew the eyes of all and especially
of the younger boys into a reverent observance and
admiration how tall they used to seem to us how
stately would they pace along the cloisters while
the play of the lesser boys was absolutely suspended
or its boisterousness at least allayed at their presence not that they ever beat or struck the boys that
would have been to have demeaned 1 themselves the
dignity of their persons alone insured. them all respect the task of blows,, or corporal chastisement.
they 1eft to the common monitors or heads of wards
who it must be confessed in our time had rather
too much license allowed them to oppress and misuse their inferiors and the interference: of the
Grecian who may be considered as the spiritual
power ;was not unfrequently called for to mitigate
by its mediation .the heavy unrelenting arm of this
temporal power or monitor, in fine the Grecians
were the solemn Muftis of the school reras 2 were
corn puted from their time it used to be said 1 such

or such a thing '\Vas done when S - - or 'l' - was Grecian.

1
2

Demean= behave. What word would be better here?
A quaint way of spelling eras.

Common ABbreviations.
The following list of abbreviations should be learned,
Latin words and all.

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A. Il., Artiwn Baccalattreus. Ilachelor of Arts. In England, Il. A .
A. D., Anno Domini. In the Year of our Lord.
AD. LIB., or ad. lib., Ad libitwn. At pleasure.
lET., .AEtatis. Of age; aged.
A. M., Ante Jlel'idiem. Before noon.
A. M., Artiwn 1'Iagister. Master of Arts. In England,
M.A.
A. U. C. , Anno Urbis Conditre. In the year from the Building of the City (Rome).
D. C. L. Doctor of Civil Law.
D. D., Divinitatis Doctor. Doctor of Divinity.
D. D.S. Doctor of Dental Surgery.
Do., Ditto. The same.
E. E. Errors excepted. (Used in book-keeping.)
E. 0. E. Errors and omissions excepted.
E. G., or e. g., Exempli gratia. For example.
ETC., or &c., Et cwtera.
And so forth; literally, And
others.
F. R. S. Fellow of the Royal Society.
H. M. His or Her Majesty.
H. M. S. His or Her Majesty's Ship or Service.
H. R.H. His or Her Royal Highness.
lBrn., Ibidem. In the same place. Used in quoting several
selections from one book, or making several references to
one source.
I.E., or i. e., Tel est. That is. In reading aloud, one gives
the English won.ls only.
I. II. S., sometimes explained as Jesus Ifominum Salrnto1·.
.Jesus the Saviour of l\Ien. More properly, this abbrevia-

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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISEI

ti on merely means ''Jes us.'' H is made up of the first
three letters of the Greek word for Jesus- IH~OT~.
The H, in I. H. S., is really the Greek letter eta, from
which we get our capital E.
I. N. R. I., Jesus Nazarenus Rex Iudccornm. Jesus of Nazareth, I\:ing of the Jews.
L. H. D., Litterarwn Hmnanarum Doctor. Doctor of Humane J,etters.
LL. D., Legum Docto1'. Doctor of Laws.
M., J.lferidies. Mid-day.
M. A. Master of Arts.
.i\J. D., Jlfedicinre Docto1·. Doctor of :Medicine.
MESSRS. Gentlemen. (French, ilfessieurs.)
l\hIE. Madame.
MLLE. Mademoiselle.
MS., or Ms. Manuscript. MSS. Manuscripts.
N. 13 ., Nota bene. Mark well, or take notice.
· N. S. New Style (after i 752).
Ou., Obiit. He or she died.
0. S. Old Style (previous to 1752).
Pu. D., Philosophicc Doctor. Doctor of Philosophy.
PP. Pages.
P. P. C., Pour pl'endl'e conge. To take leave. This is not
an abbreviation for the English words : Paid parting call.
Pno TEJll., I'ro tempore. For the time being.
Pnox., Proximo. Next, 01· the next month.
Q. E. D., Quad erat demonstrandwn.
Which was to be
demonstrated.
R. S. V. P., or R. s. v. P., Reponclez, s'il vous pla'it. Answer,
if you please.
Viz., or viz., Videlicet. Namely, to wit. Viclelicet has etymologically about the force of "You see," or "It can be
seen.''
Vs., Versus. Against.

CHAPTER IV
GRAMMATICAL PHASES OF WRITING ENGLISH

The present chapter reviews only those grammatical principles that are sometimes violated by
students who have had a year of formal grammar .
If com position is the art of communicating one's ideas in words, it is certain that
clearness is the first requisite of good writing.
Clearness, perfect intelligibility, is secured by
means innumerable. One secret however of being
clear is to regard grammatical usages. If a man is
to be t~nderstooc.l exactly, he must be grammatical.
No one is excepted. " Grammar," saicl l\foliere,
"knows how to lord it even oyer kings."
Clearness. -

\Vhen an expression is open to two
interpretations, it is said to be ambiguous. In the
sentence, "He is a fair man," fair is an ambiguous
word. In the sentenee, " He was arrested by two
officers, who were about to board a vVest Madison
street car, in possession of a large amount of stolen
property," the phrase in possession, etc., holds an
ambiguous position. Grammatical errors often proAmbiguity. -

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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

GRAM.MATIOAL .PHASES

think whether the antecedent is singular or plural.
"Her voice is one of the sweetest that have [not
has] been heard in this town."
.
3. When a number of persons, men and women,
ar~ spoken of distributively, the pronouns he and
his are proper forms of reference - not their not ·
.
'
his or her. "The audience rose and each person
waved his applause" would be correct, even if
there were ten ladies to each man. The he or his
may here be called the neutml pronoun. What
pronouns should fill the blanks in the following
sentence? "Let every man and woman who would
like to join our picnic betake - - to the pier at
three o'clock, and give --no anxiety about __
lunch; - - will find plenty of sandwiches and
cake and coffee on the picnic-boat."
Such expressions as "every man and woman"
are however undesirable whenever the neutral
pronoun is to be used. A neutral antecedent, like
e'tJery pe1·son, everybody, every one, is preferable.
4. 'Vhen the indefinite pronoun one is used
there is often ambiguity in referring to it late:.
by he, his, etc. Repea~ the one. Thus, " One does
not al ways know one's own mind." Better still,
use an expression like the indefinite you, or, a
person, which has its own representative among
the pronouns. Thus, "A person doesn't always
know his own mind."
5. Use sparingly, if at u.11, the Latin construction

- wli ich fact, which idea,, etc. Say rather, a fact
which, etc. E.g. "He was slightly deaf, a misfortune which he bore without whimpering."
6. Avoid the Latin construction that makes which

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refer to the idea of a whole clause; it is a clumsy
fashion. Example, "He said that he always doted
on Shakespeare - which I, for one, didn't believe,
because I know the fellow." There is nothing here
for which to tie to; it is a relative without anything
to which to relate. Rather a better way is to
discard the relative clause, substituting and with a
demonstrative. Thus, "He bowed politely, which
set us all at ease," becomes, "He bowe(l politely,
cmcl this set us all at ease." The this is allowed by
our idiom to refer to the clause, though the construction is still vague. It is best to hunt up a
good synonym for the idea of the preceding clause:
"He bowed politely, and this courtesy set us all at
ease." But it is not necessary to discard the relative clause. A little ingenuity will enable one to
find and insert just before the relative an appositive to the clause. Into each of the following
sentences slip an appropriate appositive chosen
from the following list : a fact, an fdea, a task, ct
statement, an assertion, a notion, an excuse, a fancy,
ci belief, a hy1m·bole, a prevm·ication, a remedy .
(a) Mr. Ignatius Donnelly thinks that Bacon
wrote Shakespeare, - - which ought not to bother
the student who likes Romeo and Juliet.

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(b) Mame told father that there were a thousand
cats in the back yard, - - which, according to
father, meant our cat and another.
(c) He has undertaken to learn two hard lessons
in one hour, --which will probably prove too
much for the lacl.
(d) He proposes to cut t!ie hand off, --which
seems rather cruel.

been much of a poet." "Yesterday, when John
spoke of the matter, I should have liked to have
had some experience that I might have used in
ad vising him."
Later time. - "I wanted to go" [not to have
gone]. "I had intended to go." "I should have
liked to go."

Concord of Cases.

Subject and complement of an intransitive verb
agree m case.
1. The complement of an intransitive verb in a
finite mode is in the nominative case. "It's I"
[not me]. "I am he." "I thought it was he."
2. As the subject of an infinitive is in the objective case, the complement is in the same case.
"I thought it to be him" [not he]. But, "It was
thought to be he."
Concord of Tenses.

1. In writing the verb of a subordinate clause,

be sure that its tense shall show just what you wish
it to show - whether the sarne time as that of the
principal verb, or earlier time, or later time. For
example:The sa1ne time. - "He did not think himself to
be much of a poet."
Earlier tirne. - "He did not think that he had
been much of a poet." "He was sorry not to have

Correct the errors in concord of
tenses, explaining each emendation.
1. Where did you say St. Peter's was?
2. Is it warm out of doors? I should say it was.
3. I fully intended to have met you at the
concert.
Oral Exercise. -

Government.

1. "He invited him and I," is not an unheardof blunder. People often needlessly shrink from
saying a correct sentence like this-" He invited
him and me " - and will even insert the full
names of hini and me rather than out with the
right case of the pronoun.
2. In asking a question, think whether 1cho or
whom is required. "1'Vlwm did you see ? " but,
"Who was it that you saw?"
3. Let governs the objective case, quite as any
other active verb. " Let John and me go."
4. An error often occurs in the case of the
relative after a verb of saying, thinking, telling,
and the like. "Franklin:S Autobiography is the

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On the Reference of Pronouns.

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honor, that whenever he should see his brother
in London, he would do all for him that he ought
to do for an olL1 comrade's brother." ltather thus:
"He gave his friend his word of honor, that whenever he should see the latter's brother in London,
he would do for the boy all that a man ought to
do for the brother of au old comrade."
4. Acquire a habit of writing, "It is he," or" It's
he," instead of "He is the one." This latter phrase
is permisGible in colloquial speech, where its clumsiness is not much felt. The correct expression may
sometimes seem over-precise. But a person of tact
ought to be able to speak correctly without seeming
affected.

work of a man whorn I should think wouM lie
known to every American." 'l'he wl~ ·-im, is wrong
for who. Had the writer set off "I should think"
by commas, he would have seen the mistake.
5. How should. the following newspaper sentence be corrected? "He stated that the offeriug
was $101,500, an amount upon which he woultl
stake his honor would all be paid up."

1. In the use of pronouns one cannot be too careful that each refers to the right person. "Farmer
Jones called on his neighbor and told him that
his cows were in his pasture," leaves us in doubt
whether Farmer Jones came to make a complaint
or an apology. How should the sentence be constructed to remove the ambiguity? The following
delicious error has been much quoted: "If fresh
milk does not seem to agree with the child, boil
it." How change the sentence to save the child's
life?
2. Sometimes a demonstrative can be used to
better ad vantage than a personal pronoun. "They
lent us their horses for the afternoon and these
[ uot they J took us a long ·way out into the couutl'y."
3. Sometimes it is better to repeat the antece,1ent, varying it by simple synonyms, than to use
any prouom1. Not, "He gave him his word of

GRAMMATICAL PlIASES

Conjunctions and Prepositions.

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1. Shall we say "as large as," "not as large as,"
etc.? The first expression is right. But after a negative, use so for a correlative to as : " not so large as."
2. In general be careful not to omit necessary
conjunctions. ·what should be supplied in the fol lowing sentence? and how should the order be
changed? " Henty is better known but not so
interesting to older boys as Stevenson."
3. And which, and who, etc., are wrong for which,
who, etc., when no relative has previously been
used. Correct the following : " Irving, the historian, and whom we honor as our first writer of
prose tales, is a prime •fa\'orite of us all."

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4. Like is not a conjunction. It is incorrect
to say, "Do like I do." This wrong use of like
is habitual in many parts of our country, and a
native of any one of these districts has to watch
himself narrowly to acquire the habit of using as
for like. It is, however, correct enough to say,
"She talks Uke hint." Here like is an adjective
governing what was the dative case, and the phrase
like him, has the value of an adverb.
5. Different to is wrong for different from. This
error, though rarely to be found in America,
is habitual in England. 'rhe commoner American
error is dltferent than. This mistake frequently
occurs when the compa.rati ve degree has previously been used. E.g. "This last kind of apple
is different and sweeter than "the first." The better
form is : " This last kind of apple is different from
the first, and sweeter." Do not split the pmticles,
by saying, " This kind of apple is different from
and sweeter than the first."

sweet," "It is sweet, " "She is happy." The
sweet idea or the happy idea describes the subject,
the person, not the verb. Of course, one might
write a sentence in which the sweet idea would
tell the way a given act was done. " She looked
sweetly" 'Yould imply that she was gazing sweetly
at something or somebody.
But here must be noted an exception or two.
(a) The word bad has two senses: moral badness,
and badness that is not moral -badness of health,
for instance. If I say "I feel bad," the bad seems
. to mean moral badness: i.e. "I am bad." It is
therefore permissible to break the rule and apply
badly to physical feeling. " I feel badly " is a
common expression for "I feel sick"; and by the
exception to the rule is correct. ·which is better
in the following sentence - bad or badly? "It
sounds--to hear a young man swear." (b) There
are a few cases where the adverb is retained
when the verb is not felt as acting. "The report
sounds well," certainly does not mean that the
report is in good health; but it is certainly good
English. Similarly we have: "She appears well
in company."
It is to be kept in mind that ill and well
are not always adverbs. They are often adjectives; and if one says "I feel ill," or "I feel
well," one is using the adjecij ve ill or the adjective
well.

Adverb or Adjective?

1. There is a group of words - verbs of sensation and the like, look, sound, feel, srnell, taste, appear, seern-which take an adjective to complete
their meaning. "She looks sweet," "It tastes
sweet," "She seems happy," are common and correct ways of speaking. Notice that here something
of the same idea can be given by saying, "She is

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""\V"hich of the italicized words is
preferable in the following sentences? (a) "This
old stern-wheel boat rides over the waves quite as
easy (easi'.ly) as any propeller, if not easier (more
easily)." (b) "This old chaise rides as easy (easily)
as any modern one." ( c) "An old sho~ feels eas!f
(easily)." (cl) "As Billings reacl that passage it
sounded d~tferent (dWerently) from the way in which
the Colonel read it." (e) "Do you feel yoocl (11:ell)
after your night's rest?" (.f) "I've been to church
and, for me, really feel good (well)." (y) "Ile vote(l
fadependently (independent)."
(h) "Home, sweet
home" sounds well (good) to the ears of the American abroad..
Oral Exercise. -

Shall or Will. -1\Iost Americans, like most Scotch-

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men, use the word will too frequently, to the neglect
of shall.
Shall is from Old English sceal (skay'-a,l) and
once meant owe, be obliged. It still may mean the
same thing, when not used as a mere auxiliary.
That is, slwnld often means ought, which was once
the past tense of owe. It still can mean "to
be obligecl." "You shall," "he shall," are expressions that imply obligation, imposed by ~he
speaker. "I shall at last die" still has in it the
idea of being compellecl. But this phrase illustrates happily one way by which shall with the first
person has come to be felt as a mere future.

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59

Nearly always to-day I shall names a voluntary act;
but the volition is usually not emphasized; the
speaker has usually made up his mind before he
says I shall, and the worcls simply foretell the
future act. "I shall be there" incidentally announces the speaker's intention, but the chief thing
it announces is that the speaker will be there. It is
probably the future fact that is of interest to his
friends. Orclinarily, therefore, shall in the first person mecrns futurity more than it means volition.
1Vill is from wilicm (wil '-yau), meaning to wish, to
will. It frequently means that to-clay, though in

the second and third persons it is also used for
the simple future. "I will" always implies· volition. I will i'lliplies either clelibemte intention, distinct wish, or clistinct willingness.
"I will go"
means "I am determined to go," or, "I wish to
go,i: or, "I am willing to go." Frequently such a
phrase implies that there is opposition or an obstacle. "You will," "they will," usually lack the
voliti ve idea; they simply foretell that which you,
they, are about to do. Yet you will, he will, they v;al
may still mean yon are deterininecl, etc., if applied
to a being that has the power of choice. Here one
has but to emphasize the will, and the old meaning
is brought back. Thus: "He will persist in doing
so, though all his friends deplore it."
Our first rule will accordingly be as follows : To
i'.nclicate mae futurity,, nse. shall in the first person,

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GRAMMATICAL PHASES

will in the second and third. Examples : "I shall
be glad to come. You and the others will find me
on hand at the pier." So far, so good. But note that
this rule also applies when the speaker is made to
report his own words in indirect narrative. "Abner says that he shall be glad to come, and that you
and the others will find him on hand at the pier."
Just so if the indirect discourse is in the past, and
it is still the speaker who reports his own words.
" Abner said that he should be glad to come, and
that you and the others would find him at the
pier." All this seems sensible enough, for the
speaker is merely made to foretell his own future
act. The rule is too often broken. "Abner said
he was afraid he'd miss the boat." Here the contraction he'd stands (as always) for he would, a
form that is wrong in this place for he should.
The same rule applies when t.lie indirect narrative is merely implied; that is, when instead of
such a word as say we have think, or fear, or believe. "Luke thinks he shall miss his boat," is
correct ; so is, "Luke feared he should miss the
boat."
Suppose, now, it is no longer what Luke said about
his own future act, but what somebody else said
about it. "Evarts remarked that Luke was ready
and would hurry to the pier; but Evarts feared that
Luke would mil?S the boat." The shall gives place
naturally enough to will. After verbs of saying,

thmr.;ing, telling, and the like, shall (or should) is the
proper auxiliary 1f the future act is foretold by the actor.
Now we are rea,dy to ask how these words should
be used in questions. A very simple rule is enough
for most purposes : In the second and third persons,
use in the question the form yon expect in the answer.
"Shall you be at the pier by three, Abner?"
Abner replies, "I certainly shall." " ·w ill you
kindly bring my lunch with you? the cook has it
ready." "I will, with great pleasure."
The rule holds when applied to indirect dis~
course. Thus: "Abner's aunt asked him whether ·
he shoulll be at the pier by three. Abner replied
that he should. Then she wanted to know if he
would kindly bring her lunch along; Almer promised that he would."
If a question is put in the first person, shall often
asks for instructions. "Shall I go?" But if
mere information is asked, shall is still the form :
" Shall I be required to do all this ? " " Yes, I fear
you will." Briefly, then, for a question in the first
person always use shall.

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\Vhere blanks appear in the following sentences insert the right auxiliary. Correct any misuse of auxiliaries.
1. Sometimes an Irishman, sometimes a Frenchman, is credited ·with this remark: "I will be
dmwned; nobody shall ll€lp me."
Oral Exercise. -

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FIRST BOOI( IN WRITING ENGLISH

2. I - - be delighted to see you with us.
3. I - - be obliged if yon - - lend me your
pencil.
4. The director thinks he - - be able to speak
well of that student, if the boy-- need a good word.
5. - - you be con tent if you get to college ?
6. - - I be permitted to say that yon - - see
him before anything is done ?
7. Jim Hawkins was mortally afrai(l that he
- - be killed by Long John Silver; and in turn
Long John began to fear that Jim--· be the death
of him.
8. - - you like son1e bread ? [Here shoulcl is
the right word; to like is a word of volition, and it
does not need the voliti ve auxiliary would. J
9. - - you mind my asking where yon bought
that jersey?
10. His father. insisted that he - - stick to the
task ; and the son afterwards seemed glad of the
fact, and asked whether he - - do some more work
of the same sort.
11. If we were better, we - - be happier.
12. In which sentence can a contraction of he
would be used? (a) He said - - be glad to accept. (b) Luther declared - - go to a certain city,
though there were as many devils there as tiles on
the housetops.
13. - - I be asked to go ? Yes, you will.
14. Of whom - - I be afraid.?

GRA ..llMATIC:AL PHASES

63

Matters of Etymology.

1. Good usage recommends that we say " the

schools of Chicago " rather than " Chicago's
schools " ; "the cause of the accident " rather thau
"the accident's cause." In other words, it recommends that 1ve save the possessive in 's (or Saxon
genitive) for living beings. For things, for abstract
ideas, for cities - everything except beings- the
possessive in of (or Norman genitive) is preferred.
Thus we say, "Napoleon's hat," and "the rim of
Napoleon's hat," instead of "Napoleon's hat's rim."
The newspapers, perhaps to save space, have fallen
into the habit of talking about "Chicago's interests,"" Evanston's water-works,"" America's navy,"
etc.; but it is better not to imitate these expressions.1 Such matters are matters, not of right and
wrong, but of better and worse.
2. ·while got is usually better than gotten as a
past participle, the two words have, in one case,
different meanings. "I have got my lesson" is
perhaps preferable to "I have gotten my lesson."
But "I have got to be a scholar" mea,ns, "I must be
a scholar'"; while, "I have gotten to be a scholar"
is, well, - perhaps a boast.
3. Good use prescribes he drank, but lte has dnrnk
[not, he has drank J.
4. Anybody else's, or anybody's else- which is

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GRA1ll11IATICAL PHASES

m better use ? For most places, the former.
Thus : "Anybody else's dog would have been
shot for his sheep-stealing." But anybody's else
is often preferable at the end of the clause or
sentence. Thus: "If the dog had been anybody
else's it would have been shot; unfortunately
it was nobody's else." The distinction has ceased
to be a matter of logic, and become a matter of
euphony. Of course, else is strictly an adjective,
and might seem to be exempt from the possessive
case. But adjectives have always had a way of
growing fast to nouns and becoming part of them :
e.g. sweetbriar, Redfern, Goodman. Though else
is not written as a part of the noun anybody (which
is already long enough), it is often felt as a part
of the noun. vVhat you think is not always anybody + else; it is often, an.11bodyelse. As a matter
of fact, the word anybody itself is really two words
grown together till we do not think of them as
adjective +noun.

lVhen several words are 1'talicizecl, correct the orcler
of them.
1. Tom's nurse was .one who took in her instruction very slow 1y - she seemed to have two left
hancls and no head; and so 1\Irs. Brown kept her
on longer than usual, that [she, the girl] might
expend her awkwarclness ancl forgetfulness upon
those who would not judge ancl punish [her, the
girl J too strictly for them.
2. It had been the immemorial habit of the village [either] to [either] christen chilclren [either]
by Bible names or [by J those of the cardinal and
other virtues.
3. He was a hearty, strong boy from the first,
given to fighting [with and escaping from his
nurse, with his nurse and escaping from her] and
fraternizing with all [of] the village boys, with
whom he made expeditions all around the neighborhood.
4. You shall hear at once what sort of [a J folk
the Browns are, [at least J my branch of them [at
least] ; and then if you don't like the sort, why
cut the concern at once, and let you and [I, me]
cry quits before either of us can grumble at the
other.
5. For a short time after a boy has taken up
[such J a life [as, like J A mold would have urged
upon him, he has a hard time of it. He finds his
judgment often at fault, his body and intellect run-

Oral Exercise in Review. - Below are given a
number of sentences from Hughes's T01n Brown's
School Days, a book which every one likes for its
racy Saxon style, but which is not always beyond reproach in sentence-structure. Most, however, of the sentences given below were correctly
written. Exaniine the passages, and decide as to
·which of the bracketed words shonld be omitted.

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ning away with him into all sorts of pitfalls, and
[he, himself] coming down with a crash.
6. "No, Pompey, I must .preach whenever I see
a chance of being listened to, [which, and this J I
never did before."
7. And now, my boys, you [who, whom] I want
to get for readers, have you had enough? [Will,
shall J you give in at once, and say you're convinced, and let me begin my story, or will you
have more of it? Itemember, I've [only] been
over [only J a little bit of a hillside yet - what you
coulu ride round easily on your ponies in an hour.
8. To-day, however, [being, being the day of]
the school-house match, none of the school-house
prrepostors [stay, stays] by the door to 'vatch for
truants of their side; there is carte blanche to the
school-house fags to go where they like: "They
trust to our honor," as East proudly informs
'l'om; "they know [very well] that no_ schoolhouse boy would cut the match [very well]. If
he did [we'd, we should] very soon cut him, I can
tell you."
9. Passing along the Ridgeway to the west for
about a mile, [we come to, appears] a little clump
of young beech and firs, with a growth of thorn
and privet underwood.
10. I [only J know [only J two English neighborhoods thoroughly, and [in each] within a circle of
five miles, [within each J there is enough of interest

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and beauty to la.st any reasonable man his life. I
believe this to be the case [almostJ throughout the
country [almost J; but each has a special attraction,
and [neither, none] can be richer than the one I am
speaking of and going to [very particularly J introduce to you [very particularly].
11. It's very odd [how, that] almost all English
boys love danger.
12. He wore an old full-bottomed wig, the gift
of some dandy olu Brown whom he had [in the
middle of the last century J valeted [in the middle
of the last century], [which habiliment, a habiliment which J Master Tom looked upon with considerable respect, not to say fear.
13. [It was he, He was the one] who bent the
first pin with which 'l'om extracted his first stickleback out of ["Pebbly Brook,"] the little stream
which ran through the village, ["Pebbly Brook"].
The first stickleback was a splendid fellow, with
fabulous red and blue gills. Tom kept him in a
small basin till the day of [his, the fish's J death,
and became a fisherman from that day.
14. His nurse told him that those good-natured
looking women were in the constant habit of enticing children into the barges and taking [them,
these J up to London and selling them, [which, a
story which] Tom wouldn't believe.
15. "I say," saiu East, as soon as he [got, had
gotten J his wind, looking with much increased re-

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spect at 'fom, "you [ain't, you're not, aren't, are
not] a bad scud, not by [no, any] means."
16. But who [shall, will J tell the joy of the next
morning, when the church bells were ringing a
merry peal, and [in the servants' hall J oltl Benjy
appeared [in the servants' hall] resplendent in a
long blue coat and brass buttons [in the servants'
hall], antl a pair of oltl yellow buckskins and topboots, which he had cleaned for and inherited frmn
Tom's grandfather.
17. So, as we are going [to at any rate, at any
rate to] see Tom Brown through his boyhood, [supposing, if] we never get any further, [which,
though J (if yon show a proper sense of the value
of this history, there is no knowing but [that,
·w hat] we may), let us have a look at the life and
environments of the chiltl.
18. He felt [like, as if] he had been severely
beaten all down his back, the natural result of his
performance at his first match.
19. "And now come in and see my study; we
[shall, will] have just time before dinnel'; and
afterwards, before calling over, [we'll, we shall J
do the close."
20. It [certainly] wasn't very large [certainly],
being about six feet long by four broad. It couldn't
be called light, as there [was, were] bars and a
grating to the window; [which J little precautions
[which J were necessary in the studies on the

ground floor looking out into the close, to prevent
the exit of small boys [after locking up], and the
entrance of contraband articles [after locking up. J
21. And now, [having broken my resolution
never to write a Preface,] there are just two or
three things which I [would, should] like to say
a word about [having broken my resolution never
to write a Preface].
22. My tlear boys, old and young, you who have
belonged., [or do belong,] to other schools and other
houses don't begin throwing my poot· little book
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about the room, and abusing [me and it] [it and I],
arnl vowing 1 you'll read no more when you get to
this point. I allow you've provocation for it. But,
come now, [would, should] you, any of you, give a
fig for a fellow who didn't believe in, and stancl up
for Ids own house and his own school? You know
you [wouldn't, shouldn't]. Then don't object to my
cracking up the old school-house, Rugby. Haven't
I a right to do it, when I'm ta.king all the trouble
of writing this true history for all your benefits?
If [you're not, you ain't] satisfied, go and write the
history [of your own houses J in your own times
[of your own houses J and say all you know for
your own schools and houses, [provided it's true,]
and [I'll, I shall] read it without abusing you
[provided it's true].

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after vowing? If so, how remedy it?

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GRAllI.MATICAL PHASES

23. All the way up to London he had pondered
what he [would, should] say to Tom [by way of
parting advice], something that the boy could keep
in his head ready for use, [by way of parting
advice].
24. "I say, Green," Snooks began one night,
" [ain't, isn't J that new boy, Harrison, your fag? " ·
"Yes; why?"
"Oh, I know something of him at home, and
[would, should J like to excuse him - will you
swap?"
"[Who, Whom] will you give me?"
"\Vell, let's see; there's Willis, Johnson - no,
that won't do. Yes, I have it- there's young
East, I'll give you him."
"Don't you wish you may get it? " replied
Green. "I'll tell you what I'll do - I'll give yo~
[if you like J two for Willis [if you like]."
" [Whom, vVho] then ? " asked Snooks.
"Hall and Brown."
"[Shouldn't, Wouldn't] have 'em at a gift."
25. By keeping out of bounds [all day], or at all
events out of the house and quadrangle, [all day,]
and [carefully J barring themselves [carefully J in
at night, East anu Tom manageil to hold on without feeling very [miserably, miserable J; but it was
as much as they could do.
26. His friends at home, [hadn't put him into
tails] having regard, I suppose, to his age, and not

to his size and place in the school, [hadn't put him
into tails]; ancl [even] his jackets were always
too small [even J; and he hacl a talent for destroying clothes, and making himself look [shabbily,
shabby].

71

Correct the following
sentences, after naming each fault.
1. Belonging to the modern realistic school of
novelists, his address was an able defence of their
tenets.
2. It is not probable that the scholars will yet
give him a very lofty place, and they will be disinclined to call his books literature, but the di vision
of sentiment as to their exact standing will not detract from the brilliancy of the future they promise.
3. "Here you are, a great, hulking fellow, endowed by providence with magnificent strength,
instead of which you go about stealing nuts."
4. Cffisar and all his legions ·was encamped
around the city, and the barbarians knew well
enough it was them they had to fight, them the
soldiers of the Homan god-like man.
5. "It wasn't us! it wasn't us! \Ve ·w asn't there,
we warnt."
6. Neither of the adventurers, Olson and Lefevre,
saw their native land again.
7. He sat the cage down;• ancl the bird cried,
between each mouthful, "Polly wants a cracker."
Oral Review-Exercise. -

--~--,.----....._-'llmll!ll!!
_-~
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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISII

GRAJ.BlATICAL PHASES

8. Like Lucretius, his pleasure was ia watching
the sea fight from a secure place.
9. Masquerading under the stage name of Viola
Violet, there was a gasp of astonishment when she
made her first entrance antl was recognized by her
many friends in the audience.
10. Lacking practice in what might be called the
technique of acting, there was now and then some
restraint in pose and gesture, and the essential element of artistic repose was lacking.
11. Passengers are warned not to get off the train
while in motion.
12. Without stopping to fully describe the construction of this aural instrument, suffice it to say,
that it is sma,ll and compact, and can be carried in
the pocket, weighing about two ounces, constructed
mostly of aluminum.
13. ·when I go back to Cuba again I should like
to go with 10,000 interpreters instead of one, all in
United States uniforms, and who ·woultl talk fast
and to the point and would not expect or wait for
an answer.
14. Passing a field where brother David was sowing rye, several merry voices called out, "How are
you, Mr. Newton? "
15. Mr. Adams positively declines to hang cards
over the edges of the boxes at the grand opera
with the names of those present in large type.
lG. Eva picked up the letter from the hall table,

looked quickly round at the closed hall door, at the
closed dining-room door, and at the baize door that
led to the kitchen stairs - and kissed it.
17. Talking the other clay with a friend (the late
Mr. Keats) about Dante, he observed that whenever
so great a poet told us anything in addition or continuation of an ancient story, he had a right to be
regarded as classical authority.
18. Alcibiades told the Spartan envoys that if
they woulQ. say to the Athenians that their power
was limited and that they could only listen and
then tell the Spartans what they heard that he
would see that the Athenians did not join the
alliance: so when the ambassadors went there they
did as Alcibiades said and Alcibiades got up and
said, that they could not tell two things alike and
the Athenians would not have anything more to do
with them and they joined the alliance.
19. Having given this department-store question
much careful thought I have decided a more cl~tn­
gerous monopoly could not be found, for reasons as
follows: First, they tend to centraJize business,
which is dangerous, and should not exist if we
wish our city to grow and thereby equalize taxation. Second, the continuous advertising of the
entire i:;tock of an unfortunate merchant on sale in
these stores at 33 t·-enti:; on the dollar is not encouraging to strangers who visit us.

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DIVIDING A PARAGRAPH

CHAPTER V
ON DIVIDING A PARAGRAPH INTO SENTENCES

The Sentence not its own Master. -Everybody

learns at an early age some such definition as this:
A sentence is the expression of a complete thought
in words. But many students who have just left
the grammar school are not very clear in their own
minds as to what the definition means. vVheu
they come to write sentences they find it hard to
decide what constitutes a complete thought. They
know what the test of grammatical completeness is
- . the sentence must have a subject and a predicate; but they are hazy as to when the sentence
is logically complete. Frankly, the most accomplished writers are sometimes troubled to decide
this question. . Having two ideas, they are not
sure whether these ought to stand in separate
sentences, or in semicolon clauses. There is no
magic rule; but by the right kind of practice one
may become perfectly sure, in nine cases out of
ten, of the best course to take.
Perhaps the easiest way to approach the matter
is to remember that the sentence is only a part of a
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75

larger unit, - the paragraph. A paragraph is either
a miniature composition, or a main part of a short
composition. In long works, the chapte1· is the sh.o~t
composition of which the paragraphs are the d1v1sions. The sentence, in turn, is a main part of the
. paragraph. Whether a sentence should be long or
short depends on the part it plays in the paragraph.
To make this statement plain, we need consider
only the paragraph that stands alone, a miniature
composition. Whatever qe the number of its sen. tences, each forms a main part or step in the cievelopment of the paragraph-thou~ht.
All are
concerned with explafriing the same thing; each
contributes something to the idea. If there is a
topic sentence and this be likened to a root, ~he
other sentences are like the stalks and leaves which
'
grow from the root.
Note how each of the following miniature compositions 1 has a root, from which the rest of the
paragraph springs necessarily.
1. Flowers have an expression of countenance as much
as men or animals. Some seelJ.1 to smile ; some have a sad
expression; some are pensive and diffident; others again
are plain, honest, and upright, like the broad-faced sunflower and the hollyhock. - H. W . BEECHER.
2. There are three wicks . . . to the lamp of a man's
life; brain, blood, and breath. Press the brain a little, its

lEach of these paragraphs was written as a part of a ~arger
whole. But each is comp~te in itself, and may be considered
as an independent whole.

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DIVIDING A PARAGRAPH

light goes out, followed by both the others. Stop the heart
a minute, and out go all three of the wicks. Choke the air
out of the lungs, and presently the fluid ceases to supply the
other centres of flame, and all is soon stagnation, cold, and
darkness. - DR. H01,11rns.

year, aml it will supply the same nourishment and the same
gratification, if only we ourselves return to it with the same
healthful appetite. - CoL1rnwGE.

Consider the parts of the paragraphs j 11si; given.
Mr. Beecher has two sentences, the secoml grouping together the tletails which explain the first.
But the first sentence is made much shorter than
the second, because, wortl for word, it is to be
more emphatic. The second is the longer, because
no one of the separate clauses seemed to the writer
important enough to stand alone. The clauses of
detail taken together form one main division of the
paragraph. The short sentence that states the gist
of the paragraph is another main division. In Dr.
Holmes's brief parable, there are four sentences.
Three of them develop the general i<lea stated in
the first. Dr. Holmes cannot condense these three
into one expla1rntory sentence, as Beecher does ;
he has too much to say. By giving a sentence
to each of the three " wicks," he shows tha,t he
considers them all app1:oximately equal m unportance.
Study now another paragraph: 1

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FIRST BOOJ[ IN WRITING ENGLISH

.. / In this passage from Coleridge the first sentence is the root of the paragraph; 'a book is like
a fruit tree.' But the secontl sentence is mmle
shorter than the first, because it is to state the pith
\
of the paragraph more cl early and emphatically
than tlid the first. The meaning of the first sentence is a little vague; how a book is like a fruit
tree, it does not say. The second sentenc~ does say
how. Note, then, that a short sentence i~ always
emphatic, arnl that accordingly it shoultl be usetl to
state something that is important in the paragraph.
Study also the following paragraph : -

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It is saying less than the truth to affirm that an excellent
book (and the remark holds almost equally good of a Haphael as of a Milton) is like a well-chosen and well-tended
fruit tree. Its fruits are not of one season only. With the
due and natural intervals, we may recur to it year after

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Our chief want in life, is somebody who shall make us do
what we can. This is the service of a friend. 'Vith hint
we are easily great. There is a sublime attraction in him to
whatever virtue is in us. How he flings wide the doors of
existence ! 'Vlmt questions we ask of him ! what an understanding we have! how few words are needed I It is the
only real society. - E~rn nsoN.

In this paragraph of Emersou's, the mam ideas
are statetl in brief sentences, and the summary of
the paragraph comes in a sentence of six short
wortls. But note that in the last sentence except
one, the writer groups three clauses, because the
three co11stitnte parts of one main itlea of the
paragraph.
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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

DIVIDING A PARAGRAPH

Read the following rat~er abstruse paragraphs,
and decide as to which shows the chief divisions of
the whole thought.

I. A sentence that possesses
Unity of Substance constitutes one main step in the
development of the paragraph-idea. A main step, as
thus employed, usually means a sentence giving
one of the following: (1) the general subject of the
paragraph; (2) the general thought or assertion of
the paragraph ; (3) the repetition of a preceding
idea in new words; (4) an illustration; (5) a group
of particulars or details; (6) one proof, or term, in a
chain of reasoning; (7) a brief contrast; (8) a cause
and an effect; (9) an assertion anc;! a very brief
illustration. It would be absurd to hold these
principles of unity anxiously in mind when one is
writing. Having thoi.ight them over a little, and
taken to heart the general doctrine that the sentence should be one main step, the scholar should
trust his own sense of unity. The chief value of
any such analysis is that it may help the scholar
to give thought to his own sentences.
II. A sentence that possesses Unity of Fo1·m keeps
one cohe1·ent structure throughout, and subordinates
unimportant clauses to the important. Unity of
form does not concern the division of the paragraph
into sentences. It will be considered in Chapter
VI., under Well-knit Sentences.
Sentence Unity. -

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,,.....-- There is, first, the literature of knowledge ; and,
secondly, the literature of
power. The function of the
first is, to teach ; the function of the second is, to
move ; the first is a rudder,
the second an oar or a sail.
The first speaks to the mere
discursive understanding;
the second speaks ultimately,
it may happen, to the higher
understanding or reason, but
al ways through affections of
pleasure and sympathy.DE QUINCEY.

There is, first, the literature of knowledge. And,
secondly, the literature of
power. The function of the
first is, to teach. The function of the second is, to
move. The first is a rudder.
The second, an oar or a sail.
The first speaks to the mere
discursive
understanding.
The second speaks ultimately, it may happen, to
the higher understanding or
reason, but always through
affections of pleasure and
sympathy.

]from a study of the foregoing selections, it
becomes clear that the sentence is not its own
master. It is the servant of the paragraph. The
paragraph, having an idea to give, uses sentences
to develop this idea. A skilful writer is not in
haste to crowd into a sentence all of one large,
complex thought. The full expression of that
thought is the task of the paragraph. The sentences are the means by which its parts may be
made clear. The long sentences are for explanatory details; the short ones are for emphatic summaries or generalizations, and for rapid narrative.

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I. Unity of Substance by Excluding Irrelevant

Perhaps the first thing that is noticed in
reading hasty compo~ition, is that some sentences

Ideas. -

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FIRST BOOJ{ IN WRITING ENGLISII

DIVIDING A PARAGRAPH

are too long. Here is one, written by a lad of
fourteen. It will seem to most readers to be a sentence of infantine simplicity, such as no high school
student is in the slightest danger of perpetrnting.
1Vfy apology for giving it is that it renders every
heterogeneous sentence ridiculous.

l!eriocls are now substitnted for several of the
student's commas. That writer hacl confused these
two marks, the comma and the full stop. Such an
error may be called, for mere convenience, the comma
fault. It is readily seen that of all possible mistakes
in pu nctua,tion, the comma fault is ~he most serious
a,nd elementary. To begin a new sentence after a
comma is an infallible sign of illiteracy.

Oliver Orlando's brother did not like him and when he
heard that Orlando whipped Charles he was very angry and
was going to burn Orlando's house up with liim in it, but
,\dam, Orlando's faithful servant, ran out and told him, so
they got all the money they had and started for the forest
of Arden, when they got pretty near there Adam being so
old fainted from hunger.

The student who wrote this was not thinking of
the parts of his paragraph; he was thinking merely
of the story of As Yon Like It. He plunged aheacl
after the story, never looking behind him. The
result is. a long, rambling sentence, with several
chief thoughts in it. 'l'hese chief thoughts are
four: (1) Oliver hatefully plots to kill Orlando.
(2) Adam foils Oliver. (3) Adam aml Orlando
flee. (4) Adam at last faints. The paragraph
therefore divides into four tlecent, though childish,
sentences : Oliver, Orlando's brother, did not like him; and when he
heard that Orlando whipped Charles he was very angry, and
was going to burn Orlando's house up with him in it. But
Adam, Orlando's faithful servant, ran out and told him. So
they got together all the money they had, and started for the
forest of Arden. ·when they got pretty near there, Adam,
being so old, fainted from hunger.

Oral Exernise. -In the following passages, cor-

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rect the comma fault wherever it appears. Change
the sentences in other ways to give a more mature
tone to them.
1. I don't know what to do in such a case, it is
too hard to decide. [Change comma to semicolon. J
2. Hmneo fel.l in love at once, he couldn't help
himself, he had never seen any person so lovable.
3. So they also started for the forest of Arden
disguisetl as a countryman and ·woman, ·when they
got there they bought a house that was to l.Je soltl
at auction, once while wandering around they met
Orlando and liosalintl asketl him if it was he that
was spoiling the trees by carving love sentences on
them, and he said it was, so she said he could pretend that she was Rosalind, so he came there every
day until one day he was detained by seeing a lioness just going to spring on Oliver.
Theme. -vVrite a parag,,raph of six tp ten short'

sentences.
G

Let the first state the whole event in

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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

DIVIDING A PARAGRAPH

brief. Let the others give the steps of the action
tersely, rapidly, emphatically. Hevise for spelling
and punctuation. Suggested topics : 1. Shooting the rapids.
2. How the water comes down at the falls.
3. How the accident happened.
4. How a log-jam is broken.
5. The way to shoot a glass ball.
6. Down a hill on a wheel.
7. Sights from a car window.
8. A fall on the ice.
9. Shooting the "Chutes."
10. A runaway.
11. A flash-light photograph.
12. How the bird (or game) escaped.
13. Paul Revere's ride.
14. An exciting moment.

its parts more emphatic. At all events, while a
sentence may be very short and still constitute a
principal factor of the paragraph, sentences should
not be so brief that each is, so to speak, ·only half
a main thought. A main thougiit may be composite. Thus, it is often effective (a) to state and to
explain an idea very briefly, within the one sentence; (b) to show an extremely close relation of
·cause and effect, by stating both within the one
sentence; (c) to contrast two things very briefly
within the one sentence.
Now, a child gives his ideas in mere bits ; he
cannot express the relations of the bits to each
other. For example: -

82

II. Unity of Substance by Including all the Parts

It has already been said that a paragraph may be composed of several very short sentences, each one a main step of the paragraph,
each one a unit. ll'or example: of an Idea. -

A great silence made itself felt. Then, on a sudden, a
dry sound cracked in the air. The viscount had slapped his
adversary's face. Every one rose to interfere. Cards were
exchanged between the two.

Here, indeed, it may be that the second and third
sentences are halves of one idea, divided to make

l

My aunt was a very large woman. My uncle was a very
thin man. He was very delicate. He dwindled. I mean,
he got thinner and punier every day. And my aunt thought
a great deal of him. She wished him to get well. She gave
him a great deal of medicine. She gave him so much that
he began to get worse. He finally died.

This paragraph tells the story of how a woman
doctored her husband to death. The writer has
made eight steps in the story, which perhaps has
not really more than four main parts : (1) The
contrast between my aunt and uncle. (2) :My uncle
"dwindled" - explained by saying he _got punier
daily. (3) l\fy aunt's love, and its consequence her wish for my uncle's recovery. (4) The form
the wish took, - giving ·of medicine. (5) The

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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGL18TI

DIVIDING A PARAGRAPH

twofold result, - aggravation of the disease, then
death.
The original sentences may be comLine<l into
four. In combining .them, what pointing shall be
used instea<l of so m::111y full stops ? \Ve rna.y use
conunas, but only if we make one clause Llependent
or join two clauses or propositions by a conjunction.
"\Ve may say, for example, "1\Iy aunt was a very
large woman, and my uncle a very thin, <lelicate
man." vVe have inserted an and; this permits the
use of a comma. The result is a pretty good sentence, having one complex idea, - the contrast
between the ample lady and her slight husban<l.
But another invaluable means of showiug the
real factors of the sentence is the semicolon. The
semicolon, as was said in Chapter III., is a kind of
weak full stop. Nearly always it connects statements that are umelated and indepemlent grammatically, but intimately related in sense. In a way, 1
the semicolon connects sentences, a period separates sentences. The former sign is pl'iceless to
the writer who, when he comes to expand each
idea of his paragraph, finds the structure growing
too complicated. He has merely to place a semicolon and go ahead with a miniature new sentence,
which every reader will understand to be a pal't of
the logical unit in hand.

If we combine the eight sentences by the help
of the semicolon, we get four, souiew hat like the
following: -

I In :mo ther aml larger sense , every mark of puuctnation is
tlis juncti ve, as was sai1l on page 21.

My aunt was a very large woman ; my uncl e, on the contrary, was a very thin delicate man. He dwindled; that is,
he got thinner and punier every day. My aunt th ought a
good deal of him, and naturally she wished him to ge t well.
She gave him, accordingly, a great deal of medicine. She
gave him so much indeed that he began to get worse; aml,
finally, he <lied ..

Most students do not use the semicolon enough.
Two or three semicolon clauses, however, are sufficient for a very long sentence. If more are written
there is usually danger of encroaching upon the
next main thought of the paragraph. It is better to
write too rnany short sentences than too many long
ones.
Oral Exercise. -Consider the following paragraph,

and decide whether the main thoughts of it are nine,
as here indicated, or four. If four, the thoughts
·are: (1) Contrast between light above arnl dark
below. (2) The growing dark. (3) The faint,
weird sights and sounds that come to the narrator.
(4) His retreat from the abbey. If, having given
the matter careful thought, you think there should
be but four sentences, or if you think there is any
other fault in the punctua\iou, explain how you
would repoiut.

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DIVIDING A PARAGRAPH

The last beams of day were now faintly streaming through
the painted windows in the high vaults above me. The
lower parts of the abbey were already wrapped in the obscurity of twilight. The chapels and aisles grew darker and
darker. The efligies of the kings faded into shadows. The
marble figures of the monuments assumed strange shapes in
the uncertain light. The evening breeze crept through the
aisles like the cold breath of the grave. And even the distant footfall of a verger, traversing the Poet's Corner, had
something strange and dreary in its sound. I slowly retraced my morning's walk. And as I passed out at the
portal of the cloisters, the door, closing with a jarring noise
behind me, filled the whole building with echoes.

You dodge. You hide. You run away when the
danger comes."
Evidently the punctuation here is brgely dependent on the different states of mind. A calm,
logical attitude is reflected in the nice distinctions
conveyed 'by the colon and comma. An excitell
mood over-emphasizes each detail, and makes it a
sentence. There is sometimes need of indignant
emphasis on each detail. Perhaps therefore the
strict unity of the sentence may sometimes be
sacrificed for the sake of emphasis. Such a sacrifice however should very rarely be made.

Punctuation for Emphasis. -Below are given three

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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

ways of punctuating the same words. We may suppose the same words to be used by three different
generals.
1. General A. twirled his moustache, and spoke
softly, in his calm, unruffled way, as if he were
explaining a mathematical problem to a cadet; he
said to the solJier, " You are a coward : you shrink,
you dodge, you hide, you run away when the danger comes." He spoke meditatively, and with a
little drawl, letting his voice rise at each pause.
2. General B. looked at the solclier steadily, and
said in a sharp, decided tone : " You are a coward:
you shrink; you dodge; you hide; you mn away
when the danger comes."
3. General C. sprang up from his camp-stool,
angry and indignant. He spoke explosively and
incoherently. "You are a coward! Yon shrink.

Oral Exercise. -Consider the following paragraph

as a whole, and decide whether the sentences represent the main factors of the paragraph-thought.
If you agree that "the song of a young girl's voice"
is as important in the paragraph as several of the
other songs put together, how can this importance
be indicated by punctuation?
The first thing which Tom saw was the black cedars, high
and sharp against the rosy dawn. And St. Brandan's Isle
reflected double in the still broad silver sea. The wind sung
softly in the cedars, and the water sung among the caves.
The sea-birds sung as they streamed out into the ocean, and
the land-birds as they built among the boughs. And the
air was so full of song that it stirred St. Brandau and his
hermits, as they slumbered in the shade. And they moved .
their good old lips, and sung their good old hymn amid their
dreams. nut among all the songs one came across the water
more sweet and clear than all, for it was the song of a young
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DIVIDING A PAUAGRAPII

\Vrite a paragraph uf- four sentences
on one of the following subjects. Let the first
sentence be a general statement. Then let each
of three compound sentences group together details,
and so explain the first.
1. 'f he three parts of a tree, and their characteristics.
2. 'fhe three parts of my town.
3. A picture I like : its background, its figures,
its coloring.
4. The lunch-room.
5. A sleeping-car: the car itself, the travellers,
the porter.
6. Uses of a jack-knife: legitimate, illegitimate,
doubtful.
'
· , 7. Three men representing three kinds of true
Americanism.
8. Three great men, typically English.
9. Three great men typically Roman.
10. Three types of philanthropist.
11. Three kinds of coward.
12. Three kinds of hero.
13. Three noble American women.
14. Three women who write stories.

plex as those of Cicero. They tried to make the
sentence do the work of the paragraph. How
utterly they failed may be seen in the following
passages from Defoe and Lord Clarendon. Considering each selection as a paragraph, rewrite with
reference to unity of substance in the sentence.

Theme. -

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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

In the seventeenth century
there were many authors whose minds were full of
Latin models. These writers tried to build up m
English, an uninfiected language, sentences as comWritten Exercise. -

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1. There is one thing more remarkable in this parish, and
it is this: twenty-six sheets of lead, hanging all together,
were blown off from the middle isle of our church, and were
carried over the north isle, which is a very large one, without touching it; and into the churchyard ten yards' distance
from the church ; and they were took up all joined together
as they were on the roof ; the plumber told me that the
sheets weighed each three hundred and a half, one with
another. This is what is most observable in our parish:
but I shall give you an account of one thing (which perhaps
you may have from other hands) that happened in another,
called Kingscote, a little village about three miles from Tedbury, and seven from us: where ·wmiam Kingscote, Esq.,
has many woods ; among which was one grove of very tall
trees, being each near eighty foot high ; the which he greatly
valued for the tallness and prospect of them, and therefore
resolved never to cut them down: but it so happened, tbat
six hundred of them, within the compass of five acres were
wholly blown down; (and supposed to be much at the same
time) each tree tearing up tbe ground with its root; so that
the roots of most of the trees, with the turf and earth about
them, stood up at least fifteen or sixteen foot high; the lying
down of which trees is an amazing sight to all beholders. Defoe.
2. It is true, that as he 1 was of a most incomparable gentleness, application, and even submission to good and worthy
and entire men, so he was naturally (which could not be
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That is, Lord Falkland.

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more evident in his place, which objected him to another
conversation and intermixture than his own election would
have done) adversus malos injucundus ; and was so ill a
dissembler of his dislike and disinclination to ill men, that it
was not possible for such not to discern it. There was once,
in the House of Commons, such a declared acceptation of
the good service an eminent member had done to them and
' he'
as they said, to the whole kingdom, that it was moved,
being present, "That the speaker might, in the name of the
whole house, give him thanks, and then that every member
might, as a testimony of his particular acknowledgment, stir
or move his hat towards him ; the which (though not
ordered) when very many did, the lord Falkland (who
believed the service itself not to be of that moment, and
that an honourable and generous person could not have
stooped to it for any recompence) instead of moving his hat,
stretched both his arms out, and clasped his hands together
upon the crown of his hat, and held it close down to his
head ; that all men might see, how odious that flattery was to
him, and that very approbation of the person, though at the
same time most popular. - Clarendon .

at a tangent, if the parts of the paragraph have not
been properly thought out. The mind often works
erratically; it is pursuing a given idea ·when some
word used suggests a different line of thinking and
the train is switched off its track.
Cardinal Newman once 1note a burlesque of this
scatter-brained kind of writing. He pretends that
the lad is writing a theme on the topic, "Fortune fa..
vors the brave." In the midst of it the boy says:_..:_
Napoleon, too, shows us how little we can rely on fortune; but his faults, great as they were, are being redeemed
by his nephew, Louis Napoleon, who has shown himself
very different from what was expected, though he has never
explained how he came to swear to the constitution, _and
then mounted the imperial throne.

Unity of Substance by Keeping to the

Here the writer has not committed the comma
fault; he has not begun an independent sentence
after a comma. But he has set clown ideas irrelevant to the sentence, and, in this case, irrelevant
even to the theme.
This lack of unity often arises from putting
clown, as the sentence proceeds, the details that
occur parenthetically to the writer; he empties his
mind upon the paper. Thus: -

In a hastily written manuscript will often
be found unlike ideas joined together in one sentence. Some persons are worse than others in this
matter, but everybody, in composing rapidly, is
liable to the fault. It is amusingly easy to fly off

My aunt happened to notice, as she stood looking into
the glass and thinking how pretty she was, for she was
really pretty for one so old, that the eyes of a portrait or
one of the eyes was moving, for my aunt had a large picture
of my uncle in her room in her country-house, which was
in Derbyshire.
•

Oral Exercise. -Examine the paragraphs by Hawthorne (p. 106), Macaulay, Webster, Huxley (pp.
107-8) to see whether the sentences are units in substance. Note also the different effects produced by
long and short sentences.

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III. A.
Point. -

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Many a sentence which ends in an irrelevant
clause can be made to show unity by the insertion of
some intermediate link that occurred in the mind
but was overlooked in the writing. "Johnson wrote
political articles, and took care that the W11igs did
not get the best of it," becomes a unit if we supply
a few words : "Johnson wrote political articles, and
in those which referred to pctrlimnentary debates took
care that the Whigs did not get the best of it."
In other words, a sentence must not merely
include the expressed parts of a main thought,
as in the second kind of unity of substance; it
must express every part of the main thought.
B.

'fi·im the following sentences
into shape, so that each shall be a unit. If neces'sary, divide the sentence.
1. He was young; but his foolishness stood him
in good stead.
2. The cholera in Egypt is assuming a more
loathsome form, among the dead being Major
Roddy Owen, the famous Uganda explorer.
3. 'fhe delegates, wearied by the excitement of
the past week, have hurried to their homes, a
few remaining for all the business men have
been making unusual displays in spite of the hard
times.
4. The new light is placed upon a gas-jet, which
supplies the gas to a curious film, which is matle o.~

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Oral Exercise. -

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some chemically prepared substance that becomes
incandescent, not having to be changed oftener
than twice a year, if you are careful with it.
5. The electric lights, which are of the Edison
pattern, are not burned later than six o'clock.
They are more convenient than gas, and they come
packed in straw.

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following sentences are uni.ts or not. Indicate
which form of sentence unity each has or lacks
Suggest improvements.
1. In the midst of life we are m death, and it
has been said that the tariff is a tax.
2. J esu ! J esu ! Dead ! - he drew a good bow ;
- and dead ! - he shot a fine shoot: - John of
Gaunt loved him well, and betted much money on
his head. - 2 Jienry IV., Act III., Sc. 2, 1. 48.
. 3. He had one claw knohbed and the other
jagged; and Tom delighted in watching him hold
on to the sea-weed with his lrnobbed claYr, while
he cut up salads with his jagged one, and then put
them into his mouth, after smelling at them, like a
monkey, and always the little barnacles threw out
their casting nets and swept the water, and came
in for their share of whatever there was for dinner.
4. Vve were now thoroughly broken down, but
the intense excitement of the time denied us repose,
•
and after a unique slumber of some three or four

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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

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hours' duration, we arose, as if by pre~oncert, to
make examination of our treasure.
5. Thou didst swear to me upon a parcel-gilt
[partly-gilt] goblet, sitting in my Dolphin-chamber,
at the round table, by a sea-coal fire, upon vVednesday in vVhitsun week, when the prince broke thy
head for likening his father to a singing man of
Windsor ; thou didst swear to me then, as I was
washing thy wound, to marry .me, and make me
my lady thy wife. -2 Henry IV., Act II., Sc. 1,
1. 94.
6. There was something in the tone of this note
which gave me great uneasiness. Its whole style
differed materially from that of Legrand; what
could he be dreaming of? what new crotchet possessed his excitable brain? what "business of the
highest importance" could he possibly have to transact?. Jupiter's account of him boded no good; I
dreaded lest the continued pressure of misfortune
had, at length, fairly unsettled the reason of my
friend ; without a moment's hesitation, therefore,
I prepared to accompany the negro.
7. And in that country is an old castle, that
stands upon a rock, the which is cleped the Castle
of the sparrowhawk, that is beyond the city of
Layas, beside the town of Parsipee, that belongeth
to the lordship of Cruk; that 1 is a rich lord and
a good Christian man; where men find a sparrow-

hawk upon a perch right fair, and right well made;
and a fair Lady of l!..,ayryre, that keepeth it. -fifan-

1 This

"that" is demonstrative.

deville.
8. And thus will the city have more lights on
the subject, and what will be a gain in lighting to
the city will be a greater loss in cash, and the city's
loss will be the Water vVorks company's gain, and
we are glad of it so far as the company is concerned,
for the company was put off and were refused a
renewal of its contract with the city at terms that
were most reasonable, and the company will also
make up for lost time now in good shape.

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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISII

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In every complex. sentence there is some one
proposition that ought to stand out, with the
high light upon it. This is the thing we most
wish to say; to change the comparison, it is the
heart of the sentence. If the other parts can
be made subordinate to it, the strongest kind of
sentence unity is secured. In the sentence, "It
rained; it snowed; it hailed; they did not weary
of winter," all the assertions are stated as equally
important. But, clearly enough, the last one is the
kernel of the sentence. Therefore the preceding
clauses ought to be reduced to their proper rank
by being made dependent.
•

little man in a beautiful white wig; I knew well that
ba1·bers were great gossips, and I asked him plainly
what kind of a man was Mr. Balfour of the Shaws.
5. In these days folk still believed in witches
and trembled at a curse; and this curse fell pat,
like a wayside omen, to arrest me; it took the pith
out of my legs.
G. I was called in at last; my uncle counted out
into my hand seven and thirty golden guinea pieces.
7. I had come close to one of the turns in the
stair; I felt my way as usucil; my hand slipped
upon an edge and found nothing but emptiness
beyond it.
8. I returned to the kitchen; I made np such a
blaze as had not shone there for many a long year ;
I wrapped. myself in my plaid; I lay down upon
the chests and fell asleep.

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Oral Exercise. -Examine the following compound

sentences, to decide whether or not there is in each
some important thought to which the others ought
to have been subordinated. Then improve the
unity b,y reducing the subordinate ideas to dependent clauses having a participle, or a relative adverb
like when.
1. Love is blind; it is not for want of eyes.
2. The soldiers were perhaps somewhat sleepy
with the sultriness of the afternoon; they had
now laid by much of their vigilance.
3. I spied an honest fellow coming along a lane,
and asked him if he had ever heard of a house
called the house of Shaws.
4. The next person I came across was a dapper

The So Construction. -The conjunction so is a

useful word, and the learner prefers it to its synonyms, therefore and consequently, because it is
simpler, less formal than e~ther. But in a narrative which is liberally besprinkletl with so's the
reader feels that the simplicity is overdone. Here
is an extreme example.
A short time afterward my uncle died ; so my aunt went
to her country-house in Derbyshire. She did not wish to be
alone in the country ; so she took her servants. When they
got there they found the house very lonely ; so the maids
did not want to stay, but they d,id.

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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLJSII

Examine the sentences just quoted, and show
the relations between the clauses by other tlevices
than the use of so.
So, as a conjunction, shoultl be employed very
sparingly. - '¥hen it is employed, it should usually
be preceded by a seniicolon rather tlw n a comma.
Oral Exercise. -A careful writer is known by

his use of conjunctions: he does not use and unless
the clauses joinetl are co-ortlinate; nor but unless
there is a real opposition; nor a given subordinate
conjunction unless it is actually required by logic.
In the subjoined selections from Huskin the original
conjunctions have been changed to those in italics.
Find better expressions for those italicized.
1. In employing all the muscular power at our disposal
we are to make the employments we choose as educational
as possible.
Consequently a wholesome human employment is the first and best method of education, mental as
well as bodily. A man taught to plough, row, or steer well,
moreover a woman taught to cook properly, and make a
dress neatly, are already educated in many essential moral
habits. Labour considered as a discipline has hitherto been
thought of only for criminals, therefore the real and noblest
function of labour is to prevent crime, but not to be Reformatory, but Formatory. - RusK1N.
2. "\Ve must spend onr money in some way, at some time,
accordingly it cannot at any time be spent without employing somebody. While we gamble it away, the person who
wins it must spend it ; while we lose it in a railroad speculation, it has gone into some one else's pockets, or merely
~one to pay navvies for making a useless embankment, but

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ON WELL-KNIT SENTENCES

101

not to pay riband or button makers for making useless
ribands or buttons; we canno_t lose it (unless by actually
destroying it) and not give employment of some kind;
nevertheless whatever quantity of money exists, the relative
quantity of employment must some day come out of it;
and the distress of the nation signifies that the employments given have produced nothing that will support its existence. Men cannot live on ribands, or buttons, or velvet,
or by going quickly from place to place ; but every coin
spent in useless ornament, or useless motion, is so much
withdrawn from the national means of life.-RusK1N.

One Coherent Structure. - ·vv e have seen that to
be well-knit a sentence must have that unity of
form which gives every thought its proper clauserank. It must also be uniform in structure. There
should be 110 suduen, unnecessary change in subject, or in the form of the verb. Sometimes a sentence is pulled about by the mind as a child by a
cross nurse. It begins in the active voice, it is
twitched aside into the passive. It begins as the
act of one person, it ends as that of another. Even
so aumirable a writer as John Fiske has this sentence: "But Howe could not bear to acknowledge
the defeat of his attempts to storm, and accordingly, at five o'clock, with genuine British persistency, a third attack was orderetl." This "British
persistency" is eviuently Howe's. vVhy not give
him full credit for it, thus?-" But Howe could
not bear to acknowledge the defeat of his attempts
to storm anu accordingly, at five o'clock, with gen'
uine British persistency he ortlercd a third attack."

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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISII

Oral Exercise. -Change the following sentences

so that each shall have unity of form.
1. A blue pencil? there is nothing so easy for
an editor to manage, so unmistakable in reading, so
wholly impressive to a contributor when he sees it.
2. Tom and East . became good friends, ancl the
tyranny of a certain insolent fellow was stun.lily
resistecl by them together.
3. You will see no sudden je11rn of the St. Ambl"ose rudder, nor will any clumsy rouncling of a
point be seen.
4. Miller, motionless till now, lifts his right
hand and the tassel is whirlecl round his head.
5. Thorold had just read the account of John
Inglesant's vision of the deacl King Charles. He
disliked the iclea of spending the night in the old
country house, and still more to go through the
tapestriecl chamber; but it was immediately· determined by him that such an invitation must not
be refused.
The passage given at the
beginning of the chapter, from Mandeville, is written in what are callecl loose sentences. Loose as
appliecl to a sentence, does not necessarily mean
that the sentence is bad, -that it is rambling or
disjointe(l. A loose sentence is one in which
an inclependent statement comes first, followed by
others, depenclent or independent. Example:
The Loose Sentence. -

ON WELL-KNIT SENTENCES

103

•'And some men say that in the Isle of Lango is
yet the daughter of Hippocrates, in form aml likeness of a great dragon, that is a hundretl fathom of
length, as men say: for I have not seen her." In
this sentence comes first a proposition, - "And
some men say," followed by several subordinate
clauses, and by one independent clause, - "for I
have not seen her." The test of a loose sentence
is a grammatical one: the sentence can be closecl at
some point before the encl, without hurting the
grammatical structure. At what places in the
sentence just quoted is the grammatical structure
complete ?
The loose sentence is used freely in conversation.
The speaker gives his main idea first, and qualifies
it afterward. Therefore the legitimate effect of
the loose sentence is to lend an air of simplicity,
a colloquial air, to the style. The danger is that
it may become a mere sequence of clauses, that
dangle insecurely, each from the preceding, like
needles hanging from a magnet. A void long loose
sentences.
Examine the sentence by Defoe, p. 89. It is a
fine example of what a loose sente11ce should not be.
In the sentence, " A
short time afterwarcl my uncle clied ; so my aunt
went to her country-house in Derbyshire," the
grammatical structure is complete at "diecl." But
The Periodic Sentence. -

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if the two clauses be welded together by because,
they will no longer be grammatically free. Thus:
H Becaiise my uncle died shortly afterward, my aimt
went to her coimtr'Jl-house in Derbyshire." This
sentence is periodic in form. A periotlic sentence
is a complex sentence in which the modifiers of
the verb precetle the verb. The effect of this
structure is to tlelay the main idea of the sentence until the last. 1 Obviously, if too many
subordinate itleas occur before the main one, the
mintl of the reader will weary with the tension
of expectation. Short periodic sentences however
are extremely effective in arousing the reader's
attention antl holtling it till the important itlea
is stated. It is plain that good periodic structure
is highly conducive to unity in the sentence: each
subordinate itlea is held in its proper place of subordination till the main idea is stated, and on the
reader is flashed a pleasant sense that the structure
has grown naturaJly into one complete whole.

105

Oral Exercise. -Below are given some gootl pGri-

odic sentences. 1 Give equivalent loose sentences.
Decide whether or not the loose are better than
the periodic.
1. At this moment a large, comfortable white
house, that had been heretofore hidden by green
trees, came into view.
[Changed, this might read : "A large, comfortable white
house had been heretofore hidden by green trees; it came
into view at this moment.'' J

2. Off went Timothy's hat.
3. And it was to this household that Timothy
had brought his child for adoption.
4. Gay, not being used to a regular morning
toilet, had fought against it valiantly at first.
5. If you care to feel a warm glow in the region
of your heart, imagine little Timothy Jessup sent
to play in that garden.
6. Yet of an evening, or on Sunday, she was 110
village gossip.

Examine the oral exercise on
pages 98, 99, and say which sentences were made
periodic in the effort to improve their unity.
Oral Exercise. -

The following passage, from
Hawthorne, is written in excellent loose sentences.
Change to periodic all of them that can be so
changed without hurting the ease of structure.
Whatever else it be, a periodic sentence should
never be strained or unnatural.
Oral Exercise. -

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Sometimes a simple sentence is called periodic. This is
when the natural order of subject and predicate is inverted.
Thus: "Great is Diana of the Ephesians." Indeed, the attributive position of the adjective is sometimes called periodic, because it delays the noun-idea. A long sentence is sometimes
periodic up to a certain point, then loose; sometimes the opposite is true.

1 Sentences that are in the main periodic may ordinarily be
given this name.

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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISll

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Then Theseus bent himself in good earnest to the task,
and strained every sinew with manly strength and resolution.
He put his whole brave heart into the effort. He wrestled
with the big and sluggish stone as if it had been a living
enemy. He heaved, he lifted, he resolved now to succeed,
or else to perish there, and let the rock be his monument
forever ! JEthra stood gazing at him, and clasped her hands,
partly with a mother's pride, and partly with a mother's sorrow. The great rock stirred! Yes, it was raised slowly
from the bedded moss and earth, uprooting the shrubs and
flowers along with it, and was tumed upon its side. Theseus
had conquered !

1. He who walks in the way these following ballads point
will be manful in necessary fight, fair in trade, loyal in love,
generous to the poor, tcuder in the ho7isehold, prudent in
living, plain in speech, merry upon occasion, simple in behavior, and honest in all things. - LANrnn.
2. ·while Johnson was busied with his Idlers, his mother,
who had accomplished her ninetieth year, died at Lichfield.
It was long since he had seen her; but he had not failed to
contribute largely, out of his small means, to her comfort.
In order to defray the charges of her funeral, and to pay
some debts which she had left, he wrote a little book in a
single week, and sent off the sheets to the press without
reading them over. A hundred pounds were paid him for
the copyright; ·and the purchasers had great cause to be
pleased with their bargain, for the book was "Hasselas."
-1\IACA ULA Y : Life of Johnson.
3. :Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report ; if there be any
virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
- Philippians.
4. "Sir, you may destroy this little institution; it is
weak ; it is in your hands ! I know it is one of the lesser
lights in the literary horizon of our country. You may put
it out. But, if you do so, you must carry through your
work I You must extinguish, one after another, all those
greater lights of science which, for more than a century,
have thrown their radiance over our land! It is, Sir, as I
have said, a small college. And yet there are those who
love it." - 'V1msnm.
5. Sir, let me recur to pleasing recollections; let me
indulge in refreshing remembrance of the past; let me remind you that, in early times, no States cherished greater
harmony, both of principle and feeling, than 1\fassaclmsetts
and South Carolina. Would to Goel that harmony might
again return I Shoulder to shoulder they we11t thrnugh the

It is foolish to use an
elaborate suspended structure when a very simple
thought or a very rapid narrative is to be given.
Note the pomposity of the followi'ng sentences.
Remove it by changing the structure.
"Three summers ago, to rejoin my family in
northern Michigan, I left the city. On a little
peninsula which juts out into Lake Michigan, a
group of houses, dignified by the name of Edgewood, stands. Undistracted by the bustle of hotel
life, a few sensi~le people live here. To get away
from town for a few days and lounge in the pine
woods about Edgewood, to me is always very
pleasant."

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periodic, (b) wholly loose, or (c) partly loose and
partly periodic. \Vh en t!te last is the case, show
at what point the change of strncture occurs.

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109

If

Revolution; hand in hand they stood round the admiuistration of Washington, and felt his own great arm lean on
them for support. Unkind feeling, if it exist, alienation
and distrust, are the growth, unnatural to such soils of
false principles since sown. They arc weeds, the seed~ of
which that same great arm never scattered. - "\V 1rnsnm.
6. That man, I think, has had a liberal education, who
has been so trained in youth that his body is the ready
servant of his will, and does with ease am! pleasure all the
work that, as a mechanism, it is capable of; whose intellect
is a clear, cold, logic engine, with all its parts of equal
strength, and in smooth working order; ready, like a
steam engine, to be turned to any kind of work, and spin
the gossamers as well as forge the anchors of the mind;
whose mind is stored with a knowtedge of the great and
fundamental truths of Nature and of the laws of her operations; one who, no stunted ascetic, is full of life and fire,
but whose passions are trained to come to heel by a vigorous
will, the servant of a tender conscience ; who has learned to
love all beauty, whether of Nature or of art, to hate all vileness, and to respect others as himself. - HuxLEL
7. If then the power of speech is a gift as great as any
that can be named, - if the origin of language is by many
philosophers even considered to be nothing short of divine, if by means of words the secrets of the heart are brought
to light, pain of soul is relieved, hidden grief is carried off,
sympathy conveyed, counsel imparted, experience recorded,
and wisdom perpetuated, - if by great authors the many
are drawn up into unity, national character is fixed, a
people speaks, the past and the future, the East and the
West are brought into communication with each other, if such men are, in a word, the spokesmen and prophets of
the human family, - it will not answer to make light of
Literature or to neglect its study ; rather we may be sure
that, in proportion as we master it in whatever language,
and imbibe its spirit, we shall ourselves become in our own
measure the ministers of like benefits to others, be they

many or few, be they in the obscurer or the more distinguished walks of life, - who arc united to ns by social ties,
and arc within the sphere of our personal influence. CARDINAL N1nv111AN.1

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Oral Exercise.-Each of the p:1Ssages given above
should be read aloud as a whole, to get the effects
produced by the different types of sentence. In
the first passage note that the first clause arouses
interest by the periodic structure.
So do the
first and third sentences in the second passage ;
but the third and fourth-loose- have a fine simplicity that adtls to the weight of their subject
matter. The third passage moves up steadily to
an impressive point, - the wortl tlu'.nk. The fourth
passage is extremely tlirect and earnest. \\r ebster
is pleading for his Alrna Jl.fater, Dartmouth; is
making an appeal, straight from his heart. Almost
choked with emotion, he has no desire to frame
periodic sentences and nicely subortlinated clauses.
In the fifth passage he is perhaps equally direct;
but he is master of himself, and his sentences are
somewhat more elaborate. In the sixth passage,
Huxley gets a steadily increasing strength of
thought, but not of structure. Cardinal N ewrnan,
on the other hand, builds up his period with superb
suspense both of form and thought.
Written Exercise.-Change the sentence by Huxley into the periodic form. This can be done by
1 The longer passages to which the last two selections belong
may be found iu Genung's Rheto1:';,cal Analysis.

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FIBST BOOK IN JVBITING ENGLISJI

changing the orcler of clauses, ancl beginning each
suborclinate clause with if, or with suppose, or with
a relative.
A sentence cannot
be called well-knit if it cloes not succeecl in calling
most attention to the most important iclea. We
have seen alreacly how important it is to put the
unimportant parts of the sentence into subordinate clauses. How ~nay further emphasis be
hacl?
The beginning and the end of the sentence are
the most prominent places. Important words
shoulcl usually stancl in these places. Rarely
should these points be covered up with trivial
expressions. Compare two sentences. "As a matter of fact, it is bread, rather than advice, that
people actually neecl, in this city." " Bread it is,
rather than aclvice, that, in this city, people ac-·
tually need."
Attention can always be called to a word by
placing it out of the orclinary, commonplace orcler.
The 1:nverted orcler, where verb prececles the noun,
or preclicate acljective prececles the verb, frequently
permits emphasis to be put just where it is wanted.
The oft-quoted example is as good a one as can
be found : " Great is Diana of tho Ephesians ! "
How much better it is, how much yreater the cry
is than, "Diana of the Ephesia11s is great! "
Emphasis in the Sentence. -

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Oral Exercise. - "'Which of the following sentences

from Ruskin begin ancl end with words tlrnt deserve
distinction ? 1
"For all books are divisible into two classes,- the
books of the hour, and the books of all time. Mark
this distinction; it is not one of quality only. It
is not merely the bacl book that does not la.st, ancl
the good one that does; it is a distinction of species.
There are good books for the hour, and good ones
for all time; bad books for the hour, and bad ones
for all time. I must define the two kincls before I
go farther."
Change the orcler of words in the
following sentences so as to throw more emphasis
on the italicized words. Avoid infringement of
English idiom in making the changes.
1. It is conraye that wins.
2. Never say die, uncler any circumstances.
3. Yet he stoocl beautiful and bright, as born to
rule the storm.
4. A rascal, nothing more or less, he was.
5. Gilpin went away, ancl the post boy went
away.
6. The English chilcl is white as an angel.
7. vVhen wilcl northwesters rave on storm.y nights
With wincl and wave how prond a thing to fight.
Oral Exercise. -

1 The phrase, "words that deserve distinction," is Professor
Barrett Wendell's. See his English Composition, p. 103 (Scriuner's).
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8. \V"hat a piece of work nian is!
9. Trafalgar lay, full in face, bluish mid the
burning water.
10. He repeatedly pronounced these words, and
they were the last which he uttered.
11. The king said, "Alas, help me from hence."
12. Man is the paragon of animals, the beauty of
the world.
13. What a place an old library is to be in. It
seems as though all the souls of all the writ~rs
that have bequeathed their labors to these Bodleians, as in some middle state or dormitory, were
reposing here. I do not want to handle, to profane
their winding sheet, the leaves. I could a shade as
soon dislodge. ·
Climax. - '£he principle of climax demands that
in a series of related terms the weaker degree
should precede the stronger. Southey says of Lord
Nelson's being permitted to live to hear the news
of his great victory : "'£hat consolation, that joy,
that triumph, was afforded him." By these three
nouns the reader ascends, as if by a ladder - climax
is merely Greek for ladder. Endeavor to discover
the original order in which the following sentences
were written to secure climax. Changing them by
slight omissions, weave them together into two
sentences.
"The most triumphant death is that of the

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martyr. '£he most splendid death is that of the
hero in the hour of victory. If the chariot and
the horses of fire had been vouchsafed for N elson's translation, he could scarcely have departed in a brighter blaze of glory. The most
awful death is that of the martyred patriot.
He has left us, not indeed his mantle of inspiration, but an example which will continue to be our
shield and our strength, and a name which is our
pride - an example and a name which are at this
hour inspiring hundreds of the youth of Englaml."
Which of the sentences qtwted oi.1 pages 107, 108,
have climax of thought?
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CHAPTER VII
ON ORGANIZING THE THEME

Different Ways of Planning. -There are various

kinds of composition, -description, narration, argument, and others. These will be treated one by
one in later chapters. Each kind has laws of its
own. Each has its own vocabulary, which may
well be studied apart from other vocabularies. Sw
too, each type calls for special methods of organization. For the present, only a few principles of
planning, applicable to all types alike, need be consiuerecl.
The Growth of a Thought. - When a thought is
first conceiveu, it is always misty, dim, nebulous. 1
When we speak of having a "general notion," a
"vague notion," we usually mean that a thought is
just beginning. If it receives attention, it emerges
from the nebulous conuition and forms into several
definite thoughts. Or, to change the figure, it
1

See also Scott and Denney, Composition-Rhcturic, p. 72 fI.
Teachers will be iuterested to compare au a.rticlo by Miss Gertrude Buck, Educational Review, March, 1887. The matter is
touched upo~1 in the Hist01·y of the English Paragrnph, by the
author of tlns book, p. 43 et al. (Uuiv. of Chicago Press).
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grows arnl branches. Suppose that the mind
awakes to the vague notion that the room is getr
ting cold. Cold is the ·uncleveloped root from which
may presently branch off such thoughts as these:
" Yes, it is really cold. In fact, I feel cold all over.
My hands are blue, and I am shivering. Besides,
Horace over there is standing with his back to the
radiator, and so he too must be cold." The thought
has grown into several sentences. Cold branched
into I mn cold all over, and this also sent off two
shoots - lily hancls ore blue, ancl I con shh:ering.
Then the mind stopped this line of branching, and
out from the stock sprang a new branch: Hornce is
standing with his back to the radiator). and then this
sends off the branch and so he too must be cold.
Try to draw a picture to represent the process that
has gone ·on.
Now, the whole growth of a thought - stock and
branches - can sometimes be expressed within
the limits of one grammatical sentence. If there
are too many thoughts for this, they are put into
separate sentences, and the '.vhole is called a miniature composition, or isolated paragraph.
Exactly as a paragraph grows, so a long composition may grow out of one vague idea. Some ideas
have in them only enough matter to be developed
into a paragraph. Others are germs from which
whole books might grow. "That apple looks good"
would probably develop into a short paragraph ;

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but, "it is strange that that apple should fall to the
earth instead of awa.y from it" might blossom into
a great system of natural philosophy. If a nebulous idea has in it the making of a long theme, it
will develop into main parts if the a.ttention be
fixed keenly upon it. These are paragraph nebulm,
which will subdivide into sentences. Or, to vary
the figure, the main thought will send out main
branches (paragraphs) which will send off lesser
ones (sentences).
Unity.-Although thought grows, one must keep
in mind that it does not always grow to fruit unless
it is trained and prunecl. Thought loves to branch,
and unless rcstrainecl by a stern sense of logic, it
will often encl in a mere tangle of superfluous twigs
and leaves. To speak less figuratively, every writer
is in danger of setting down matters suggested by
the subject in hand but not logically related to it.
This is as true of a large piece of work as of a
sentence (compare page 90). Every theme, like
every sentence, should have unity. It should be
the development of one idea - a large, complex
idea, if you please, but, nevertheless, one. No
matter how long or how short the whole, it must
all concern the different phases of one thing
or one thought. It should grow irntura11y from
one germ. Every part in it should bea.r on the
central idea of the whole- so that, after reading

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117

any given sentence, the reader can see a. real connection between title and sentence. A well-orga.nized composition cannot spare any part; each is
essential to its life. Milton said, "Almost as well
kill a man as kill a good book" ; a.nd we may
adapt this idea to the structure of the theme. A
good composition is so well organized that if you
cut it anywhere it wi11 bleed.
Planning a Paragraph. -Before writing a paragraph, try to think out the whole of it. Let the
thought grow in the mind before you let it grow
on paper. This method will afford a chance to review the whole mentally and to determine whether
the thoughts fo11ow each other logically.
The Topic Sentence. - "'W hen an after-dinner
speaker rises to respond to a toast, he generally
announces his topic at once, or after a sentence or
two of introduction. He is very likely also to announce at once his chief thought about the subject;
for he knows that people like to hear him come to
the point. If however he has reason to think
tha.t his hearers may not agree with him immediately, he is likely to state his subject first, and
then lead up gradually to his own conclusion
about it.
We naturally fo11ow some such course in writing.
With each paragraph we begin a new speech, as it
were. It is a matter both.of courtesy and of econ-

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omy if in each we state definitely what we are
talking about. The topic sentence of a paragraph
ordinarily states the general snbject, or else declares the general thought, i.e. conclusion, of the
whole. It is generally short, because emphatic.
The following paragraph shows its general subject in the opening sentence.
A Tree-Planting Association has been organized in New
York City. The Association will be organized with twelve
or more members on a block, who will form a local club
under the Association. A tree-planting association may, in
this city, fail to plant trees, but it certainly will encourage
the planting of window boxes, the fencing of unused lots,
the painting of fences to the exclusion of posters, and the
general care of the public street. Back yards will assume
some relation to the general good of the community, and
trees, vines, and flowers will find place in them. The children will be taught to care for the appearance of the block,
and chalk-marks and other defacements will soon disappear,
because of new-born civic pride. - The Outlook.

In the following paragraph, Macaulay does not
state his topic till the second sentence. The first
is a general remark by way of introduction.
One of the first objects of an inquirer, who wishes to
form a correct notion of the state of a community at a given
time, must be to ascertain of how many persons that community then consisted. Unf01·tunately the population of
England in 168 5, cannot be ascertained with pc11cct accu1·acy. :For no great state had then adopted the wise course
of periodically numbering the people. All men were left
to conjecture for themselves; and, as they generally conjectured without examining facts, and under the inilucnce

of sLrong pasfiioni'i aml prejudices, Lheir guesses were often
ludicrmrnly absurd. Even intelligent Londoners ordinarily
talked of London as containing several millions of souls.
It was confiuently assertcu by many that., during the thirtyJive yeal's which had clapseu between the accession of Charles
the First and the Hestoration, the population of the City had
increased by two millions. Even while the ravages of the
plague and fire were recent, it was the fashion to say that
the capiLal still had a million and a half of inhabitants.
Some persons, disgusted by these exaggerations, ran violently into the opposite extreme. Thus Isaac \rossius, a
man of undoubted parts and learning, strenuously maintained that there were only two millions of human beings
in England, Scotland, and Ireland taken together. MACAULAY: Ilistory of England, Chaptc1· III.

In the following paragraph, the topic sentence
states the general thought of the whole.
The appetite of this fish is almost insatiable. Mr. Jesse
threw to one pike of. five pounds' weight, four roach, each
about four inches in length, which it devoured instantly, and
swallowed 1 a fifth within a quarter of an hour. l\Ioor-hens,
ducks, and even swans have been known to fall a prey to
this voracious fish, its long teeth effectually keeping them
prisoners under water until drowned. - Dn. J. G. \Voon.

The following paragraph states in the topic sentence the general snbject, in the last sentence the
general thonght, which has grown out of the subject.
Two years ago the Boston School Board encouraged the
establishment of cheap luncheons in the schools. Up to the
1 Is there not some ambiguity as to the grammatical structure
here ? Swallowecl is logically the act performed by it, the fish,
but grammatically it may be takeu with - - ? Remedy the
fault.
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the future through rosy lenses; they build castles
in Spain. But great plans that can't be carried
out are of less value than small, practicable
plans; the future is never just what it promises
to be; and as for castles in Spain, of what. value
are they to owners who can neither rent nor mhabit them?
2. - - - - - - - - - - - - - It is
not, observe, a mere coating of snow of given depth
throughout, but it is snow loaded on until the rocks
can hold no more. The surplus does not fall in the
winter, because, fastened by continual frost, the
quantity of snow which an Alp can carry is greater
than each single winter can bestow; it falls in the
first mild days of spring in enormous avalanches.
Afterward the melting continues, gradually remov. ing from all the steep rocks the small quantity of
snow which was all they could hold, and leaving
them black and bare among the accumulated fields
of unknown depth, which occupy the capacious valleys and less inclined superficies of the mountain.

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Oral Exercise. -Analyze the following narrative
paragraphs from Irving's Sketch-Book, endeavoring
to discover what office each sentence performs in
the paragraph.
"We had not been long home when the sound
of music was heard from a distance. A band of
country lads, without coats, their shirt-sleeves

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125

fancifully tied with ribbons, their hats decorated
with greens, and clubs in their hands, were seen
advancing up the avenue, followed by a large
number of villagers and peasantry. They stopped
. before the hall door, where the music struck up
.a peculiar air, and the lads performed a curious
and intricate dance, advancing, retreating, and
striking their clubs together, keeping exact time
to the music; while one, whimsically crowned with
a fox's skin, the tail of which flaunted down his
back, kept capering round the skirts of the dance,
and rattling a Christmas-box with many antic
gesticulations."
"After the dance was concluded, the whole party
was entertained with brawn and beef and stout
home-brewed. The 'Squire himself mingled among
the rustics, and was received with awkward demonstrations of deference and regard. It is true,
I perceived two or three of the younger peasants, as they were raising their tankards to their
mouths, when the 'Squire's bar,k was turned, making some.thing of a grimace, and giving each other
the wink; but the moment they caught my eye
they pulled grave faces, and were exceedingly demure. With Master Simon, however, they all
seemed more at their ease. His varied occupations and amusements had made him well known
throughout the neighborhood. He was a visitor
at every farm-house and. cottage; gossiped with

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the farmers and their wives; romped with their
daughters; and, like that type of a vagrant bachelor, the humble-bee, tolled the sweets from all the
rosy lips of the country round."
Theme. - Choose one of the following topic sentences, and develop the idea coherently, by a succession of illustrations, of details, or of particulars,
into a paragraph of 150 words.
1. The ghosts one hears of are not all alike.
2. In some respects, athletics are dangerous.
3. It was a dreary day.
4. It was one of those mornings that stir the
blood.
5. There are battles with fate that can never be
won.
6. "A dog hath his day," mns the old proverb.
7. It is easy to enumerate the ways of getting
a lesson.
8. The race is not al ways to the swift.
9. There are many instances of bravery in everyday life.
10. Many phases of American life are il.lustrated
in American short stories.

Choose one of the following topic sentences, and defend it by giving reasons, proofs, to
the extent of 150 or 200 words.
1. On the whole, school athletics are a good
thing.
Theme. -

127

2. Vivisection is necessary to science.
3. Vivisection is cruel and unnecessary.
4. None but scientists are competent to decide
whether or not vivisection is necessary to science.
5. If necessary to science, vivisection should be
practised only when necessary.
6. A debating society is a help in education.
7. The American Revolution is an uninteresting
theme topic.
8. The American Revolution is not an uninteresting theme topic.
[Other sentences can easily be suggested by stu-,
dents or teacher.]
Theme. - Develop one of the following topi.c
sentences into a paragraph of contrast, - 200
words.
1. There is a difference between knowing a
thing, and being able to tell it.
2. Outside the wild winds were rioting; within
all was cheer.
3. I saw an old man holding his granddaughter
in his arms.
4. I know two persons : one is a dreamer, the
other a doer.
5. Hawthorne [or some other writer] has two
characters that are strong foils to each other.
6. I imagined what was going on in those two

houses.

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7. Some men are always hopeful, some always
in despair.
8. I knew two men of very unlike abilities.
9. I knew two persons of very unlike dispositions;
10. The great choir presented fine contrasts m
color of garments.

Suppose, now, that Dr. Wood found himself dissatisfied with these somewhat cramped and overloaded sentences, and determined to rewrite, making
three paragraphs where he had formerly but one.
In the new theme, the main topics would be, as
before: Definition of Crustacea; Annual shedding;
Reproduction of Linibs. Each would have a paragraph to itself, where before it had but a sentence.
All the sentences to be made about the Definition
would be set off by themselves as one main part
of the theme; all those about the Shedding would
form a second; all those about the New Limbs, a
third.
" Set off" ; - that is, by indentatfon, or indention.
This word means, "a biting in," or, more properly,
"a biting out." Where a new division of the theme
begins, the first line does not come up plumb to
the straight edge at the left; it is bitten into; it
begins farther to the right than do the other lines.
In the printed book, the indentation is small-usually the width of a letter ni. But in a manuscript
it is important for the indentation to be absolutely
unmistakable. Some persons keep so ragged an
edge at the left hand that it is impossible to know
whether or not they should be credited with understanding what a paragraph is. Indent each new
paragraph one or two inches. Bring every line of
the paragraph, except the last, up even with the
right-hand margin; the last line may be stopped

Expansion of Ono Paragraph into Several. - Let
it be supposed that having composed a theme of
one paragraph, a student has been asked to develop
the subject at greater length; the paragraph has 85
words, and the audience wants 200, or 225. What
will be the right course? It is possible to expand
one paragraph of 85 words into one paragraph of
225 words. But if the paragraph of 85 words has
two or three distinct parts, it is better to expand
each into a new paragraph.
Let it be imagined that Dr. Wood, the English
naturalist, had written a very short paragraph on
the Crustacea; that it ran somewhat like this.
THE CRUSTACEA

The aquatic animals known as the Crustacea have no
internal skeleton, but are defended by a strong crust, made
of a series of rings. This unyielding armor, together with
the coverings of the eyes, the tendons of the claws, and the
lining membrane of the stomach, with its teeth, is cast off
annually to permit the growth of the body. The Crustacea
possess the power of reproducing a lost or original limb;
and, indeed, if injured the animal itself shakes off the injured
joint.

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anywhere, if the paragraph is complete il.1 sense;
often this line has but a word or two. · If at any
time you inadvertently omit the indentation, and
have not time to copy, place a paragraph mark
where the new paragraph should begin; thus, ~.
A rough outline for Dr. VVood's new paragraphs
could now be made. The topics being known, the
number of sentences under each could be guessed
at. There is nothing in the original paragraph to
show that Dr. Vv ood ascribed especial importance
to some one of the three topics. The third is
perhaps the least important. It may be estimated.
that in the completed theme he would give about
80 words to each of the first two, and about 50 to the
third. The outline would be somethin(T like this
b
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the full stops representing those of the futme
theme.
THE CRUSTACEA

if Crustacea are aquatic. No skeleton, but crust, which
protects and strengthens. Framework of rings ; part develops into limbs. Articulated animals.
if Curious way of growth. Other animals not inconvenienced as they grow. Not so Crustacea. Mail unyielding.
Is cast off annually and larger coat grows. Eye-covering,
tendons, stomach-membrane are also shed.
if Curious reproduction of lost or injured limb. New one
grows if old lost; animal shakes off injured joint. Lobsters
do, when alarmed.

As a matter of fact, Dr. Wood did write a short
chapter on the Crustacea, and here it is.

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131

T1rn CnusTACEA

The Crustacea are almost all aquatic animals. They have
no internal skeleton, but their body is covered with a strong
crust, which serves for protection as well as for strength.
Their whole framework consists of a series of rings fitted to,
and working in each other ; some forming limbs, and others
developing into the framework supporting the different
organs. From this reason, they and the remaining animals,
as far as the star-fishes, who have no limbs at all, are called
" articulated" animals.
Their method of growth is very curious. Other animals,
as they increase in size, experience no particular inconvenience. Not so the Crustacea. Their bodies are closely enveloped in a strong, unyielding mail, which cannot grow
with them. Their armor is therefore cast off every year,
and a fresh coat formed to suit their increased dimensions.
Not only is the armor cast off, but even the covering of the
eyes, the tendons of the claws, and the lining membrane of
the stomach, with its teeth.
They all also possess the curious power of reproducing a
lost or injured limb. In the former case, a fresh limb supplies the place of that lost ; and in the latter case, the animal itself shakes off the injured joint, and a new one soon
takes its place. Lobsters, when alarmed, frequently throw
off their claws.

Choose one of the following paragraphs and expand it into a theme. Each
sentence should grow into a paragraph. The
proportions to be observed are suggested by the
number of amplifying sentences prescribecl for
the different paragraphs. vVrite a title above the
Theme. -

theme.
1. (a) I like winter for its outdoor sports. [Four

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or five sentences. J (b) I like it no less for its indoor sports. [Four or five sentences. J
2. (a) Wearing birds is foolish, for it is a remnant of savagery, like tattooing. [Two or three
sentences.] (b) It is less artistic than is often
supposed. [Two or three sentences.] (c) It is
unwise, because it threatens the extinction of certain species of flycatchers and warblers. [Two or
three sentences.] (d) It is cruel, necessitating
slaughter of innocent life, and producing callousness to suffering. [Five or six sentences. J
3. (a) A contrast between faces. [Two sentences.] (b) The face of Napoleon is intellectual,
firm, and cruel. [Three sentences, giving details of
the face.] (c) The face of Lincoln is intellectual,
firm, and kind. [Three sentences, giving details.]
4. (a) There are two kinds of people, - those
who know what they want life to do for them, and
those who do not. [This introductory sentence
may be made a part of the first paragraph.] The
people who know what they want are few. [Three
or four sentences.] (b) The people who do not
know what they want are partly young people,
who have not had training enough to know; partly
older people. [Three or four sentences.]
5. (a) Some dinners I like, some I do not. [Part of
first paragraph.] The kinds I like; food; company.
[Three or four sentences. J The kinds I do not like;
food; company. [Three or four sentences.]

Oral Exercise. - Discuss with the instructor and
the class the best way of paragraphing each of
the following topics. Form first an idea as to
'how many paragraphs each should have and what
should he the paragraph subjects. 1. This recitation room. 2. How Lincoln looked. 3. A paint.
·ing I like. 4. vVhat I do in a day. 5. l\Iy plans.
G. 'fhe walk to school. 7. My past education.
8. The elm. 9. The construction of the steam
engme. 10. An ocean steamer. 11. Evening in
the country ..
Oral Exernise. - Read carefully the following
speech and state the paragraph subjects. Estimate
the number of words in each paragraph, and say
whether you think the proportion of parts is bad
or good. The speech will be recognized as that
delivered by Lincoln at the dedication of the
Gettysburg National Cemetery. It was written
first as one paragraph ; but a year later, in making
a copy, the Pr~sident divided it as you see.
" Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers
brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition
that all men are created equal.
"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived
and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met
. on a great battlefield of that war. -we have come

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to dedicate a portion of that field as a final restingplace for those who here gave their lives that that
nation might live. It is altogether fitting and
proper that we should do this.
"But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate we cannot cousecra,te - we cannot liaJlow this
ground. 'rhe brave men, living and dead, who
struggled here, have consecrated it far above our
poor power to add or detract. 'rhe world will
little note, nor long remember, what we say here,
but it can never forget what they did here. It is
for us, the living, rather to be dec1icated here to
the unfinished work which they who fought here
have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for
us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining
before us - that from these honored dead we take
increased devotion to that cause for which they
gave the last full measure of devotion, - that >Ye
here highly resolve that these dead shall not have
died in vain, - that this nation, untler God, shall
have a new birth of freedom, - arnl that government of the people, by the people, for the people,
shall not perish from the earth."

Encyclopc:edia, I find seven columns devoted to
Shakespeare. Of these, two antl a half are given to
the poet's life, four and a half to his works. Is the
proportion about right? If you were editing an
encyclopc:edia of geography, how much space should
you give to Africa as compared with Europe? How
much, if the encyclopc:edia dealt with civilization'?
Oral Exercise in Proportioning. -In treating each
of the following subjects, (a) what paragraph topics
might be chosen? (b) which paragraph ought to
be the longest, llealing with the most important
phase of the subject? 1. Living statesmen. 2. Advantages of country life. 3. The life of Lincoln.
4. The uses of gold. 5. A rail way accident. G. A
cyclone. 7. A visit to an art-gallery. 8. A week
of camping.

Oral Exercise. ____:.The importance of modelling

Read one of the
following poems. Then write two papers, the first
retelling (not closely paraphrasing) the story of the
poem in one paragraph of about 100 words, the
second retelling the same story in a theme of 300
words, properly paragraphed. In e((,ch theme give
space to every part according to its relative importance.

all work on the right scale is illustrated in the
task of the editor of an encyclopc:edia. His problem is to give each subject space antl prominence
according to its importance. Opening Johnson's

Browning: Tra,y - about viviscdion; Clive story of courage; Incitlent of the French campstory of heroism; How we brought the good news
from Ghent to Aix- story of enJ.ur::111ce; 'rhe Pied

Exercise in Varying the Scale. -

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137

to care about. Different modes of treatment are
necessary to interest different audiences.
Very often the attractive subject will not be
capable of easy analysis. In such a case, choose
only a few paragraph topics, thus narrowing the
treatment; pick out the most attractive phases of
· the subject.
This done, invent a theme title that will yive an
adequate hint of what 1:s coming. The actor, Mr.
Joseph Jefferson, once made a charming talk to
some college men about the "starring system,"
concluding with remarks about the fancy of some
people that Bacon wrote Shakespeare and put a
cryptogram in to the plays. A college periodical,
wanting to give some hint of both topics, reported
the speech under the heading " Stars and Cryptograms." It was not a very good title, for it was
meaningless. But it was J.esigned to rouse curiosity, and, taken in connection with Jefferson's
name, it did as well, I dare say, as a less vague
and fanciful title.
Let it be supposed that a person is to choose
a subject for a simple theme, - any subject he
pleases. He is to select one that will interest high
school students as well as himself. His window
looks out on a fake. How will Lakes do, for a
topic ? It is too large; one would never have done.
Nobody enjoys reading a small theme on a large
matter. The \\"irnlow aJfords a glimpse of the lake;

Piper of Hamelin ....:....story of pathos; Muleykeh owner's pride in a horse; The Bean Feast - a
Pope's humility. Longfellow: The Bell of Atri;
Paul Revere's Itide; Evangeline ; The Legend
Beautiful; Robert of Sicily. Lowell: The Vision
of Sir Launfal. Drayton: The Ballad of Agincourt
(Heart of Oak Books, Vol. V.). Thackeray: Chronicle of the Drum (Ibid.). Tennyson: The Revenge
(Ib1'.d.). ColeriJ.ge: The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner (Jbicl.). -Whittier: Skipper Ireson's Ride
(Ibid.).
Choice of Topic; Method of Work. - I t is easier

to choose among definite theme subjects, printed in
the book, than to choose from an unlimited number
of topics. Left free, a person may be attracted to
a subject that is either too large, or else mechanically limited. The latter kind is the easier to
manage. "The parts of a certain city," is a topic
easily paragraphed. To choose no subjects but
such as this would lead a person into making his
theme in water-tight compartments. On the other
hand, what can any one write in half an hour that
will interest a reasonable being in such a subject
as vVater, or Clouds, or Steam, or Electricity, oi·
the Rise and :Fall of Nations ?
If the student is given free choice of a subject,
he should select something that he really cares
about, and that he wishes some definite audience

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perhaps this Glinipse of the Lake would· serve for
a theme. There would be no difficulty in paragraphing; one section would go to the water, one
to the boats, one to the sky. But the water would
have to be described exactly as it now looks, though
looking its worst. The boats are all absent except one, and perhaps there are other kinds that
he would like to tell about. Besides, the lad in
the boat is fishing, and the writer may be glad to
tell about the fishing on this lake. If however
memories of the past few clays must be dragged in
to make the theme interesting to us all, why, the
name must be changed. The writer may call it,
A Glimpse of the Lake ancl Some .ftfenwries ; the
title can then be interpreted with some elasticity.
\:Vhat, now, are the chief things to say ? A brief
paragraph of introduction, perhaps, though that is
by no means necessary. Then something about the
look of the lake. Then a word about the boats.
Then something about the fishing. Here is enough:
water, boats, fishing.
Now for the outline. if Sprained ankle, armchair. Must study landscape. Window shows
lake. if Lake has moods. Dull now. Glare this
morning, colors last night. Sometimes calm; crystal depths. Ripples. \Vind makes it blossom;
raises undercluTents. Rain quiets it. Freckled
look. Queer way water fits land. if Steamer seen.
Variety of boats. Red-stack boats. Swarms of pas-

sengers. Boats gay at night. Launches. Pulse of
engines. Sailboat. It upset, the other day. Rowboats. Fisherman. ~T Casting for bass. Amateur.
vVish him luck! I tried for pike. Tried for bass.
No luck. Tried for perch. Caught a bass. [Six
or eight sentences. J
In the last paragraph it perhaps occurs to the
writer that the bullheads bite when the water is
muddy; and this muddiness suggests the first paragraph; the muddiness should be described back
there with the changing look of the water.
Next, the composition. It is not offered as a
model of style, but to suggest a possible way of
organizing any simple theme.
A

GLI]l[PSE OF THE LAKE, AND

Sonrn

MEMORIES

Here I am, planted in an armchair before the window,
my sprained ankle reposing, or trying to repose, on a smaller
chair. In such a position one must be thankful for his
mercies; he must take the exceptional chance to study the
landscape. Fortunately, the window cuts off a goodly section of the lake which lies down there below.
An exquisite thing is the lake, with as many moods as a
baby. Just uow it is dull in color, for the sky is overcast
and there is mist in the air. But early this morning it
blazed with light, and last night at sunset it was awake
with every fashion of color. Sometimes, when the heavens
are bare and windless, the water takes on an indescribable
calm; and then if you look down from this height there
seems to be no surface at all - only depths of blue, such as
the poets are always likening to crystal or to sapphire. At
other times clouds and a breeze move over it, and the surface ruffles till one's mind is tired with fancying the million

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lines of ripples. If the wind stiffens and stays by, there
soon are waves; the water breaks white and springs up in
blossoms over the whole dark field ; then the under streams
are roused out of their quiet and the whole mass thunders
in upon the shore, muddy but grand. Now it begins to
rain; and rain is the witch that charms the savage waters
into rest. Presently the surface is dull again, but for the
freckled look made by the plunging drops. One notes
through the gathering mist an odd thing - the way the
water seems to settle into place, fitting into the curves and
nooks of the shore ; the edge of the lake seems to grow
white and distinct, and to cling to the land in a sharp
outline.
Breaking through that white streak of water near the
shore comes a dark something, which soon takes form and
is seen to be a steamer. What a variety of craft haunt the
lake ! The largest are these tall steamers, taller still for
their red stacks. At night, with their colored lights, they
look like jewelled slippers. By day they carry crowds,
which seem to rim each deck with a black band. Then
there are the launches, slipping here and there straight
across the bow of the bigger craft. They have a curiously
trim and self-satisfied look; and their naphtha engines, beating no louder than some great, fast pulse, seem to make fun
of the slow-puffing monsters that stain the air with smoke.
A sailboat - a little sloop - slips across the picture. It is
the one that upset the other day and gave my friend the
Doctor a thorough soaking. Two rowboats are standing to
the south. In the bow of one there's a lone fisherman.
That lad is casting for bass. He is an amateur - from
his dress. Better luck to him than has thus far befallen the
amateur who sits watching him from this window! I trolled
in the lake for silver pike, but with never a rise to break the
monotony. Then I tried thrice in the early morning for
yellow bass, using first minnows for bait, afterward grasshoppers, and lastly frogs. No luck! Disgusted, I stole out.
one afternoon to catch perch, hoping to be seen by no one.

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The perch bit languidly, and the few that were taken seemed
t.o have a supercilious look. "Here's my last worm! " I
cried ; " then for the hotel and farewell to these fishing
grounds where no fish are.'' A bite I a competent, masterly,
vicious bite ! It's a bass, strayed away from home, and too
hungry to ask for delicate diet! Pull him in - seize the line,
for the pole is light and the hook is small. Safely landed,
and not less in weight than two pounds ! Let them brag of
six-pounders; this gleaming, muscular fellow, smelling of
fresh water and mint, is good enough game for me. As I
gaze and remember, the amateur in his boat moves out of
the picture frame and the lake is a blank again.

Why are the following sub~
jects unfit for short themes ? Suggest two or
three theme topics that might be derived from
each. 1. George \Vashington. 2. Snow. 3. vVar.
4. Evening. 5. Light. 6. Politeness.
Oral Exercise. -

Oral Exercise. - Name several limited subjects
that would be available if you were trying to interest legitimately (o) an audience of college men,
(b) an audience of high school boys, (c) an audience of high school girls, (cl) an audience of business men.
Theme. -Choose oue of the following subjects,

and think how to secure for it the interest of
persons three or four yea~·s younger than yourself. Think of some intelligent student, one
who, though considerably your junior, distinctly
commands your respect, and explain to him high
school ways of studying either (a) physiography,

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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

or (b) history, or (c) Latin, or (d) manual training,
or (e) English, or some other subject. The theme
should consist of one paragraph, of aLout 200 words.
Choose three of
the following subjects, and think what illustrations you would use to make them clear to different audiences. Draw upon your knowledge of the
things that are most familiar to the experience of
each audience. Jot clown memoranda of the illustrations that you suggest, and afterward compare
notes in the oral discussion. For example,
Explain, by illustration: A gentleman, to a gamin.
Ice, to a native of the tropics.
The charm, offoat-ball, to a girl.
The pleasure of work, to a shirk.
lYagner's music, to a deaf painter.
The charm of foot-ball, to a soldier.
The solar system, to a child of eight.
Oranges, to a native of the polar regions.
The chann of a true lady, to an awkward lad.
The Jungle Book, to a North American Indian.
A newsboy's life, to an earl's son or a millionnaire's son.
A sleepless m'.ght, to a person who sleeps like a
top.
A headache, to a person who never had a headache.
Oral ·and Written

Exercise. -

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143

The chcmn of Stevenson, to a reader of clime

novels.
Taking gas at the clentist's, to a person who never
lost a tooth.
An encyclopceclfo, to a man who never heard of
such a book.
Paragraph constrnction, to a youth who cares
only for the shop.
The clanger of open winclows, to a child who
never heard of death.
Some good monthly, to a bright boy or girl who
had never seen a magazine.
Suppose that
a given theme is a unit, no idea being atlmi ttecl
that does not bear on the topic; suppose, further,
that the paragraphs are units, each treating a distinct part of the theme idea; it remains to be sure
that the reader gets easily from paragraph to paragraph. Sometimes the writer is so anxious to
make each paragraph a unit in itself that the
read.er does not feel at once that the new section
has anything to do with the preceding.
Look back to the theme on the Glimpse of the
Lake. There were three things to talk about:
water, boats, fishing. At the end of the paragraph
011 the water the attention must be led over without
any jar to the subject of boats. The last idea of
the water paragraph was tJrnt the edge of the lake
Transitions between Paragraphs. -

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grew white and distinct. In beginning the new
par?-graph, we may refer to that idea. "Breaking through that white streak of water near the
shore comes a dark something," etc.
Now look at the paragraph on fishing. How
does the writer try to get over to the fishing from
the boats ? Explain in recitation.
The joints of the theme should be smooth and
strong, like the joints of bamboo - not a rude joint
made by chisel and hammer.
The instructor will hand yon
in class your themes thus far written. Go over
them carefully, trying by revision to make the
thought connection closer between the paragraphs.
For the future, always read carefully the whole
paragraph before beginning the next.
Written Exercise. -

Transitions between Sentences. - \Vithin the
paragraph each sentence shoul<l grow vitally out
of the preceding. "Connection is the soul of
good writing," said the great translator, Jowett
of Balliol. Plan sentences aheacl ; and ?'ead each
sentence befo1·e you write the ne:tt. Make it impossible for people to say of yon as they used to say
of Emerson, "His sentences read equally well in
any order." Make it impossible to pick a sentence
out and set it down elsewhere, withm1t tearing the
theme as Mneas rent young Polydore.
Frequently the sentences can be bound tighter

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together by beginning the next with a reference
to some idea contained in the preceding. Burke,
pleading in Parliament for America, said: "But
with regard to her own internal establishment, she
may, I doubt not she will, contribute in moderation. I say in moderation, for she ought not to be
i)ermitted to exhaust herself. She ought to be reserved to a war, the weight of which, with the
enemies that we are most likely to have, mnst be
considerable in her quaxter of the globe. There
she may se!:ve you, and serve you essentially."
Here the last words of each sentence suggest the
first words of the next. Of course this way of
getting coherence is easily overdone; but it is veq
valuable, nevertheless.
It is easy to discover the order in which Ruskin
wrote the following sentences, here printed in
wrong order. Find the true arrangement: and tell
how it ·was found.
'Vell, whatever bit of a wise man's work is honestly and
benevolently done, that bit is his book, or his piece of art.
But, again, I ask you, do. you at all believe in honesty
or at all in kindness, or do you think there is never any
honesty or benevolence in wise people? If you read rightly,
you will easily discover the true bits, and those are the book.

Oral Exercise. -Change either the grammatical

construction or the order of words wherever you
think snch change will increase the coherence of
the following paragraph.
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"We were coasting down chapel hill. In western
New York, this is one of many similar long hills.
This state is indeed a coaster's paradise in many
parts. The particular paradise I speak of, .saw,
however, a disastrous fall of a brave young Adam
and a gentle young Eve. Williams, I mean by
this, who was corning like a meteor down the hill,
with Miss - - in front of him on the "bob-sled,"
as he reached the bridge, was thrown out of the
track. Luckless bridge! it ought to have been
guarded by stout rails. There were no rails, however, and across the narrow canyon, vVilliams, with
his precious charge, took a flying leap. On the
other side of it, five feet below, was a wooden abutment. 'rhe lives of the young people wern saved
by this; for the sled shot across the gu If and
landed on the projection. vVe picked the adventurers up from this perilous perch. They were
more surprised than hurt. But after he had time
to think, \Villiams confessed that he was never
more frightened in his life; for he thought of the
thirty feet of space below that wooden ledge."

CHAPTER VIII
ON CORRECTNESS IN CHOICE OF WORDS
Authority. - If the art of writing is the art of
saying what we mean, we must use words that the
reader will understand. Of course the word reacler
is rather general : there are readers and readers.
An article written for adults would sho\Y different
words from oue written for children. For the purposes of this chapter, our typical reader is the
American or the Englishman who has a good public school training. This "average man" may in
theory happen to live in London, or in Maine,
or, again, in 'rexas. Now, there are certain
words used in Texas that are not used in London or in Maine. In parts of New Jersey and
Pennsylvania a small pail is called a "blickey."
Most natives of Chicago never heard the word.
Such words as "blickey" are called provincialisms
or localism,s, and are ruled out. Our words must
be national. This need not mean international;
many words are used in England that ueecl not
be used in America, and vice versa. The Amerioan speaks of switching a train; the Englishman

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speaks of shunUng it. ·with the former the train
goes up a steep grade; with the latter it goes
up a gradient. The Englishman calls baggage, luggage, a word that Americans are more likely to
use of those pieces only that ca.n be carried in the
band. It is to be presumed that national differences of this sort are known to American and
Englishman alike; therefore there is no reason
why either should change from the usage of his
country. Good English is essentially the same in
all English-speaking countries.
One other matter is suggested by the words 1wtional usage. A nation is com posed of all sorts
and conditions of men. Each class, each trade and
profession, has its own pet expressions and contractions. Good usage does not recognize these.
The dialect of the college, or the ball-ground, or
the counting-room, or the law-courts, is racy enough
and proper enough in its place; but it has no place
in standard English. A student may .flunk, but
only in school. A book of accounts can be posted,
but not a man.
Again, our words must not be so okl-fashioned or
obsolete that they are unintelligible. They must
be present. Let once meant "to hinder." N atnrally no one would use it in this sense to-day.
Many words that are both national and present are not permitted, since they are not reputable.
They are nsed, but wrongly so; used by the care-

C01WEU1'NE88 IN G'llOICE OF ll'01W8

149

less and the uneducated. A great munber of
such expressions are perfectly well understood
wherever English is spoken, but if one employs
them one will be set down as careless or ignorant;
for example, ftin't is intelligible tu all, but its use
is known to be a mark of vulgarity; such a word
is called a vulgan'.sm. Most slang consists of n1lgarisms, though some slang finally becomes reputable
English. Reputable words are those employed by
the best writers. By best is meant writers who
have literary distinction, and who know and regard
the structure and history of English literary words.
In this day, when everybody scribbles and prints,
there are countless writers whose usage is not
really reputable. The newspapers, though they
have done rn uch to free modern English from pedantry, are not usually reputable in usage. The
English of very many novelists is in bad repute.
Even certain writers of eminence, such as Dickeus
and 'l'homas Hughes, are guilty of using unreputable words and senses of words. Such essayist::;
as Matthew Arnold and John Fiske; such writer::;
of fiction as 'rhackeray, Hawthorne, Stevenson,
and Henry James; such historians as Green and
Parkman - these men are in general safe models
in matters of usage.
To sum up, then; if we would be understood, arnl
would be reckoned as educated persons, we must
use words that are reputable, national, allll p1·cseut.

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Good usage is the employnient of sw;Ji words and
senses of words as the body of reputable writers sanction by their own practice to-clay. Notice that the
body of reputable writers is specified. No one
author makes good use, any more than one swallow
makes a summer. vVhen a critic wishes -to prove
by authority that a gi veu expression is English, he
must be able to quote it from many authors.

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The Dictionary. - A dictionary is a codification
of good usage. Indeed, a large dictionary codifies also much bad usage, explaining in the
case of the latter the particular form of badness,
whether local usage, or colloquial usage, or vulgar
usage. Such a dictionary also outlines the history
of each word, so far as this is known ; it can here
be learned. what was standard English yesterday,
what three centuries ago. A dictionary habit is
indispensable to every one. When in doubt about
the present meaning or pronunciation of a word,
or curious as to its history, look it up. Have an
abritlged dictionary of your own,- the less abridged
the better, - but c~nsult also the unabridged books
frequently. Every author rediscovers the charm
that lies in the dictionary. 'l'o fintl that charm,
every word of the given explanations should be
read, and the system of diacritical marks, which
show syllabification, accent, vowel, and consonant
sountls, should be studied..

CORRECTNESS IN CHOICE OF WORDS

151

Lord Chesterfield writes to his son:
"The first thing you should attend to is, to speak
whatever language you do speak, in its greatest
purity: and according to the rules of grammar; for
we must never offend. against grammar, nor make
use of words which are not really words."
A wortl that is not in a good tlictionary, or is
there brantled as provincial or as vulgar, is not
really a word, and should not be used. An expression that has not been recognized by good
use is called a barbarism. Often such terms are
incorrectly formed, as when they are coined by
ignorant persons; often they are corruptions of
wortls. Jriotorneer is wrongly coined; slick is corrupted from- sleek. lllotorneer is made up of motor
plus the ending er. rrhe ne is left over from the
discarded steam engine, for motorneer is made by
false analogy from eng1:neer. rrhe proper word is
motorman. If there is need for a new wortl in the
language, - and the need often arises in these tlays
of invention, -its component parts should be from
the same tongue, and it should be formed by strict
analogy, on the model of some correct, accepted
word. Examine such a word as shculowyraph,
which the more careless newspapers began to use
as soon as the "Itoentgen rays" were discovered.
Shadow is English; graph is Greek, - a termination that should be added only to a Greek word.
Various correct formations have been proposed for
Barbarisms. -

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the ray-picture - scolograph, radiograplt, skiagrapll,
etc. It remains to be seen which one of these
words w.~n become established. Examine the word
electrocution. It is formed on the false analogy of
execution. E;cecution is from the Latin e;c + .<leqnor,
meaning "to follow up," or, so to speak, "to chase
down." The man who invented elect1·oc1ttion could
not have known that sequor was a part of execution.
He merely tied together electro and cut-ion, thinking
·perhaps that cution meant cutting or killing. Electro is from the Greek (meaning "amber," the
substance by rubbing which some one discovered
electricity), and in strictness should not be joined
to a Latin termination, even if that be correct. "'\Ve
might easily have had a good English word for
death in the electrical chair; but as matters stand
'
there is no one recognized word for this idea.
Other barbarfams are: burglarize, to enthuse (a
bad coinage from enthusiasm), an invite, double
entendre and nom de plu1ne (two expressions which
are neither accepted French nor accepted English),
walkist, a combine, preventative (for preventive), reportorial, manage1·ial, to suicide, gent, pants (the trade
name, but not the literary), plwto, prof., spoonsful.
Words. ~rought into the English from other languages, and not yet recognized by good use, are
also barbarisms. Such words are said to be not
yet Anglicized. They are referred to as alienfsm..<1,
and most may be classified as Latinisms, Helleu-

CORRECTNESS IN CHOICE OF WORDS

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isms (or Greek words), Teutonisms (chiefly German
words), Gallicisms (French words). A word peculiar to America is an A1nericanism; one peculiar to
England is a Briticism. Some Americanisms and
Briticisms are not really barbarisms, but are warranted by the canon of national use.
The following words are as yet alienisms: m·tiste,
sobriquet, beau nwnde, faitx pas, entre nous, etc.
Certain other words are Anglicized : amateur, omelette, etiquette, littemteur, etc. The temptation to
sprinkle foreign words unnecessarily into one's
English reaches most persons sooner or later. It
should be withstood. The English language is riGh
enough to furnish forth any man's vocabulary.
Many words that may finally become good
English are not yet accepted. To be on the
safe side one should say : point of view, not standpoint; upon, not onto; written pe1·mission, not a
pe1·1nit; he doesn't, not lie don't. 1
In the list given above it is remarked of JJa11ts
that it is a trade name (for what are ordinarily
known as trousers or pantaloons). Commercial
English and literary English are two different
things; and while a careful novelist would hardly
write about whea.tena, or .fiexibone, or autoliarp, he
might talk about them in the shops. Yet these
words are not correctly formed ; and the same
t.hing is unhappily true of other trade names.
1

See howevei· do,

doe.~,

i11 the Oxford English Dictionary .

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Suppose, now, that a writer uses
a good English word, but uses it in a sense not
found in the best authors. In this case he uses
the word improperly; he commits an impropriety.
Sometimes two words sound so much alike that
they are mistaken one for the other; for instance,
accept and except. Sometimes the two words 111ea1i
nearly the same thing, and so come to be confused;
for example, continual and continuous. The following list gives the words that are most frequently
mistaken for each other. In the illustrative sentences each such word is correctly used, and in all
cases the other word would be incorrect or at least
less desirable if substituted for it.
Improprieties. -

NOUNS

Ability, capacity.

1. The capacity of man's memory is great.
2. Capacil!J for learning and ability for doing are
secrets of success.
·what idea do these words share?
Acceptance, acceptation.

1. His accez)tance was graceful.
2. You use tho word in its usual acceptation.
Each of these words contains the idea to take..
In what sense may this be said?
Access, accession.

1. Access to the director is easy.

CORRECTNESS IN CHOICE OF WORDS

155

2. The library has received an accession of books.
3. She was seized with an access of grief.
4. '+he Tsar celebrated his accession to the
throne.
Each of these words contains the idea of entrance.
Access means the entrance of a person into a room
or into the presence of another; also the entrance
of a flood of emotion into the mind. Accession
means the entrance of a person into the rights of
a position; also the entrance of books or other objects to a collection, -an addition to the collection.
Act, action.

1. Character is developed by action.
2. Our own acts for good or ill speak for us.
Explain how both these words hold the idea
of clo.
Advance, advancement.

1. The swallow comes with the mlvance of the
season.
2. He has rece_ived ad'vcmcenient.
3. Each advance of Napoleon was swift.
·what idea have these two words in common?
Explain how they differ.
Alternative, choice.

1. There is no alternative). he must go.
2. There are only three cho1:ces.
Alternclti've is a choice between - - things.

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FIRST BOOK IN JVRITING ENGLISH

3. The secretary supplied the army with its
complenwnt of stores.

A vocation, vocation.

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1. .l\Iy regular calling, or ·vocation, is teaching;
but for an avocation I spend my holidays in photography.
2. Dr. ·weit· Mitchell is a physieian; but his
regular vocntio11 of medicine doesn't prevent him
from following the delightful a·vocatfon of letters.
Both these words have the i<lea of calling. Explain how they differ. (What does ab mean in
Latin?)

Council, counsel.

1. His counsel defended him in the trial.
2. Let good connsel prevail.
:3. The council of ten gave good counsel.
Define these two words. ·what iclea have they
in comm on '?
Falseness, falsity.

Arnold was a traitor; and the falseness of his
character was proved by the falsity of his statements.
What idea do these words share ? Frame definitions.

Balance, remainder.

1. The balance of the sum is due.
2. The remainder of the day is spent.
·what relation exists between balcmcing (a book)
and remainder?
Character, reputation.

Invention, discovery.

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1. His reputation for integrity is good.
2. His character is beyond reproach.
3. A man cannot always control his reputation,
but he can control his character.
Character is what a man - - ; reputation is
what people - - of him.

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Edison discovered certain laws of sound and
by them invented the phonograph. This invention
is not as yet very useful; but the discovery of the
laws was important.
·what idea do these words share ? Frame definitions.
Limit, limitation.

Compliment, complement.

1. \Voman's mind is by many considered the
complement of man's, supplying certain things that
the masculine mind has not.
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l. There should be no lirnitation of the commander's authority.
2. There were no Uniits to his delight.
What common idea have these words ? Define
each .

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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

Majority, plurality.

A majority is more than half the whole number. A plurality is the excess of votes received
by one candidate above another. When there are
several candidates, the one who receives more votes
than any other has a plurality.
In what respect are these words alike in meaning ? in what unlike ?
Observation, observance.

1. His observation of the habits of birds was keen.
2. His observance of the Sabbath was strict.
Is watch the best word for the idea shared by
these words ? Discuss.
Observation, remark.

1. J olmson's observations of men were keen.
2. Johnson's observations were made with his
eyes; his remarks, with his tongue; and Boswell,
by recording the remarks, recorded the observations.
'Nhat relation has a remark to an observation?

CORRECTNESS IN CHOICE OF WORDS

159

Part, portion.

1. Esau sold his portion, the part allotted him.
2. The human body has many parts.
3. Waiter, one portion of roast beef will do !
What is a portion?
Prominent, predominant.

There were many prominent men m Lincoln's
cabinet, but the President was always predominant
among them.
Consult the unabridged as to the origin of these
words.
Recipe, receipt.

If receipt comes from the Latin meaning "taken,"

it is easy to see why when money is taken a receipt
is given. Recipe is a Latin imperative, meaning
"take"; irnturally it is the right word for a formula
in cooking; " take" so much salt, so nrnch meal,
so much water - ancl lo! a johnny cake.
Relative, relation.

Party, person.

1. A party in a silk hat must be a party of Liliputians.
2. The party of the first part was two persons.
3. A seeay person joined the party.
4. I refuse to be a party to the deed.
Is the idea of a part always contained m the
word party? Discuss.

One may have many relatives with whom he
does not keep up close relations.
Is relation preferably an abstract noun, or a concrete?
Residence, house.

1. Do not say residence when you mean house;
the simpler word is the better .

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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLI8IJ

COURECTNESS IN CJIOJCE OF WORDo

2. He has his residence in his house.
3. His residence, or place of residence, is l\fontreal.

relectse? destrllction? co11sdence? peace of mi11d ?
·which one of the two words requires for an object
a noun expressing an action ?

Sewage, sewerage.

The sewage flows through the system of sewerage.

Aggravate, irritate, tantalize.

Site, situation.

1. Tantalus was tantalized by the sight of inaccessible fruit.
2. He agg1·(wate.c; the difficulty by trying to excuse his act.
3. He is agm·avatt'.11g his cold by going out.
4. He trritates me by his teasing.
5. The gravity of our case is but aggravated by
delay.

1. Lovely is Zion for sit1lation.
2. The site of Troy was repeatedly built upon,
each new '.l'roy being i.n turn destroyed by fire or
by some enemy.
3. '.rhe sit1mtion of Chicago by the lake gives the
city fresh breezes.

·what kind of place is a site?
tion?

\Vhat is a situa-

Allude, mention.

Vmrns
Accept, except.

1. All Cretans are liars, runs the proverb: the
proverb excepts none.
~. He accepted the invitation.
Both words ha Ye the idea of take. How is this
true of except?
Affect, effect.

l. Even the rumor a.{f"ected his belief, changing
it slightly.

2. He ~ffected a junction with the other army.
'Vhich of these words coul<l properly govern
recondliat/on? uitnd? health'! release? co11d11ct nfter

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1. Nobody would allncle to an expenence so unpleasant to all that party.
2. He alliidecl to 'Vashington as the Father of ·
his Country.
3. He mentioned several ways of accomplishing
the ·work; then he went back to his duties, uot
alluding to the subject again.
Can a person a.Uncle to a thing without assummg
know ledge of it on the part of an audience ? Can
a thini:r0 be alluded to for the first time? if so, would
it be the first time it was spoken of? l\fake allusions to several great men without mentioning their
uames.
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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

Antagonize, alienate.

I'

1. By antagonizing the views of his friends, he
alienated their sympathies from him.
2. He alienated his friends by antagonizing them.
Begin, commence.

'l'hese words are often interchangeable, but commence is the more formal. Begin is the better word
ordinarily.
Bring, fetch.

1. Come here arnl bring the book.
2. Go and fetch the book.
Define these two words. What is their common
idea?
Claim, assert, etc.

1. Claim, means to assert a right to a thing as
one's own. It means neither to say, to assert, to
declare, to maintain, to holcl, to alleye, nor to contend.
2. He claims the right to be heard.
3. He maintains that he ought to be heard.
4. He asserts that such is the fact.
NOTE. It is better not to use claim with the
conjunction that.
Degrade, demean, debase.

1. Being in disgrace, the captain was degraded
from his rank.
2. He demeans himself sometimes well, sometimes ill.

CORRECTNESS IN CHOICE OF IVORD.S

163

3. He debases [or degrades J himself by his
profanity.
Give a synonym for demean.
Drive, ride.

In England one rides only when one is on horseback; one is said to drive if in a carriage. In
America one drives when one holds the reins; but
we go driving even when the coachman drives.
'l'here is also excellent authority for take a ride,
and go riding, when conveyance in a carriage is
meant.
Endorse, approve, second.

1. He seconded all his friend's propositions.
2. He endorsed the check across the top.
3. He approved his colleague's act.
,What is a dorsal fin? vVhat does endorse mean,
by etymology ?
Got, gotten, have.

1. Got is perhaps pref er able to gotten.
2. Don't say you've got a thing when you merely
have it, without having secured it.
·what idea is common to get and have?
Guess, think, reckon.

1. I think I shall go.
2. He reckoned the cost before he started.

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FIHS1' BOOK IN IVUI'l'/NG ENGLISH

3. I guess there are a hundred.
[The habitual misuse of yuess is an American
fault. J
Intend, calculate.

1. She received his apologies with a resentment
they were likely, but were not intended, to inspire. 1
2. He aimed at the animal a blow calc11lated to
kill it.
3. T fnlly tntencl to go, but cannot calculate how
soon.

CORRECTNESS IN CHOICE OF WORDS

165

Loan, lend.

It is not incorrect to use loan in the sense of lend,
but lend is the less formal and the preferable word.
May, can.

1. Let me be! Don't bother me when I want to
study.
2. Let me alone !
3. Leave me alone here.
4. Let go ! Unhand me.
Let once meant "to hinder." Now it means the
opposite - "permit."

JI.fay it not be said that any person who has not
learned the difference between these two words,
can hardly be permitted to call himself a user of
good English ?
It is not hard to see why people confuse these
two words. Of ten the questioner feels that, for all
practicable purposes, the refusal of his request will
make a barrier over which he cannot go. vVhen he
says "Can I go," he is feeling, "Will you make it
possible for me to go? for unless you consent I
cannot go - I cannot afford to, or I cannot conscientiously, or I cannot and remain on right terms
with you." Nevertheless, may is the only right
word to use in asking permission.

Lie, lay.

Proved, proven .

.Ll'he chief trouble with the first of these tw< ·
words seems to concern the past tense : " He lai<i
down on the sofa."

1. The point was not proved.
2. Verdict: "Not proven." Proven is a Scotch
legal term, wrongly supposed by some persons to
be preferable to proved out of the court-room.

Let, leave.

Locate, settle.

1. He located his house there (not located there).
2. He settled in Chicago.
1

A. S. Hill: Foundations of Rhetoric, p. 110 (Harper's).

Purpose, propose.

1. One can't propose unless he proposes something to somebody.

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2. One can purpo,~e to do a thing, without proposing it to any one.
How do both these words contain the idea of
placing?

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Sit, set.

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The chief errors m the use of sit and set are
two. Some people insist on saying "setting hen "
for "sitting hen," a.nd "the coat sets well" for " sits
well." A few say, "Sit yourself down," for the
somewhat old-fashioned "sit you down" (where
the yon is nominative) or for "set yourself down."
Similarly this error has bee1). known to occur-" he
sat the basket of eggs down."

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Stay, stop.

1. He stopped at Albany; he went no farther.
2. At what hotel are you staying, these tlays ?
Transpire, happen.

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A gootl many things happene<l ~hat dark night
when the boys were out for a lark; but it 11ever
trcmspfred what really did happen; nothing leaked
out or got to the light.
Spiro means "to breathe." Trans (across) when
in composition means through, out. Is it not clear
how the present use of the word comes about?
Explain. Compare the words expfre, conspfre, inr
spire. How does each get its present meaning?

CORRECTNESS IN CIIOICE OF WORDS

1G7

Wish, want, desire.

1. It is sometimes correct enough to say want in
the place of wish.
2. You shall want nothing; all shall be supplied.
3. You shall not want anything you may desire.
·which idea springs out of the other - want from
wish, or wish from want?
ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS

Apt, likely, liable.

1. He is apt at languages.
2. He is likely to fail if he does not properly
prepare himself. [Here apt was possible, but not
so good as likely.]
Apt means "fitted," "fit." How could such an
itlea as "It is apt to rain this month" spring from
the idea of fit?
3. He is likely to succeed if only he tries.
4. He is liable to arrest and q uarautine, - though
not likely to be arrested, - merely because he is
liable to come down with a contagious disease.
With what kind of feeling does a person look
forward to a thing to which he is liltble?
Continual, continuous.

1. A continual dropping is a Biblical phrase.
2. A continiwus dropping would not be a dropping at all. It would be a stream.
\\That ide<L have these wo1;ls in common ?

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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

CORRECTNESS IN CHOICE OF WORDS

169

Funny, odd.

In, into.

1. It is odd that I haven't heard of this before.
2. It is a funny sight to see Fido trying desperately to catch his own tail.
Can you explain something of the mental process
by which a child comes to say funny so frequently,
and strange so rarely? Is it all a matter of imitation, or is there some other reason ? Are there
not more of strange things in a child's experience
than of fiinny things ?

1. Bruno looked up into his master's face.
2. He got into the chariot.
3. He sprang into the lake, while I stayed rn
the boat.
4. Once in the lake, he swam round.
vVhat difference in the use of these ·words ?

Healthy, healthful.

Healthful food makes a hea.lthy man.
Give a synonym for healthful as applied to
food.
Imminent, eminent, hnmanent.

1. The erninent Latin writer, Livy, speaks of
Hannibal's elephants as looming up - erninentes through the mist.
2. That God is innnanent in all the world was
a doctrine of the Greek fathers; they meant that
he pervades and is diffused throughout it.
3. The sword of Damocles hung ininiinent, suspended by a hair.
4. He is in imrninent danger of disgrace.
With which two of these words is the idea of
threaten connected ? \V-hich has the idea of remain, or stay, in it?

Last, latest.

1. The last page of the book is clone.
2. The latest news from the patient is bacl.
Does latest imply anything as to the future ?
Last, preceding.

1. Let each paragi·aph be joined smoothly· ·with
the preceding.
2. The last paragraph ends the theme.
Mad, angry.

1. There is no reason for being angry.
2. Much learning hath made thee mad.
3. He was mad with rage -fairly insane.
Most, almost.

1. JJ,fost men are optimists.
2. Almost every man loves praise.
Parse the words italicized above.
Mutual, common.

1. Our common friend is the better express1011,
though Dickens has made famous the corresponding worse usage.

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FIRST BOOK IN WlllTING ENGLJSll

2. Friendship may be mutual; a friend cannot.
3. Separated by mountains and by mutual fear.
·what is meant by reciprocal? 'Vhich word is
a synonym of reciprocal ?

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COllRECTNESS JN CIIOICE OF WORDS

171

Practicable, practical.

His scheme won't work; it isn't practicable. I'm
afraid he isn't so practical a schemer as we thought.
Quite, somewhat, very, rather, entirely, wholly.

Oral, verbal.

1. Miles Standish's act of sending the · lmliaus
a snake-skin filled with powder and ball, was a
message, but not a verbal message.
2. If you are to see John, let me send him this
oral message: Never say die.
3. The corrections did not affect the truth of
the statements, but only the manner: they were
verbal corrections.
4. The telegraph operator translates into verbal
form the message that he hears in the ticking of
his receiver.
The Latin word os means mouth; the Latin
word verbmn moans a word. Do oral and ·verbal
keep the sense of the Latin words ? Can a verbal
message be oral ? Can an oral message be verbal ?
Is an oral message ordinarily verbal? Can you
imagine an oral message that is not verbal?

1. Quite never means " very," " rather," or
"somewhat." It means "wholly."
2. Harry is quite well; he is never sick.
3. Yes, I like him rather well.
4. Thank yon ; I'm quite myself again.
Curtail qiiite, and you get another good English
adjective from the same root. How is this shorter
word related in sense to the longer? With which
of the following expressions can quite be used?
·well (adj.), sick, recovered, pretty, finished, settled,
nice, good, assured, patient, used up, satisfied, a
good deal, fine, a hero, a way, a mile, a noise,
a failure, a lot, a hundred, a few, a good many, a
million, a dozen, some, well (adv.), a while, an hour,
your debtor, every one, all, around, through, under,
o'erthrown, down, elated, in a rage, underestimate,
vanquished, quarrelsome, lovely, everywhere, crestfallen.

Posted, informed.

1. The ledger is well posted.
2. The editor is well informed.
Can you see the slightest reasonable ad vantage in
speaking of a person as well posted? lu otliel' words,
<loes this commercial slang lend any real foree ':'

Real, really, extremely.

1. I think he's a real Count.
2. I think he's e.dremely mean.
3. He's recilly a very fine fellow.
Parse the words italicized above .

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FIRST BOOK IN IVRI1'ING ENGLISTI

same time that it is actuated, and [}Jropo::ies] to be
actuated, in all chief national deeds and measures,
by no other love.
10. But an education "which shall keep a good
coat on my son's Lack; which shall [capacitateJ
him to ring with confidence the visitors' bell at
double-belled uoors; which shall result ultimately
in the establishment of a double-belled door to
his own [ resiuence] - in a word, which shall lead
to [advance J in life - this we pray for on bent
knees; and this is all we pray for." It never
seems to occur to the parents that there may be
an edLtcation which in itself is [advance J in Life;
that any other than that may perhaps be [advancemen t J in Death; aml that this essential education
might be more easily [gotten] or given, than they
[guess], if they set about it in the right way, while
it is for no price and by no favor to be [got], if
they set about it in the wrong.
11. The chance and scattered evil that may here
a1ul there haunt, or hide itself in, a powerful book,
never does any harm to a noble girl; but the emptiness of an author oppresses her, and his amiable
folly [degrades] her. And if she can have [ access] to a good library of old and classical books,
there need be no choosing at all. Keep the modern
magazine arnl novel out of your girl's way; turn
her loose into the old library every day, and [let]
her alone.

CORRECTNESS IN CHOICE OF IVOIWS

175

Examine the italicized words in
the following sentences, taken from a newspaper.
According to a good dictionary, which are barbarisms? vVhat ones are here incorrectly used':'
\Vhich ones are colloquial - permitted in talking
familiarly, but not in writing? Suggest better
Oral Exercise. -

expressions.
1. Her prospects for a long career on this earth
are quite favorable.
2. The . galvanic battery was applied every
hour without prouucing any more satisfactory
results, but hope did not abandon the resurrectionists.

3. \Vhen the police arrived they discovered that
Burdick vrns wearing a bogns police star and he was
arrested.
4. "If you'll throw that gun away and put up
your clnlces like a gentleman, I 'll come down there
and sew a button onto you ! "
5. Mr. Hanna was decidedly late in showing 11p
at headquarters.
G. It buttons down the front with the finest
white pearl buttons of quite large size.
7. ]\fakers of sporting goods say there are ct lot
of bicyclists who are ready and waiting to take up
every new thing.
8. I spotted two of my countrywomen at once.
9. It has been thus far an exceptionably busy

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Flll8T 110011 IN WRITING ENGLIS/l

9. The writer of the letter . . . was dead long
a.go; and I, a stranger, not born at the time
when this occurrence [took place], was the one
to open it.
10. I seize(l the opportunity, and wrote aud despatched an [acceptation J in her name.
11. He thought each shawl more beautiful than
the [last].
12. I could not see that the little event in the
shop below had in the least <lam peel l\Iiss l\Iatty's
curiosity as to the make of sleeves or the [set, sitJ
of skirts. [If neither sit nor set is right here, how
recast the sentence?]
13. l\Iiss Matty [anticipated] the sight of the
glossy folds.
14. The Gordons . . . were now [expected] to
re~urn very soon; and Miss Matty, in her sisterly
pnde, [expected] great delight in the joy of showing them Mr. Peter.
15. However, we all sat eyes right, square front,
gazing at the [tantalizing] curtain.
1G. \Ve (at least I) hatl tloubts as to whether she
really would enjoy the little ad venture of havina0
. her house [burglarized], as she [protested] she
would.
17. Miss Jenkyns . . . never got over what she
called Captain Brown's disparaging [observations J
upon Dr. J olmson as a writer of light and agreeable fiction.

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worws 17\:l

18. It (Death) was a word not to be [alluded to]
tu ears polite.
Oral Exercise. -The following sentences are from

Lord Uhesterfield's letters to his son. As in the
preceding exe1:cise, choose the best word for each
place in question.
1. Your own [remarks] upon mankind, when
compared. with those which you will find in books,
will help you fix the true point.
2. There is nothing which I more wish that you
should know, and which [less J people do know,
than the true use and value of time.
3. Your [neglect] of dress, while you ·were a
schoolboy, was pardonable, but would not be so now.
4. The [reputations J of kings and great men
are only to be learned in conversation; for they
a,re never fairly written during their lives.
5. \Vhat does Chesterfield mean by " in a good
sense," in the following? "Another, speaking in
clefence of a gentleman upon whom a censure was
moved, happily said that he thought the gentleman
was more liable to be thanked and rewarded, than
censured.. You know, I presume, that liable can
never be used in a good sense."
Review Exercise. -Let each word of the follow-

ing list be taken up by itself. Each member of the
class should give a sentence of his own, using the
given word correctly.
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186 FIRST BOOK IN WllITING ENGLISII

SOURCES OF ENGLISH VOCABULARY

187

?nusk, punch, sugar, thug, etc. ; from Malayan ports,
bantam, cockatoo, gong, mttan, sago, etc. ; from
Persia, awning, caravan, chess, hazard, horde, lemon,
orange, pm·arlise, .~ash, shawl, etc. Few are the

lead 'I A French prefix from Latin minus occurs in mis·
chief, etc.
8. U11-.
7. Th-.

languages from which a British ear has not cm1ght
anrl kcrt a new term.
In Ame1·iea wn have wn11y Indian na111e8 of
places and Lhin:,:s. \Ve have l11m1i11!f, 111111;s1'. "1"18·
snm, rwxuo11, tufm:111u11, arnl other won ls from :N orfl1
American trilws. .i\kxico g:wc u::; dwcolutc, /om11/u 1
etc. ; the Wost lmlics, pululu, cwwe, lrnrrirnne;

Similarly think of wonls made with each of !lie
following noun suffixes and explain the force of

South America, utJlaca, 11w'.11iw•, f1111im•11, d1·.
In t.J1,o, pr0sflnt 1•011h1ry, F<!•it>n\""· 11nt11 prttdi1·Ht
al!Ll pure, has LliscornrcJ. Uwusauus of facLs al!Ll
i1 11·1• tl1'<l tl1r>11 ~:11rb of 1·11lllTi1·a111'1',c;.

<'11ll~l'IJll1'1iiiy

LL.uu::;a11Lls uf 1rurJ::; haYe Leeu cuiunL rnu.sU,\· from
Urcck. l.11 na111c 11111d1!r11 in1·,.1iti1111~ and ll1e f:wt:-; 111'
sr·1r1wf'.
A rrr•1•nt rlidi1111ary fmlll<l it: lll'l'!':<s;iry 1o
c.nrlifv 4tJ0t) t.ndrnic.:i.1 ttmn~ th:i.t h:i.rl ~11rnng- 11p
within the h'lt fow year11.
AngIQ.Sa.:-:on

Prefixes

a.!!d

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SnffiXf'-h

lu 11 iug µr1eftxe:o a.re Augk>-SaxulL
mad<> with P<Wl1.

Lili~ 011

eai:h snffix.
Z, -rra/t.
l, -anl
htiliiLtrnl.
4, -en.
-dom.
'"
G. -hnod.
u. -rr,
7. -1nr1 =Holl of, 1mrL i11Pani11µ; of llr1111!/1i11(1? 1'!ril·
inf/ I tilhintJ? There i~ an oluer sullix which appears iu the
gernn<l -·-lil/.:i11g, h11nli11q.
<>. -1<.iu.
V. ·liuµ.
111. - /ll'SS.
IL ·{Wk .
13. -.-111)>.
!'.'. -1'if". ~ }'OWi-"!',
Iii. +/l'I'.
11. -M1·11./. = 11Jac:e.
!ti. . 11:riuht .
17. -1cu ril .
q

Tlti 1k of 1nmls ma1lc 1rith t'li0 lullri11·1ng 111(i1•r·/;re
.:;;ullixc.:;;.

"

1. ' LJ.

7. -is/1.
~t.

bit.Z, lurn. i

= ag::r.ini;;.r..

4. ii'nn<-.

n.

G. Nts- (A.-S.

1Yha.t. .\o_cITc..__:t

ull d-£~£11

-fi4-µ \hf~ =:" lH_~_ly l
-~nine

Tlii1rk

rUL

4, :f".sl,

::!. ·PrtL
!i.. :fnld.

JI.

t~-ni11-

With· (A.-S. 11Jither =back).

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1. ,·!- = in, rm.
~- Ii•'·.
\\'ha.t, gra111rnaLir.,al 1•rf1'<'L lia" llii < l'r"fi" on

'noan, (?aub, friend '!
3. For-. lYhaL cITet;L 11a.;:)
J,:i.tin pa, in pc1:rcct.

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11·(rn1~ 111;L11t:

fl. -fnl.
:-\. .fcs,<,
!H. •t'r:'}ht~

1riLh

tl1e

·!I.

fullu 1Ying ml

/I;

suffixes.
L -~.'f ( LhH uh! geuiLivH (:jH<liH~ J.
~- ~z;.,:L~, -Zun. :_J1. -ly (Uc - Lvt.ls, fv.rrn. j.
fJ. -om (old dative phmtl).
1. -meal.

V. -tv"nl.

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SOURCES OF ENGLISH VOCABULA R Y

The Latin Element. - 'l'he Latin element is numerically the larger part of the _language. It is
therefore impossible to know well the English
vocabulary except by knowing a c~nsiderable part
of the Latin language. Whether our Latin words
come directly through the ancient classicR, or
through the H.omance tongues, such as French,
Hali:.1.11, aml Spanish, to know !;heir full force 011e
must k'11ow the original mrm1ing- of t.hrm, ~s 11srrl
by the ~ncicat. raec of W(lrh1-co1u1urn·ors. I1:ycry

instrnf'tor i11 1':11g1ish w~tr11cs ,1·i!lt kr'"ll intcrc::;L
t1w prugrm;.~ wa'1e hy l1i8 14w1 .. 11I.,.; ill i.h,.it· l1at in
sl.uL1ics. Of COlll'.'if', tlu•. 1ncre lu101Ylv11;.:<' lliat <L
gi VPH wnnl is 11erivetl frnm a given Latin word
Juu;;; lwL 11uuu;;;;;ari.ly giv.e Lliu 0Lull1mt JJn1.1.iLiei:1.l
tlUlillilH.lltl vf it iu his wriLi11g; out usua.lly mrnh
know\,..Jge does help to a hcttrr nnrtrrst:mrling of
the meauiug the wurJ ha.; Lu-1.hi.y, and so ten<ls

omnibus

=

vagary to wander ; videlicet = it can be seen ; vii-ago = a
mannish woman.

Latin Prefixes and Suffixes. - H,ecall English
words lw.ving the following prefixes, and explain
the effect of the prefix on each.

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- 4rorm• rT, 1 ~ -rrrP11il ~ nrniln nf: -rr! (Latin -nlis) = perl :ti n.in~-1 1 :~ ""- rrr11.r· -il17e~. Ti,1t . (Ji1rrldli::; -r~r~l110 of hf'i11!::
-1,Te, -l!Te. (LaLiu -11lex)
f11lll; -)l/t':l':
fnlrl; -lent ( Lat
-lcinliu) """full of; -use (L:i.t. -osus) =full of; trnd (Lat.
-u11Jus) = full of ; -ulous ( La.t. -ulu.s) = full of.

-~

=

=
=
=

=
=

=

of.

Hecall words having thfl following Lati n or
Latin-French suffixes, ~rnc1 explain e:tt'li i11 l<-'nns
uf Lhc weaning of the su!lb:.

T,11t.in

.Alias = uUierwise ; albuin = white ; amanuensis handwril.P.r; tmimus,..., mind; arena= sand; boa= great serpent;
camem chamber; cornucopia horn of plenty; extra
beyond ; focus hearth ; gratis for nothing ; itJ>m = also:
memento remember (imperative) ; 11ostrnm = our own;

11ot.; nliaga..iH:::.t.; p1'llf~almi)~f.; )h'rf.11nn~gh:
JM.•(- = ;iftrr; p1·w-, prrhdi;irr ; prrrtri·- - hrynnrl: 11rn(Fr. T"n 11r
pnl , /)11r_,..-r {'!:Ur-·)
fnr: rr- == h:i-<'.k: 1·rtrn- -

non-

p!H<'kl

won1s h:w•• 1ir•r•11 l.ra11sf1·1Tr·11 h"1i1y i1il11 1~11:,.;li.,]1.
IJisr'u~s wilh ihe instrndor tllf' di:riva.tion nf tlii:

prP.Rent meanings of the following:

A-, a/.1., ah.<fr0m ; mlt0 ; nrnh- = abnnl; antP- o=
lirfnrr; llis-. Iiitwirr; rirrmn- - :irnnnr!; rum- (fnnnr!
in FrC'IH'li col., f'nm-, 1•or-, 1'fl1lH~·)
"rit.h; (',01/(J'(J.- :::::c a.ga.i11st.;
dedown, frnrn ; dis- (Fr. rl•'.<-, rlr-) = asn11d!'r; r:r- ( Fr.
es-, e-) =from; extral.Jeyoml; m- \Fr. en-, em-) - "''
into; in- (il-, im-,. ir-, i(I-) = not; into·- - betwP<'n, :imnn~;

baclnvards; sc- = apart; ~nli- (sue-, sHf-, .<inn-, sup., sw·-,
-'11-'- ) = undm· ; .wpm·- = above ; trans- = across; vicein

of iL.
Rmnf\

= for all; 1wsse = to be able; quorum = of whom;
= beak ; torpedo = numbness;

1·ebus = by things; rostrum

both to fix it in memoty autl tu insure exact use

Latin Words transferred to English. -

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Latin Roots in English. - Below arc listed a few
of the many Latin words tlw.L han; 0 ive11 U:J :English word11. Recall as many as possible of their
derivatives, and define each in terms of the original

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190 FIRST BOOK LN WRITING ENGLISH

meaning. Thus acer, sharp, gives us acri11wny,
sharpness, acrid, sour. Some member of the class
may know that through the :French it gives us
vinegar, sharp wine. Make notes in your note-book
of any derivatives that are new to you. ..!Edes, a
building; cequus, equal; agei·, a field; ag~re, to do;
alei·e, to nourish- perfect participle altus, nourished, therefore high ; amare, to love ; ani'.rna, life ;
animus, mind; annus, a year ,· a,qua water · ai·cus
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a bow; cwdel'e (pf. ptc. ai·sus), to burn; audire, to
hear; augere (pf. ptc. auctus), to increase; brevis,
brief; cadere (pf. ptc. casus), to fall; candere, to
shine ; capere, to take ; caput, a head ; cavus, hollow;
cemere (pf. ptc. cretus), to distinguish; clams, clear;
cor, heart; corona, crown; credere, to believe; crescere (pf. ptc. cretus), to grow; cmdits, raw; cura,
care ; deus, god ; dicei·e, to say ; docere, to teach ;
dominus, lord (Fr. clamsel, dame, madame); domus,
a house ; ducere, to lead ; errare, to wander ; facei·e,
to make; filum, a thread; finis, the encl; jlos, a
flower; frangere (stems, frag, fract), to break;
fortis, strong; fundere; to pour; gmdus, a step ;
gravis, heavy; ·homo, a man; imperare, to command; jus, right; legere (lect), to read; ligo, to bind;
litera, a letter; loqui, to speak ; lumen, light ; luna,
the moon; magnus, great; man us, a hand; matti1·11s, ripe; inittere (missere), to send; 11wrs, death;
novus, uew; nox, night; omnis, all ; ordo, order;
pascere (pf. ptc. pastus), to feed; pati (pf. ptc.

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passns), to suffer; petere, to seek; poi·tare, to carry;
radix, a root; regere (.Qf. ptc. rectus), to rule; scire,
to know; sequi (pf. ptc. secutus), to follow; socius,
a companion; SJJirare, to breathe; tangere, to touch;
texere, to weave; vanus, empty; videre, to see;
vincere (pf. ptc. victus), to conquer; vulgus, the
crowd.
Greek Roots in English. - Recall English words
made from the following Greek roots, and explain
each. Ma!i:e notes in your note-book of those tleri vati ves that are new to you. Anthropos, a man;
aster, astron, a star ; autos, self; biblos, a book ;
bios, life; deka, ten; dokein, to think; dunamis,
power; eu, well ; ge, the earth ; graphein, to write ;
hemi, half; hippos, a horse ; homos, the same ;
kuklos, a circle ; monos, alone ; ortlws, right ; pan,
all; petra, a rock; philein, to love; JJlwne, a sound;
poiein, to make ; 1 skopein, to see; sophia, wisdom ;
tele, distant; theos, a god.

Look up and copy into your
uote-book the origin of the following words. Assas.sin, august, dahlia, dunce, epicure, gali·wric, guillotine, hermetically, January, jovial, July, lynch,
llfarch, mentor, panic, phaeton, quixotic, stentorian,
tantalize, tawdry. Bayonet, bedlam, copper, damask,
dollar, gasconade, gipsy, laconic, lumber, meander,
Curious Words. -

1

A maker of noble verse is called what ?

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1nilliner, palace, utopian. Abominate, adieu, amethyst, apothecary, belclmn, capricions, cemetery, cheap,
checkmate, cobalt, cunnnclgeon, dainty, daisy, dis11ial,
enwlunient, salary, fanatic, gentleman, heretic, · inculcate, infant, intoxi'.cated, maidenhafr (fern), maa:im.,
nausea, ony;'C, parlor, Porte (the Sublime Porte),
pupil, silly, sincere, tar~([, trmnp (card). Atonenient,
belfry, brimstone, carouse, counterpane, coward, crayfish, dandelion, dirge, drawing-room,, easel, gospel,
grove, harbinger, Jerusalem artichoke, line (garments), licorice, nostril, porpoise, quinsy, squirrel,
summerset, surgeon, thorough, treacle, trifle, wassail,
whole.
Written Exercise. - Examine the following passages separately. Classify all the words in two
columns, one giving those of Saxon derivation,
the other those of Latin derivation. Consult the
dictionary in case of doubt. Then compare the
English of Dr. Johnson with that of Dr. Blackmore. The former is writing in his own person as
an eighteenth century scholar; the latter in the
person of the stout John Ridd, a seventeenth century youth.
No degree of knowledge attainable by man is able to set
him above the want of hourly assistance, or to extinguish
the desire of fond endearments, and tender officiousness ;
and therefore, no one should think it unnecessary to learn
those arts by which friendship may be gained. Kindness is
preserved by a constant reciprocation of benefits or inter-

SOURCES OF ENGLISH VOCABULARY

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change of pleasures ; but such benefits only can be bestowed,
as others are capable to receive, and such pleasures only
imparted, as others are qualified to enjoy. - DR. JOHNSON,
Rambler for July 9, 1751.
When I had travelled two miles or so, conquered now and
then with cold, and coming out to rub my legs into a lively
friction, and only fishing here and there because of the
tumbling water, suddenly, in a.n open space, where meadows
spread about it, I found a good stream flowing softly into
the body of our brook. And it brought, so far as I could
guess by the sweep of it under my knee-caps, a larger power
of clear water than the Lynn itself had ; only it came more
quietly down, not being troubled with stairs and steps, ~s
the fortune of the Lynn is, but gliding smoothly and forcibly, as if upon some set purpose. - R. D. BLACKMORE,

Lorna Doone.
0

.MASTERY OF A WRITING VOCABULARY

CHAPTEH X
THE MASTERY OF A WRITING VOCABULARY
Ideas without Words. - I t is possible to have
ideas without having words in which to express
them. Miss Helen Keller 1 had plenty of i<leas
before any one taught her the wor<ls for them.
The painter trains himself to express ideas in
paint; the sculptor, in stone. The inventor expresses ideas in machinery. Because words however are the commonest means of expression, it
is desirable that one should know as many as
possiule. A person who has ideas will indeed be
able to communicate them in some rough-and-ready
form of speech; will use a poor word if he cannot
think of a good one, an<l by hook or crook will
manage to be understood. But an unread, untrained man trying to communicate some fine shaclc
of thought is commonly a sorry sight, no matter
how bright his mirnl may be.

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starnl for. Some persons of quick verbal memory
pick up phra,scs readily, and utter them glibly,
with little sense of their meaning. Gratiano, of
Shakespeare's drama, "spoke an infinite deal of
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nothing, more than any man rn
persons as he have given ground for the sarcastic
remark that language is the art of concealing
thought. The use of meaningless phrases, and
the use of words without a care to their exact
meaning, is ·one danger that besets the student of
composition. The boy who fluently remarks that
he recently lost his little saturnine (meaning canin e,
i.e. dog); the lady, Mrs. l\Ialaprop, who walks
through Sheridan's play, saying, "You go first,
and we'll precede you"; the man, La\rncelot Gobbo,
who enlivens The 1lierchant of Venice with such remarks as that "his suit is impertinent to himself," these people need a book of synonyms. Unless a
writer is sure that he knows definitely the meaning of the word that his pen is about to trace, he
would much better stay his hand.
Ideas and Words. -Though one mind may have

iLleas Lut la.ck their names, and though another
may have the names Lut lack the notions for which
they stand, yet both ideas and words are imlispensable to the writer. A general recipe for ~et­
ting ideas is hardly easier to give than a recipe
for being great, or for• having blue eyes, or for

Words without Ideas. -On the other hand, it is

possible to know words without knowing what they
1 See The Ce11tui·y .Magazine for NovemlJer, 18\JG, for an
English theme IJy Miss Helen.

194

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MASTERY OF A Wlll1'ING YOC.AllULABY

196

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FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

being like.d by every one. Ideas are had through
new experiences, new acquaintanceships, new sights;
through hard thinking, through hard reading,_ in
short, through living. Mr. H_enry James, the eminent .novelist, gives a direction for being a good
novelist: Try to be one of those people on whom,
nothing is lost. The student who is eager to know
~s much ~s possible of what is worth knowing in
life, and is devoured with curiosity to learn the
name of everything, is sure to acquire both new
ideas and new words. 1
·
It is nevertheless not to be denied that to some
extent ideas can be bred by the· study of the mere
words. How true this is>appears when it is remembered that words are the embalmed ideas of men.
~ study of such a list as the Curfous vVords given
m the preceding chapter cannot but add to the
student's i'nental stores. Thackeray, it is said,
used to read the dictionary before he composed.
It may be presumed that the habit used not merely
to acquaint him with new words, but to arouse his
mind and set it to fashioning new thoughts. The
attempt to discriminate between words that mean
nearly, riot quite, the same thing, results in a distinct gain in thought, and in power of thought.
It is probable that no two words have exactly the
same sense ; to discover the difference emiches the
1 Emerson's words, quoted on page 121, will occur to every
reader.

discoverer's store of knowledge, and develops one
of the highest mental powers. A command of
~ords not merely affords relief from the pain of
J.um bness, not merely loosens the tongue ; it aids
reasoning. Thinking proceeds more securely the
moment a hazy notion is given definite shape in
the right word. Indeed, the mere search for the
right word is always a means of clearing up the
thought. To be tortureJ. in mind by inability to
find the uniql.rn phrase, sometimes means a mere
fault in verbal memory; as often, or oftener, it is
due to a vagueness of thinking.
By way of summary, then, 'acquisition of ideas
furthers acquisition of words, and vice versu. To .
be poor in ideas, or to be poor in language, either means failure for a writer.
all the 200,000
words in our language, probably no one man would
understand one-half if he saw them, undefined, in
a dictionary. Just how large a man's reading
vocabulary can be is not known. Professor Holden,
the astronomer, found that his own ·was about
33,000 words. It is therefore likely that 25,000
is not an unusual mnn ber for au educated person
to understand. But the remUng or pcu;si·ve \'Ocabulary is very different in size from the writing or
actl'.ve vor.abnlary. 'l'o rem cm bcr the seuse of a
.
word when it is seen is far less difficult than to reThe

Two Vocabularies. -Of

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MASTERY OF A WRITING VOCABULARY

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call the wonl whenever its meaning rises dimly in
the mind. A little child has but one set of words
- an active vocabulary; it makes oral use of all the
expressions it knows. But the older person reads so
much that he comes to recognize myriads of words
that rarely rise to his lips or find t.heir way to his
pen. There is inevitably therefore a widening gap
between the expressions he can recognize and those
he can employ. That this should be so is in part desirable. A person of fourteen or sixteen or eighteen must, if he reads carefully, learn to understand
many expressions that are too bookish for his own
uses. The word ternerarious, for instance, is needed
once where its unpretentious cousin, rash, is needed
a score of times. ·with some words the young
writer needs only a speaking acquaintance; others
are good friends that, in Hamlet's phrase, he should
buckle to his soul with hoops of steel. But it is
safe to say that if a person can transfer some part
of his reading vocabulary into his writing vocabulary, he will be much benefited by so doing.
There is probably no reason why a freshman shouhl
not enter college master of a writing vocabulary
of 5000 words, and a reading vocabulary of 15,000.
Shakespeare's works contain about 15,000 different
words, the King James version of the Bible fewer
than 6000.
Again, each person uses the same
words with many different meanings. Every great
writer employs the same words in many figurative

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senses ; the fact is perhaps the most striking proof
of his literary power. If Shakespeare's vocabulary
were reckoned as including these figurative meanings, it would shoot up to a wonderful figure.
"It would be absurd," says Professor A. S. Hill,
with characteristic good sense, "for a boy to have
the desirableness of enlarging his vocabulary constantly on his mind; but if he avails himself of
his opportunities, in the school-room or out of it,
he will be ~urprised to find how rapidly his vocabulary grows." Doubtless however the matter must
receive some definite attention, if the best results
are to be secured. In the rest of this chapter particular methods of acquiring new words and senses
of words will be considered.
A Vocabulary Book. - I t will be found helpful

to buy a strong blank-book of convenient size, and
to copy into this every new word that seems to the
student available for his writing; not every new
word he meets, for some will impress him as too
bookish or pedantic, but those which appear to express happily some idea that has lain unnamed in
his mind.
Figurative Uses of Common Words. -A writer

owes it to himself and to the reader to get all the
service he legitimately can out of common words,
because in the encl so doing spares both persons a
vast deal of unnecessary !abor. Examine a handful

200 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISll

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of the well-worn counters of speech, - such words
as poor, heavy, thin, best, filll, nianner, sense, deep,
sweet. 'rhey are like dull pebbles brought home
from the beach. But dip them back into the brine
of a good book, and they become gems. The words
specifietl above appear in a paragraph of JHr. "W. D.
Howells : " I followed Irving, too, in my later reading, but at haphazard, and with other authors at the
same time. I did my poor best to be amused by
his J(niclcerboclcer History of New York, because my
father liked it so much, but secretly I found it
heavy; antl a few years ago when I went carefully through it again, I could not laugh. Even
as a boy I found some other things of his up-hill
work. There was the beautiful manner, but the
thought seemed thin ; and I do not remember
having been much amused by Bmcebridge ]fall,
thmtgh I read it devoutly, and with a full sense
that it woultl be very conirne il faut to like it. But
I did like the life of Goldsmith; I liked it a great
deal better than the more authoritative life by
Forster, and I think there is a: deeper and sweeter
sense of Goltlsmi th in it." 1
Observe the various duties that the plainest
words were persuatled into doing for Shakespeare.
"With him the word old applies to widely tliffereut
things : Old arms, olcl beard, old lirnbs, old eyes, old
bones, old feet, old heart, ol(l wrinkles, old wit, old
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:MASTERY OF A WRITING VOCABULARY

201

care, old woe, old hate, old C1lstorn, old days. "What
does each of these phrases mean? He is fond of
contrasting simple words; thus, "He'll take his
old course in a country new."
Note how many abstract ideas in Shakespeare are
contented with the word heavy, which ordinary
people apply merely to coal, lead, and sueh uninspiring commodities. Heavy accent, heavy neu:s,
heavy sin, heavy act, heavy task, heavy day, heavy
hour, heavy gait, heai1y leave, heavy niessctge, heavy
smnnwns. Explain what each rneans. 1
Similarly there are Ught g(fts, light behavior, light
heart, light loss, light of foot, Ught wings, light foarn.
Another- drudge of a word, thick, learns new and
pleasanter tasks of the great poet. Thick sight,
thick perils, thick 1:n their thoughts, thick sighs, thick
slmnber. Explain each of these phrases. Opposed
to thick is thin: thin air, thin dri'.nk, thin and slender patance. 'rhese are the things that Shakespeare
calls high: high deeds, high descent, high clesert, high
designs, high" clisyrace, high e;"Cploits, high feats, high
good trhn, high heaven, high hope, high pe1jection,
h !'.[!h resolre, high reward. One more word, golclen.

Lesser poets would apply it to physical objects.
Shakespeare, too, speaks of the sun "Kissing with
golden face the meadows green," and of "This maj estical roof fretted with golden fire." But else1 In case of clou bt, commit Bartlett's Shakespeare Concordance
(;\Iacmillau Co.).
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202 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH
where he manages to apply the adjective to things
that cannot so directly be callell gold.en. Thus:
"A gold.en mind. stoops not to shows of dross."
"· .. wear a gold.en sorrow." "Gold.en lads m1d.
girls all must, As chimney sweepers, come to dust."
"Nestor's golden words." Explain each of these
uses.
Of course many of these figurative expressions
are too poetical by far for the prose of high school
students. Nevertheless, many others would be appropriate in the manuscript of any person, -for
instance, high designs, ·high deeds, high ea;ploits, high
resolve. Such uses as these can be cultivated to
the enrichment of the vocabulary.

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The Value of Careful Reading. -A writer must

Written Exercise. 1 -Each of the following adjec-

tives applies primarily to physical objects, that
can be seen, or heard., or touched, or tasted. But
each is often raised to a higher use, being made to
name some quality of character, or some other
abstract idea. Take the adjectives one by one,
and under each write in class as many abstract
words as yon think can properly be modified by
the given adjective. 'fhus the adjective .fine, which
is useu of such physical objects as scmcl, cloth, particles, may also apply to courage, sense of honor,
presence, phrases, words, deeds.
1 It may be found desirable to assign only a part of the words
to each student, the results to be read before the class and discussed.

1. Sweet. 2. Sour. 3. Bitter. 4. Soft. 0. Hard.
G. Smooth. 7. ltough. 8. Delicious. 9. Insipid.
10. Cold.. 11. Freezing. 12. Icy. 13. Burning.
14. Chilly.
10. Blue.
16. ·white.
17. Black.
18. Gray.
19. Brown.
20. Green.
21. Dark.
22. Shadowy. 23. Misty. 24. Cloudy. 2G. \Vimly.
26. Stormy. 27. Transparent. 28. Blunt. 29. Sharp.
30. Keen. 31. Dull. 32. F.ragrant. 33. Malodorous. 34. Shining. 35. Beamiug. 36. Glowing.
37. Glittering. 38. Blazing. 39. Hazy. 40. Brilliant. 41. Muddy. 42. Rippling.

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perhaps be as dependent on books for bis vocabulary as on any other one source. Yet it is possible
to read a great deal without absorbing many new
expressions. To gain new words and new ideas,
·the student must compel himself to read slowly.
Im patient to hurry on and learn how the tale or
poem ends, many a youth is accustomed to read so
rapidly as to miss the best part of what the author
is trying to say. Thoughts cannot be read. so
rapidly as words. To get at the thoughts and
really to retain the valuable expressions, the student must scrutinize and ponder as he reads. Each
word must be thoroughly understood; its exact
value in the given sentence must be grasped.. It
will not d.o to draft off a long list of new expressions into the note-boQk, and then investigate the

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204 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH
meaning of each after the connection in which each
was - used has been forgotten. Usually the best
way is to look up the meaning when the word is
come upon. This is always the best way when a
passage is being read wit~ a view to increasing
one's vocabulary. When a tale or poem or essay is
being read for its general theme, or for its literary
construction, it is often. desirable
. to underline each
new word, leaving the meaning to be investigated
a little later. In finding the value of the word in
its sentence, the student is often little aided by
the dictionary. Imagination and reasoning must
sometimes be called into play before the definition
can be made to apply. 'fhe dictionary - particularly the abridged dictionary - is not a magic
book, ready to explain every delicate shading
that a great author gives a word in a particular
connection. .
In reading silently it is due the author to read
with as much expression as if one were pronouncing
the words aloud. One should mentally give every
word and phrase its proper accent, should feel the
value of every punctuation mark. The force of
such a passage as the following, from Carlyle, will
be lost unless the reader puts the emphasis m
exactly the right places.
Manhood begins when we have in any way made truce
with Necessity ; begins, at all events, when we have surrendered to Necessity, as the most part only do; bnt begins

:MASTERY OF A WRITING VOCABULARY

205

joyfully and hopefully only when we have reconciled o~r­
selves to Necessity; and thus, in reality, triumphed over it,
and felt that in Necessity we are free.

Literature is full of words descriptive of things
that all have seen or heard. We render a service to the memory if in reading we linger long
enough to call up the colors, shapes, motions,
sounds, that are suggested by the text. Some persons recall sights more easily than sounds, some
recall sounds more easily than sights ; some can
remember motions more easily than either colors,
shapes, or sounds. It is therefore good training
for the w~rd-memory if we endeavor to recall all
kinds of sense impressions. Read the following
passage slowly, imagining the sights, motions, and
sensations of tol)-ch, that are suggested.
A long way down that limpid water, chill and bright as
an iceberg, went my little self that day on man's choice
errand-destruction. All the young fish seemed to know
that I was one who had taken out God's certificate, and
meant to have the value of it; every one of them was aware
that we desolate more than replenish the earth. For a cow
might come and look into the water, and put her yellow lips
down; a kingfisher, like a blue arrow, might shoot through
the dark alleys over the channel, or sit on a dipping withybough with his beak sunk into his breast-feathers ; even an
otter might fl.oat down stream, likening himself to a log ~f
wood with his fl.at head flush with the water-top, and bis
oily e~es peering quietly ; and yet no panic would seize other
life, as it does when a sample of man comes. -R. D. BLACKllORE, Lorna Doone.

:MASTERY OF A WRITING VOCABULARY 207

206 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

·what do you see mentally, when you read the
following?

Imagine as vividly as possible each sound and
other physical sensation suggested by the following
selection, from the book just quoted: The volumes of the mist came rolling at me (like great
logs of wood, pillowed out with sleepiness), and between
them there was nothing more than waiting for the next one.
Then everything went out of sight, and glad was I of the
stone behind me, and view of mine own shoes. Then a
distant noise went by me, as of many horses · galloping, and
in my fright I set my gun and said, "God send something
to shoot at." Yet nothing came, and my gun fell back,
without my will to lower it.
nut presently, while I was thinking "What a fool I
am ! " arose as if from below my feet, so that the great
stone trembled, that long lamenting, lonesome sound, as of
an evil spirit not knowing what to do with it. For the
moment I stood like a root, without either hand or foot to
help me, and the hair of my head began to crawl, lifting
my hat, as a snail lifts his house, and my heart like a shuttle
went to and fro. Ilut finding no harm to come of it, neither
visible form approaching, I wiped my forehead and hoped
for the best, and resolved to run every step of the way till
I drew our own latch behind me.
Yet here again I was disappointed, for no sooner was I
come to the cross-ways by the black pool in the hole, but
I heard through the patter of my own feet a rough low
sound very close in the fog, as of a hobbled sheep a-coughing.
I listened, and feared, aud yet listened again, though I
wanted not to hear it. :For being in haste of the homeward
road, and all my heart having heels to it, loath I was to
stop in the dusk for the sake of an aged wether. Yet partly
my love of all animals, and partly my fear of the farmer's
disgrace, compelled me to go to the succor, and the noise
was corning nearer. A dry, short, wheezing sound it was,
barred with coughs and want of breath; but thus I made
the meaning of it: -

Sweet are the uses of adversity,
"Which, like the toarl, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in its head.

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The value of minute and thoughtful reading bas
been set forth by John Ruskin 2 in his Sesame _g,nJl
Lilies, a book well worth reading, if one is willing
to take in good part the earnest, somewhat dogmatic tone which Ruskin so often uses. The oftquoted passage in which he illustrates his idea of
how a poem should be read, is given below. The
stlldent who every day reads a few pages as conscientiously as Ruskin would have him, will find
his command of words rapidly increasing, and his
power of thought increasing likewise.
And now, merely for example's sake, I will, with your
permission, read a few lines of a true book with you carefully, and see what will come out of them. I will take a
book perfectly known to you all. No English words are
more familiar to us, yet few perhaps have been read with less
sincerity. I will take these few following lines of Lycidas: -

I

" Last came, and last dhl go,
The pilot of the Galilean lake.
Two massy keys be bore of metals twain
(The ~olden opes, the iron shnts amain):
He shook his mitred locks, and stern bespake:
'How well could I have spared for thee, young swain,
Enow of such as for their bellies' sake
Creep and intrude and climb into the fold!
Of other care they little reckoning make
Than how to scramble at the shearers' feast,
And shove away the worthy liiddeu guest;
Blind mouths! that scarce themselves know how to hold

208

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WRITING VOCABULARY

209

1
A sheep-hook, or ha ye learned aught else, the least
That to the faithful herdsman's art belongs!
What reeks it them? What need they? They are sped;
And when they list, their lean aud flashy songs
Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw.
The hungry sheep look up, and are not fe<l,
But swoln with wind, and the rank mist they draw,
Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread,
Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw
Daily' devours apace, and nothing said.'"
//

Let us think over this passage, and examine its words.
First, is it not singular to find Milton assigning to St.
l'eter, not only his full episcopal function, but the very
types of it which l'rotestants usually refuse most passionately? His "mitred" locks I Milton was no Bishop-lover;
how comes St. Peter to be "mitred" ? " Two massy keys
he bore." Is thi8, then, the power of the keys claimed by
the bishops of nome, and is it acknowledged here by l\Iilton
only in a poetical license, for the sake of its picturesqueness,
that he may get the gleam of the golden keys to help his
effect ? Do not think it. Great men do not play stage
tricks with doctrines of life and death : only little men do
that. l\Iilton means what he says ; and means it with his
might too -is going to put the whole strength of his spirit
presently into the sa.ying of it. For though not a lover of
false bishops, he was a lover of true ones ; and the Lakepilot is here, in his thoughts, the type and head of true
episcopal power. For Milton reads that text, "I will give
unto thee the keys of the kingtlom of Heaven" quite honestly.
Puritan though lie be, he would not blot it out of the book
because there have been bad bisllops; nay, in order to
nuclerstaml him, we must understand that verse first; it
will not do to eye it askance, or whisper it under our breath,
as if it were a weapon of an allverse sect. Tt is a solemn,
universal assertion, deeply to be kept in mind by all sects.
But perhaps we shall be better able to reaso11 011 it if we go
on a little farther, and come back to it. For clearly, this

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marked insistence on the power of the true episcopate is
to make us feel more weightily what is to be charged against
the false claimants of episcopate; or generally, against false
claimants of power and rank in the body of the clergy ; they
who, "for their bellies' sake, creep, and intrude, and climb
into the fold."
Do not think l\Iilton uses those three words to fill up his
verse, as a loose ·writer would. Ile needs all the three ;
specially those three, aml no more than those - '' creep,''
and "intrude," and "climb" ; no other words would or
could serve the turn, and no more could be added. For
they exhaust.ively comprehend the three classes, correspondent to the. three characters, of men who dishonestly seek
ecclesiastical power. .First, those who "creep" into the
fold, who do not care for office, nor name, but for secret
influence, and do all things occultly and cunningly, consenting to any servility of ollice or conduct, so only that they
may intimately discern, and unawares direct, the minds of
men. Then those who "intrude" (thrust, that is) themselves into the fold, who by natural insolence of heart and
stout eloquence of tongue and fearlessly perseverant selfassertion obtain hearing and authority with the common
crowd. Lastly, those who "climb," who, by labor and
learning both stout and sound, but selfishly exerted in the
cause of their own ambition, gain high dignities and authorities, and become "lords over the heritage," though
not "ensamples to the flock."
Now go on:"Of other care they little reckoning make
Than how to scramble at the shearers' feast.
Blincl mouths - "

I pause again, for this is a strange expression, - a broken
metaphor, one might think, careless and unscholarly.
Not so; its very audacity and pithiness are intended to
make us look close at the phrase aml remember it. Those
two monosyllables express the precisely accurate contraries
p

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FIRST BOOJ[ IN WllITING ENGLISII

of right character, in the two great offices of the Church those of bishop and pastor.
A Bishop means a person who sees.
A Pastor means one who feeds.
The most unbishoply character a man can have is therefore to be Blind.
The most unpastoral is, instead of feeding, to want to be
fed, - to be a Mouth.
Take the two reverses together, and you have "blind
mouths." 'Ve may advisably follow out this iuea a little.
Nearly all the evils in the Church have arisen from bishops
desiring power more than light. They want authority, not
outlook. Whereas their real office is not to rule ; though
it may be vigorously to exhort and rebuke; it is the king's
o!Yce to rule ; tho bishop's office is to oversee the flock; to
number it, sheep by sheep; to be ready always to give full
account of it. Now it is clear he cannot give account of
the souls, if he has not so much as numbered the bodies
of his flock. The first thing, therefore, that a bishop has
to !lo is at least to put himself in a position in which, at any
moment, he can obtain the history from childhood of every
living soul in his diocese, and of its present state. Down
in that back street, Bill, and Nancy, knocking each other's
teeth out! - Does the bishop know all about it? Has he his
eye upon them? Has he had his eye upon them? Can he
circumstantially explain to us how Bill got into the habit of
beating Nancy about the head ? If he cannot, he is no
bishop, though he had a mitre as high as Salisbury steeple.
He is no bishop, - he has sought to be at the helm instead
of the masthead; he has no sight of things. "Nay," you
say, " it is not his duty to look after Bill in the back street."
What ! the fat sheep that have full fleeces, -you think it
is only those he should look after, while (go back to your
Milton) "the hungry sheep look up, and are not fed, besid es
what the grim wolf, with privy paw" (bishops knowing
uothing about it) "daily devours apace, and nothing said"?
" But that's not our idea of a bishop." Perhaps not ;

~MASTERY OF A WRITING VOCABULARY

211

but it was St. Paul's, and it was Milton's. They may be
right, or we may be ; but we must not think we are reading
either one or the other by putting our meaning into their words.

[Ruskin goes on to discuss other expressions
with the same minuteness. J
Contributions from Other Studies. - In acquiring
any new science or art one learns many new terms,
some of which are not too technical for use in themes.
]'or that matter, every exercise written in any subject cannot help being to some extent an exercise in
English. The vocabulary book should receive contributions from every line of the student's work.
Translation. -There is no better means of making the memory yield up the words which it has
formerly caught, than translation. Professor A. S.
Hill quotes the reported words of Rufus Choate:
"Translation should be pursued to bring to mind
and to employ all the words you already own, and
to tax and torment invention and discovei:y and the
very deepest memory for additional, rich, and admirably expressive words." 1 Every lesson in translating is a lesson in self-expression. Professor
Carpenter testifies 2 that the Latin-trained boys
entering scientific schools are remarkably superior
in power of expression to those not so trained; and
his testimony is confirmed by the experience of
many other teachers.
I
2

Foundat ions of Rheto"ric, p. 171.
Advanced Exercises, p. 41.

212 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING

E.NUL/8/L
~MASTERY OF A TV LUTING VOCABULARY

213

Memorizing of Literature. -To the habit of mem'

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orizing, many a person is indebted not merely for
high thoughts that cheer hours of solitutle and that
stimulate his own thinking, but for command of
words.
The degree to which the language of
modern writers is derived. from a few great authors is startling. Shakespeare's phrases are a part
of the tissue of every man's speech to-day. Such
writers as Charles Lamb bear Shakespeare's mark
on every page. The language of the King Jam es
version of the Bible is echoed in motlern English
prose and poetry. It formed styles so unlike as
those of Bunyan, Huskin, and Abraham Lincoln.
Most teachers would declare that a habit of leaming Scripture by heart is of incalculable value to a
student's English. In the Authorized Version, and
to almost as great an extent in the Revised Version,
the Anglo-Saxon element and the Latin are both
present in marvellous effecti veuess. 1
It is clear that whatever help one's writing is
to receive from memorizing will come naturally
through one's study of literature. But so many
of the strongest words in the language, particularly the Saxon words, have been treasured up in
the homely sayings of the people, that I have ventured to suggest a list of pro\'erbs for memorizing.
.r nst how many of these it rnay be atl visaule for a
l For partknlar passages, etc., sec Professor A. S. Cook's The
Bible a11cl En,qlish l'ro:;e Style (Uinu & Co.).

g 1ven pupil to retain m mind is a matter to be
decided by the instructor. Certainly each student
will do well to learn a scor~ of those that seem to
him best worth remembering. Each saying preserves some fine word in some natural context, a
fact that will make the word far easier to recall
than it would be if learned as an isolated term.
Not more than ten or fifteen minutes a day ought
to be given to the memorizing.

ENGLISH PROVERBS 1
A brave retreat is a brave exploit.
A carper can cavil at anything.
A carrion kite will never make a good hawk.
A child is better unborn than untaught.
A custom more honored in the breach than in the
observance.
A dogmatical tone, a pragmatical pate.
A diligent scholar, and the master's paid.
A clog's life, hunger and ease.
A dwarf on a giant's shoulders sees farther of the two.
A fair field and no favor.
A fault confessed is half redressed.
A fine new nothing.
A fool always comes short of his reckoning.
A fool will not be foiled .
A forced kindness deserves no thanks.
A good cause makes a stout heart and a strong arm.
A good name keeps its lustre in the dark.
A grain of prudence is worth a pound of craft.
A great city, a great solitude.
1 Huudreds of others will lJe .found in Hazlitt's English
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214

FIRST BOOK JN WRITING ENGLISH

A honey tongue, a heart of gall.
A man may buy gold too dear.
A man must sell his ware at the rates of the market.
A man never surfeits of too much honesty.
A nod for a wise man, and a rod for a fool.
A penny saved is a penny got.
A wicked book is the wickeder because it cannot repent.
A wager is a fool's argument.
All complain of want of memory, but none of want of
judgment.
All the craft is in the catching.
An unpeaceable man hath no neighbor.
Antiquity is not always a mark of verity.
As wily as a fox.
Better lose a jest than a friend.
Better to go away longing than loathing.
By ignorance we mistake, and by mistakes we learn.
Children are certain cares, but uncertain comforts.
Clowns are best in their own company, but gentlemen are
best everywhere.
Conscience cannot be compelled.
Cutting out well is better than sewing up well.
Danger and delight grow on one stock.
Decency and decorum are not pride.
Different sores must have different salves.
Dexterity comes by experience.
Do not spur a free horse.
Even reckoning makes long friends.
Every age coufntes old errors and begets new.
Every man hath a fool in his sleeve.
Faint praise is disparagement.
Force without forecast is of little avail.
From fame to infamy is a beaten road.
Great businesses turn on a little pin.
Great spenders are bad lenders.
He is lifeless that is faultless.
Heaven will make amends for all.

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215

Let your purse be your master.
Idleness is the greatest prodigality in the world.
Ignorance is a voluntary misfortune.
It is a wicked thing to make a dearth one's garner.
Lean liberty is better than fat slavery.
Self-love is a mote in every man's eye.
Sloth is the key to poverty.
Some sport is sauce to paius.
Subtility set a trap and caught itself.
Temporizing is sometimes great wisdom.
The goat must browse where he is tied.
The poet, of all sorts of artificers, is the fondest of his
works.
The prick of a pin is enough to make an empire insipid.
The purest gold is the most ductile.
There's a craft in daubing.
Thrift is good revenue.
Too much consulting confounds.
Truth needs not many words, but a false tale a large
preamble.
Truths too fine-spun are subtle fooleries.
Upbraiding turns a benefit into an injury.
Use your wit as a buckler, not as a sword.
What God made, he never mars.
When honor grew mercenary, money grew honorable.
·where vice is, vengeance follows.
Synonyms. -A synonym is a word that means

the same or nearly the same thing as some other
word. Our language, from its composite nature,
is peculiarly rich in synonyms. In hundreds of
cases English has absorbed both the Saxon and
the French or Latin wotd for a given idea.
Nearly always, in such cases, one of the words
has acquired a disti~1ctly different shade of mean-

~1IA8TERY OF A WRITING VOCABULARY

216 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISll

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ing from the otliel'. I1lllecd, one of the wonls
is sure to acquire a slightly Llifferent value, whether
from its associations or its sound. ·while it may
roughly be saiLl that there are words which mean
the same thing, yet for the really careful writer
there are no synonyms.
In another
sense there are many people who seem to ha,,e
no synonyms. You have doubtless known persons
who lacked all means of differentiating praise, persons who applied the same adjective to everything, from a pin to the solar system. 'l'here are
the people who find everything either nice or not
nice; the people who eat elegant soups and sigh
at elegant sunsets; the people who have jolly times,
jolly canes, jolly excuses. To the nfoe group, the
elegant gronp, and the jolly group, may be adclecl
·the lovely group, and many others.
Synonyms for Adjectives of Praise. -

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widening the active vocabulary it must be jutliciously limited. If one turns to a book of synonyms, one finds on many a page some score of
words meaning nearly the same thing. Many of
these words are unusual, out-of-the-way expressions,
to use which would make a man sound like a prig.
Simplicity is a cardinal virtue in writing. If this
fact is kept in mind, and the student does not affect too elaborate and bookish words, the study of
synonyms. will be of the utn'iost service to him.
Below are listed a gootl
many groups of synonyms. They are to be studied
now and to be used hereafter for reference in the
work of writing. Each group contains only a few
of the words that might demand a place if the question were merely one of meaning. The words here
chosen are such as may properly appear in the work
of any high school student, 1f there is need of them,
A Method of Study. -

to express the student's mecmi11g.
Oral Exercise. -Apply several proper adjectives

of praise to each of the following: soup, sunset,
poodle, lady, moon, time (e.g. meaning an excursion), silk, opera, book-binding, gown, face, mountain, box of sweets, ice-cream, disposition, story,
manner, soul, fan, perfume, roses, piano-playing,
sermon, editorial or leader, critique.
A

Danger. -The study of synonyms cultivates

discrimination.

But as-a study for the purpose of

Even in these groups some words are simpler,
and therefore more desirable, than others. The class
slwulll .first examine the entire list, underlining caref11lly the sz'.mpler words in each group. These simpler
11·orcls are regularly to be preferred when their mea11i11g is exact enough for the iclea hi mind. The

others are to be mastered for the sake of the distinctions they express, and for their occasional usefolness as a means of 8..voitling repetitions.

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218 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

MASTERY OF A WRITING VOCABULARY

The underlining finished, the groups may further
be studied with a view to discriminating the various
terms. Fifteen minutes a day is enough to devote
to this work, and in some cases it may be best to
examine minutely only a part of the list, leaving
the rest to be used for reference.

Oral Exercise. -Each group should be taken up

It will be found useful to
spend five minutes a da.y in copying off several
times each unfamiliar word. Unless the hand is
accustomed to tracing the word, the mind will not
be likely to demarnl this act of the hand in the
moment of composition.
Written Exercise. -

Oral E.xercise. -Each student may be asked to

pronounce every word that he has not been in the
habit of using orally. Since the same term is
likely to have been neglected by many of the class,
a considerable amount of ear-training will be received by all.
One of the best, because most
natural, ways of studying synonyms, is to examine
a page of good prose with a view to seeing whether
synonyms could have been used as effectively as
the actual wm·ds in the text. Choose such a page,
underline the important words, and examine the
list to find the group to which each belongs. Then
substitute for the word in the text the other words
of the group, and see whether the author's choice
was wise.
Oral Exercise. -

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in turn and discussed by the cla.ss af~er the meaninas
of unfamiliar words have been looked up in
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the dictionary. The force of each word as a synonym of the others in its group should be brought out
by illustrative sentences. The differences in meaning should be talked about until they a.re thoroughly
understood. Fernald's Synony1ns, Antonyms, ancl
Prepositions, and Smith's Synony1ns Discrim1:nated,
are good books of reference if any doubtful question arises.
Study an assigned mun ber
of groups, a.nd pick out the word which seems to
have the most general meaning, the word which,
more than any other, includes the remaining members of the group. Thus, in the series Act1tal, authentic, genuine, real, the last is the most general
term. Real applies to a larger number of things
than any of its synonyms.
Written Exercise. -

Study an assigned number of
groups, a.nd say what idea the members of each
have in common, and, if possible, what additional
idea each member has. Thus, Adept, adroit, cleft,
dexterous, handy, skilful, each have the idea skilful.
Adept means skilful in some art or occupation.
Adroit means skilful with the hand, or with the
mind, - i.e. tactful. Deft, dexterous usually mean
skilful with the hand; deft refers to movements of
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220 FIRST flOUJl JN WRITING ENGLJSJI
the fingers, cle:vtetous to q nick motions, as of the
hand. Handy means skilful at manual exercises.
of c~ch group
should be pronounced, aucl the student asked to
give from memory the other members.
Oral

Exercise. -One member

Only one pa-rt of
speech is represented iu each group. The student
should be asked to give corresponding parts of
speech. Thus, the a,djective series Actual, crnthentie, genuine, real, yields the adverbs actually, authentically, genuinely, really, aml the nouns actuality,
anthenticity, genuineness, reality.
Oral or Written Exercise. -

GRours OF Si-N0Nn1s l

Abandon, cast off, desert, forswear, quit, renounce, withdraw from.
A bate, decrease, diminish, mitigate, moderate.
Abhor, abominate, detest, dislike, loathe.
Abiding, enduring, lasting, permanent, perpetual.
Ability, capability, capacity, competency, efficacy, power.
Abolish, annul, eradicate, exterminate, obliterate, root
out, wipe out.
Abomination, curse, evil, iniquity, nuisance, shame.
Absent, absent-minded, absorbed, abstracted, oblivious,
preoccupied.
Absolve, acquit, clear.
Abstemiousness, abstinence, frugality, moderation, so briety, temperance.
1

For refet·ence: Fallows, 100,000 Synonyms and Antunyms
(Fleming- H. Revell Co.); Roget, Thesaw·us; Femalrl, Synonyms, Antonyms, cwd Prcpusitio11.~ (Funk and Wagnalls).

MASTERY OF A WRITING VOC.ABULAUY

221

Absurd, ill-all vised, ill-considered, ludicrous, monstrous,
paradoxical, preposterous, unreasonable, wild.
Abundant, adequate, ample, enough, generous, lavish,
plentiful.
Accomplice, ally, colleiigue, helper, partner.
Active, agile, alert, brisk, bustling, energetic, lively,
supple.
Actuiil, authentic, genuine, real.
Adept, adroit, deft, dexterous, handy, skilful.
Address, adroitness, courtesy, readiness, tact.
Adequate, competent, equal, fitted, suitable.
Adjacent, adjoining, bordering, neiir, neighboring.
Admire, adore, respect, revere, venerate.
Admit, allow, concede, grant, suffer, tolerate.
Admixture, alloy.
Adverse, disinclined, indisposed, loatb, reluctant, slow,
unwilling.
Aerial, airy, animated, ethereal, frolicsome.
Affectation, cant, hypocrisy, pretence, sham.
Affirm, assert, avow, declare, maintain, state.
Aged, ancient, antiquated, antique, immemorial, old, venerable.
Air, bearing, carriage, demeanor.
Akin, alike, identical.
Alert, on the alert, sleepless, wary, watchful.
Allay, appease, calm, pacify.
Alliance, coalition, compact, federation, union, fusion.
Allude, hint, imply, insinuate, intimate, suggest.
Allure, attract, cajole, coax, inveigle, lure.
Amateur, connoisseur, novice, tyro.
Amend, better, mend, reform, repair.
Amplify, develop, expand, extend, unfold, widen.
Amusement, diversion, entertainment, pastime.
Anger, exasperation, petulance, rage, resentment.
Animal, beftst, brute, living creature, living organism.
Answer, rejoinder, repartee, reply, response, retort.
Anticipate, forestall, precluc~, prevent.

222 FIRST BOOIC IN WRITING "ENGLISH
Apiece, individually, severally, separately.
Apparent, clear, evident, obvious, "tangible, unmistakable.
Apprehend, comprehend, conceive, perceive, understand.
Arraign, charge, cite, impeach, indict, prosecute, summon.
Arrogance; haughtiness, presumption, pride, se!I-complacency, superciliousness, vanity.
Artist, artificer, artisan, mechanic, operaLive, workman.
Artless, boorish, clownish, hoidenish, rude, uncouth, unsophisticated.
Assent, agree, comply.
Assurance, effrontery, hardihoou, impe1·ti1umce, impudence, incivility, insolence, officiousness, rudeness.
Atom, grain, scrap, particle, shred , whit.
Atrocious, barbaric, barbarous, brutal, merciless.
ALLack, assault, infringement, intrusion, onslaught.
Attain, aecuwvlish, a.uhieve, anive at, cornpaiss, reach, secuw.
Attempt, endeavor, essay, strive, try, undertake.
Attitude, pose, position, posture.
Attribute, ascribe, assign, charge, impute.
Axiom, truism.
Baffle, balk, bar, check, embarrass, foil, frustrate, hamper,
hinder, impede, retard, thwart.
Banter, burlesque, drollery, humor, jest, raillery, wit,
witticism.
Beg, plead, press, urge.
Beguile, divert, enliven, entertain, occupy.
Bewilderment, confusion, distraction, embarrassment, perplexity.
Bind, fetter, oblige, restrain, restrict.
Bla7.e, flame, flare, flash, flicker, glare, gleam, gleaming,
glimmer, glitter, light, lustre, shimmer, sparkle.
Blessed, hallowed, holy, sacred, saintly.
Boasting, display, ostentation, pomp, pompousness, show.
Brave, adventurous, bold, courageous, daring, dauntiess,
fearless, gallant, heroic, undismayed.
Bravery, coolness, courage, gallantry, heroism.

MASTERY OF A WRITING VOCABULARY 223
:Brief, concise, pithy, sententious, terse.
.
Bring over, convince, induce, influence, persuade, prev:ul
upon, win over.
.
.
Calamity, disaster, misadventure, mischance, 1111sfortune,
mii;ha.p.
Candid, impartial, open, straightforward, transparent, unbi111ssed, uuprejudiceu, unreserved.
Caprice, humor, vagary, whim.
Candor, franknl'~~. trut.h. verR-City.
Caricature, burlesque, parody, travesty.
{Jatch, capture, claisp, cluLcli, grip, secure.
.
.
Cause, consideration, design, end, grouud, motive, obiect,
reason, purpose.
Caution, discretion, prudence.
Censure, criLicism, rebuke, reproof, repri11Ht1'.1.l, reproacl~.
Character, com;tit.nt.ion, dispositiuu, reputat1011, temper,
temperc.llleut.
.
.
.
Characteristic, peculiarity, property, sm~ularity, tra1L.
Chattering, garrulous, loquacious, talkative.
Cheer, comfort, delight, ecstasy: ·gaiety, gladness, gratification, happiness, jollity, satisfact10n.
Churlish, crusty, gloomy, gruff, ill-natured, morose, sour,
sullen, surly.
·
Class, circle, clique, coterie.
,
Cloak, cover, gloss. over, mitigate, palliate, screen.
Cloy, sate, satiate, satisfy, surfeit.
Commit, confide, consign, entrust, relegate.
Compassion, forbearan~e, lenience, mercy.
Compassionat.e, gracious, humane.
Complete, consummate, faultless, flawless, perfect.
Confirm, corroborate.
.
Conflicting, discordant, discrepant, incon~uous, m1smated.
Confused, discordant, miscellaneous, various.
Conjecture, guess, suppose, surmise.
Conscious, aware, certain.
·
outco111e, outgrowth, result, sequel,
Consequence, issue,
upshot.

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224 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENC::LISJ/

JIASTERr OF A WRITING VOCABULARY 225

Continual, continuous, incessant, unbroken, uninterrupted.
Credible, conceivable, likely, prnsumable, probable, reasonable.
Customary, habitual, normal, prevailing, usual, wonted.
Damage, detriment, disadvantage, hann, hurt injury
prejudice.
'
'
Dangerous, formidable, terrible.
Defame, deprecate, disparage, slander, vilify.
Defile, infect, soil, st.ain, sully, taint, tarnish.
Deleterious, detrimental, hurtful, harmful, mischievous,
pernicious, rninous.
Delicate, fine, minute, refined, slender.
Delightful, grateful, gratifying, refreshing, satisfying.
Difficult, laborious, toilsome, trying.
Digress, diverge, stray, swerve, wander.
Disavow, disclaim, disown, recall, renounce, repu~iate,
retract.

..

.Dispose, draw, incline, induce, influence, move, }Jrompt,
stir.
Earlier, foregoing, previous, preliminary.
Effeminate, feminine, womanish, womanly.
Emergency, extremity, necessity.
~mp~~· fruitless, futile, idle, trifling, unavailing, useless,
vam, v1s1onary.
Erudition, knowledge, profumlity, sagacity, sense, wisdom.
Rternal, imperishable, interminable, perennial, perpetual,
unfailing.
Excuse, pretence, pretext, subterfuge.
Exemption, immunity, liberty, license, privilege.
l~xplicit, express.
Faint, faint-hearted, faltering, half-hearted, irresolute,
languid, listless, purposeless.
Faithful, loyal, stanch, trustwort.hy, trusty.
Fanciful, fantastic, grotesque, imaginative, visionary.
Folly, imbecility, senselessness, stupidity.
Fling, gibe, jeer, mock, scoff, sneer, taunt.
.l!'lock, bevy, brood, covey, drove, herd, litter, pack.

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Fluctuate, hesitate, oscillate, vacillate, waver.
Grief, melancholy, regret, sadness, sorrow..
Hale, healthful, healthy, salutary, sound, vigorous.
Ignorant, lllitemte, uninformed, uninstructed, unlettered,
untaught,
Impulsive, involnntary, spontaneous, unbidden, voluntary,
willing.
Indispensable, inevitable, necessary, requisite, unavoi<lable.
Inquisitive, inquiring, intrusive, meddlesome, peeping,
prying.
Intractable, ,perverse, petulant, ungovernable, wayward,
wilful.
Irritation, offence, pique, resentment.
Probably, presumably.
Ueliable, trustworthy, trusty.
Remnant, trace, token, vestige .
Requite, repay, retaliate, satisfy,
Oral or Written Exercise. - In the following,
vary the overworked words as much as possible.
Permit repetition only when it is necessary for
clearness.
1. I think the committee selected to select theme
topics for the class to write upon, should be careful not to select too many topics on one subject,
since the nature of one student differs from that of
another. I think that the few who are not satisfied
with the topics the. committee have selected, shoultl
be required to select and hand in a list of topics on
which they would like to write.
2. There are two distinct stories running through
the Merchant of Venice: •the story of the pound of
Q

226 FIRST BOO][ IN WRITING ENGLISH
flesh and the story of the caskets. These stories
run parallel to each other through the play, as far
as the third act, where the story of the caskets is
ended by the lucky choice of Bassanio. But from
here a new story, the story of the rings, commences, and continues through the rest of the
play, crossing the story of the pound of flesh and
finally taking the place of this story.
Future Revision. -Henceforth one distinct ob-

•ject for which every theme should be revised is
variety of wm·ds. It soon becomes a keen satisfaction to read one's own work aloud to detect overworked expressions. In the pursuit of variety, the
scholar not merely grows sensitive to the ugly
recurrence of the same sound; he grows bold to
repeat words if the repetition is demanded for
clearness or force. Some things seem to have but
one name in English; more's the pity; but we
must make the best of the case.

;/

CHAPTER XI
RIGHT NUMBER AND SKILFUL CHOICE OF WORDS

Let it be supposed that a person has learned to
plan a composition logically and to write with
grammatical correctness; that further he has acquired a noble unrest which keeps him searching
for new words and fine distinctions; what should
be his next care?
After the power of thinking coherently, the
ability most important to a writer is that of picking out from the wide world of words the one
expression that mates his unworded idea. His
choice of words - i.e. his dlction - must meet
three requirements. If it is to be clear, it must
mean the same to the reader's intellect that it does
to the writer's. If it is to be forcible, it must move
the reader's feelings as it moved the writer's.
Furthermore, if it is to be beautifnl, it must please
a reader who· has good taste.
Clearness. - Clearness, the intellectual quality of
style, has already been referred to (p. 43), for it is
the quality aimed at in making sentences coherent.
221

228 FIRST 110011 lN WlUTING ENGLI8ff

SKILFUL CJIOJCE OF WORDS

'rhat the idea should be made unmistakably clear
is the first requisite of good writing. The thinking must be clear; the division of the theme into
paragraphs, and 'o f paragraphs into sentences must
be clear; and the words must be clear. \Ve have
presently to ask what effect number and choice of
words have upon clearness.
Force. - Force is the emotional quality of style.
It may occur in a very moderate degree, just
enough to intm·est the reader slightly, or it may be
present to such an extent as to move the deepest
springs of feeling. It is hard to give suggestions for securing force, because language is better
adapted to communicating ideas than emotions.
\Ve find that language furnishes very few names
for feelings. :Furthermore, these names, even such
as love, fear, anger, do not in themselves move us.
"\Vhat a marvellous variety of emotion each of us
feels in a day ! how many delicate tints of pleasure ! how many shades of regret or fear, of painful
memory or suggestion ! The psychologists tell ns
that we do no act which does not bring with it
some touch of pleasure or of pain. And yet most
of these shades and tints and touches of feeling
neither have names uor can be communicated by
words. Nevertheless, though language cannot directly convey feeling, it can sometimes suggest
feeling. If your read Pr 11as e~perienced a gi veu

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229

emotion, some word of yours may recall that to his
mind. One secret of being forcible lies in choosing theme &ubjects that interest the reader; subjects that set up a train of feeling and memory in
his mind. Other secrets are, to choose si1ggestive
words and figures of speech, and to refrain from
wearing out interest by too many words. "\Ve shall
presently inquire, what words and figures are most
suggestive . .
Something may be done to secure force by so
arranging words as to attract the reader's attention. It will be noted that emphasis (p. 110) and
climax (p. 112) are means of force.
Beauty is the quality of style which
satisfies what is called, for lack of a better word,
the resthetic sense; this is little else but saying,
beauty of style satisfies the sense for beauty. One
element of beauty is simplicity, a quality closely
allied to clearness, yet not the same. Euphony, or
absence of ugly sounds, is another element of
beauty. Variety is another element of beauty.' It
is clear that the last exercise in Chapter X is as
much an exercise in beauty as in vocabulary. In
the present chapter we shall have space to consider
only one element of beauty, -that of simplicity.
Beauty. -

Prolixity. - If a writer descends into tedious details, or if he repeats the same idea over and over
in slightly different wo;ds, without developing or

230 FIRST JJOOK IN WRITING ENGLISII

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SKILFUL GIJOICE OF WORDS

adding to the thought, he is said to be prnlix.
Prolixity offends chiefly against force, for it kills
interest. This fault may affect merely a single
sentence or paragraph, or it may infest a whole
composition. It does not much beset the writer
who plans his work ahead. It can be corrected
only by rewriting.

231

was there on the mountain-side. It was an inn and
not a cave there iu the mountains, as was incorrectly said by one member of the class."

.

.

Surplusage consists of words that
can be excised without hurting the sense of the
passage. In tyros it is perhaps less of a fault than
the opposite one of deficiency, - the absence of
needed words ; for fnlness of expression is essential to clearness, and surplusage often results from
the desire to be clear. Verbosity, however, dulls
the edge of the keenest thought. Like prolixity, it
weakens. Just as many a prolix speaker could
make a brilliant oration if he knew when to stop,
so many a wordy writer could make an effective
sentence if he knew what to prune away. As Mr.
Lowell would say : 1 Thoughts are never draped in
long skirts like babies, if they are strong enough to
go alone.
The redundant use of the following common
words should be avoided : 1. From, in the phrases from thence, fmm whence.
2. Of, especially in the expressions off of, remembei· of, treat of. "Keep off [not ojf of] the grass."
"This book treats [better than treats of] chemistry."
3. On, with the words the next morning. "He
was rebellious on the seventh of July, hut the next
Surplusage. -

Written Exeroise. - The following prolix passage
should be rewritten, only the essential thouahts
being kept. Any mistakes and crudities of s~yle
should be corrected.
"My friend the doctor was a collector of ancient
coins and was al ways roaming about the ruins of
old cities in· search of coins. He would wander
around and pick up valuable relics like the Venus
he wore in his seal ring. He was always finding
something worth keeping. He would pick up a
precious bit of antiquity and put it in his pocket,
and so he always carried with him a regular collection· of relics. One afternoon he was out among
the mountains picking up relics and not looking
up to see whether any one was near. \Vhen he
looked around he saw five or perhaps six rough
fellows who were standing there behind him. He
fell to quivering with fright and stood trembling
and shaking, but managed to greet them. After
he had greeted the five or six men they all walked
along down the road until they came to an inn tl1at

1

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Among My 8'Job, II. 25!J.

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232 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH
SKILFUL CHOICE OF WORDS

morning [not on the next moming] he reappeared
in a more submissive frame of mind."
Oral Exercise. - Prune away every word that
can be spared; note the increase in force. Slight
changes may be made in the wording.
1. All of the ships were lost; no kind of a one
was saved.
2. I know from my own personal knowledge
that a man who stands upright in his own manhood, honest and conscious of the rectitude of his
purposes, is safe against calumny and slander.
3. I don't think it a good precedent to set in
this house for any man to vote fot• a till in which
he has a personal interest, and I don't remember of
ever having done so of myself. I shall, therefore,
for tl~is reason, refrain from voting, but I want to
say a word on this bill, and I want to talk to the
democrats.
4. Real-estate <lealer is knocke<l down by an
accident and is rnn ove1· by a cab.
5. Commencing on Monday, March 29, supported
by the New York Garrick Theatre Stock Company,
Mr. Mansfield will commence an engagement of
two weeks at the Grand Opera House.
Written or Oral Exercise. - In the following
sentences some of the underscored expressions
should be expressed more briefly by changing
clauses to phrases cir phrases to single words.

233

Thus: men who deserved and won 1·enown may
shorten to men of deserved renown.
1. Men who deservecl ancl won renown, and women
who were p~erless, have lived upon what we should
now call the coarsest fare, and paced the rushes
which were strewn in their rooms with as high, or as
contented thoughts, as their descendants, persons
who are fed better and clothed better than they, can
boast of.
2. If children are able to make us wiser, it is
sure that they can also make us better. There is no
one who is more to be· env1'.ecl than a good-natured
man when he is watching how children's minds perform their workings; or when he is overlooking the
play they engage in.

I

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Deficiency of Words. - It was said in a former
paragraph that in young writers surplusage is perhaps less of a fault than is the lack of needed
words. Verbosity robs a theme of force; deficiency
robs it of force and clearness. It is human nature
to try to say a thing more briefly than is possible.
Forgetting that pitch, stress, and gesture do much
to make spoken words intelligible, the easy-going
writer does not tax himself to attain full and lucid
expression. He forgets that a piece of writing
may be. so condensed as to be dense.
Ambiguity often springll from the omission of
merely a word or two. Reading such a phrase as

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234 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISIJ
"the secretary and treasurer," we are vexed with
doubt whether one person is meant, or two; the
omission of the article seems to imply that the two
offices are vested in a single officer. The lack of a
few words may turn force into weakness. A German newspaper thus burlesques the compression to
which editors sometimes feel impelled: "Ottokar
took a small brandy, then his hat, his departure,
besides no notice of his pnrsuers, meantime a
revolver out of his pocket, and lastly his own life."
The following common words should not be
omitted:'1. '.l'he main part of an infinitive at the end of a
sentence. Wrong: "He did what he wished to."
Right: "He did what he wished to do."
2. The adverb much before certain adjectives.
·wrong: "He was very pleased to comply." Right:
"He was very much pleased to comply."
3. (a) The preposition at with home. 1Vrong:
"I stayed home and slept home." Right: "1
stayed at home and slept at home." (b) The
preposition on with days of the month. lV1'0ng:
"The seventh of July he rebelled." IiJ!Jhl: "On
the senmth of .Jnl:r he rehell(•t1.'' l'urn11arr 1';1:;1•
231. 3.
4. A demonstrative used for clearness. lVt'ong :
"He chose between the lot of the rich and of t.he
µour." lliyhl: " lfo dw;:;t; Ld11eeJ1 Llic luL o[ Lhe
rich a111l that of the poor."

SKILFUL CETOWE OF WORDS

235

5. The conj unction tlmt wlien needed for clearness. 1Vrong ; " I wish snd1 a beefsteak as that
one over there may never be served on this table."
'Vhat is the ambiguity here, at the beginning?
Indicate how by the addition of
words each sentence. may be corrected: 1. Altogether it was a day like unto which the
memory of the oldest inhabitant could not recall.
2. He received his early education at Brownsville and 'Vhitesville academy, remaining about a
year at each place.
3. There was a minister who, being informed by
the church officials that they had raised his salary
$100, declined to accept it.
4. The following great reductions indicate the
heavy losses we are taking closing out the balance
of our stock.
5. This mutual estee1i1 was shown by their cordial welcome of the guests as well as the uniform
courtesy shown by the latter.
6. Poor Evelina was obliged to choose between
a blue and green dress.
7. 81.reaks uf ligliLuiHg <i.llll daps uf LhuaJer
rattled through the narrow streets of l'aris.
8. I am an historical painter by profession, and
living for some time at a villa uear Rome.
Oral Exercise. -

Specific Wo1ds.

SlqJpo::;e ~L were ,lesirell Lu

make clea1· to a friend how the sunset looked- ~t

236 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

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237

SKILFUL CHOICE OF WORDS

difficult task. One would lmrdly succeed if one
had no better words to offer than the general
terms clouds, beautiful, lovely, bright. The friend,
if he cared to know, would insist on specific
words: What kind of beauty? was it quiet beauty,
or awfnl beauty, or picturesque beauty? "\\<'hat
kind of brightness? was it redness? If so, was
the sky blood-red, or merely pink? What kind of
clouds ? - great masses of storm cloud, or high
frozen clouds, or mottled "mackerel " clouds ? 'l'o
be clear, then, words must be specific enough to
give the idea intended. Just how specific they
should be depends on the audience. They must
be familiar to the hearer or reader, if they are to
be understood without explanation. All audiences
would understand the general term tool,· all would
understand the genus name saw, which specifies a
kind of tool. But many would not understand the
species name rip-saw; for to most people rip-saw
is unfortunately a technical term. In choosing
specific words the line sl1ould therefore be drawn
between common terms and technical terms, the
latter not to be employed without explanation,
except in addressing special audiences.
Specific words are usually as forcible as they are
clear. Most people's feelings are roused by the
thought of a particular object, not of a class name.
Flower is a class name; it does not move one.
Olove1· is a specific name ; it calls back the old

farm, the old friends, the old joys and sorrows.
No word will really interest the reader ·mless he
has previously usecl it or lteard it in association
with his feelings. Take the word contusion; it
means something forcible to a doctor, but not to a
boy, for the latter never useu it. But say bruise which means exactly the same thing. That's forcible. It feelingly reminds us of the hour in which
that dead branch broke and delivered us over to
the law of gravitation.
,
Pick out from these words those that are in
themselves forcible to most people: paternal solicitude, fatherly care; home, domicile; altruism,
unselfishness. You see at once that certain of
these words get their force from the long associations of childhood. In childhood we use the
simpler words of the language, those that are
derived from the Anglo-Saxon mother-tongue.
Anglo-Saxon words, therefore, are usually forcible. Compare page 183.
Oral Exercise. - Reduce the following names
step by step to a particular genus and a particular
species. Thus : animal, mammal, quadruped,
graminivorous animal, cow, Alderney.
1. Reduce 11iachine step by step till you reach

stop-wa.tch.

2. Reduce machine to rewlver.
3. Reduce living organism to moss-rose.
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238 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH
4. Reduce livlny organism to oyster.
Similarly, extend the following species names
step by step to family names.
1. Extend pen-knife to instrmnent.
2. Extend Longfellow to mmi of letters.
General Words. - We found that most specific
words are of Anglo-Saxon origin. Most general
words are of Latin origin. Both these statements
are only roughly true, of course; but the distinction is worth making. The language of science is
mostly of Latin origin, because it consists so largely
of class names. Our Anglo-Saxon forefathers ha<l
fewer class names, for they had not progressed far
enough to care to classify everything. ·when, later,
the English came to study history, and philosophy,
and science, they had either to invent new AngloSaxon words for class names, or else use Latin
words. They chose the latter course. Consequently we have such Latin class names as animal
and such individual names as cat, doy, liorse, pig.'
\Ve speak of wltile, blue, green, red ; but when we
want a class name for these, we say color, a Latin
word. From all this it may be seen that any great
number of general words gives a scientific, abstract
tone to writing. GenGral words are absolutely
necessary fo1· the exact purposes of science and
philosophy. They are adapted, as Professor Carpenter puts it, to "precise and elaborate dis tine-

SKILFUL CHOICE OF WORDS

23\)

tions of thought." They do not give a clear mental
image; that is, you cannot see beauty, or smallness,
or animal, or color -you can see only a beautiful
object, a small object, a particular animal, a particular color. Ilut, still, general words mean exactly
what they say. Animal means exactly· this: a
summi~g up of all the qualities that are common
to all indivi<lual animals. All the things calle1l
?'1imal have in common powers of sensation and
voluntary movement. ·when such a distinction is
wanted, it is wanted badly, as we say. There is
no better mark of literal'J mastery than kuowing
just when to use a general word, just when a specific one. Examine a few pages from Hobert Louis
Stevenson, to see with what exquisite fitness words
of Latin origin may be used in the midst of AngloSaxon words when the appeal turns from the fcPlings to the intellect.
There are many reasons why a writer may not
wish to be too specific. In the sentence, " I picked
up my traps and left," the colloquialism traps
answers every essential purpose. The reader does
not c3.l·e to have tooth-brush and books aud papers
all specified. People are not to be blame<l for referring vaguely to cleath as a pas.~ing awciy, for the
specific word is harsh at best. Such expressions
as paBs away are called ei1pliemisms. Many euphemisms are ,legitimate; but whether a given one
H110uhl he employed i; a question of taste, a ques-

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240 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH
tion of beauty. It seems a beautiful expression
when Keats says, "to cease upon the iµidnight
with no pain," instead of, "to die painlessly at
twelve o'clock;" but it is a mark of false modesty
and bad taste to insist on saying 1·ose for got up,
1·etire for go to bed, lowe1· limbs for legs.
Again, one should not al ways hesitate to set
down an idea because one has not the sharpest,
clearest possible notion of it. Vague ideas are
sometimes valuable ones. They should receive
earnest thought that they may take definite shape.
But if they seem to defy definite form, they certainly should not be thrown away merely for that.
Catching one's exact idea is often as difficult as
catching a trout. Bnt a glimpse of the fine fish
that gets away is worth something,-there are
few of us who can resist the temptation to tell
about it when we get home. Speaking of the
mind, Emerson says, "It is wholesome to angle in
those profound pools, though one be rewarded with
nothing more than the leap of a fish that flashes
his freckled side in the sun and as suddenly absconds in the dark and dreamy waters again." 1
In Wordsworth's poem, The Solitary Reaper, we
hear of a song about old, unltappy, far-off tliings.
That was exactly Wordsworth's own vague notion,
and down he set it-in words that make it clear
1 Qnote<l in a <liflerent connection by E. E. Hale, Jr., Conatructive Rheto>'ic, p. 288 (Henry Holt & Co.).

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241

SKILFUL CIIOIG.E OF WORDS

(so to speak) that his idea was sweet and vagu~.
Ruskin describing the frutade of St. Mark's m
Venice,' tries to give a sense of the bewildering
multiplicity of beautiful things on that wonderful
front by saying, a confusion of deUght. If he_ had
used more definite words we · should have nussed
the effect.
Oral Exercise. - Examine the passages from Johnson and Blackmore (pp. 192-3). "\Vhich passage
~ontains m~re of general words than of specific':'
Which is the more forcible in subject-matter?
Which in diction?

In the following passage, choose
the better expression from each pair of brackets.
Each pair contains one general and one specific
term; choose the term which gives greater force or
greater clearness than the other.
1. And therefore, first of all, I tell yon earnestly
and authoritatively (I lcnow I am right in this) you
must get into the [way, habit] of looking [rightly,
intensely J at words, and [telling, assuring] yourself
of their meaning, syllable by syllable - nay, letter
by letter. For . . . you might reatl all the books
in [a great library, the British Museum J (if yon
could live long enough) and remain a~ utterly "illiterate," uneducated person; but if you 'read [some
part, ten pages] of [a good, an instructive] book,
lette1· by letter-that ;s to say, with real [care,
Oral Exercise. -

R

____ _____________ _____
,

......,

··. ~

,,_~--. -~

242 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISll
accuracy]-you are forevermore in some [wa.y,
measure] au educated [man, person]. The entire
difference between education and non-education (as
regards the merely [mental, intellectual J part of
it) consists in this [exactitude, accuracy]. A welleducated gentleman · may not [read, know J many
languages, may not be able to speak any but his
own, may have read very few books. But whatever language he knows, he knows [well, precisely]; whatever woru he [says, pronounces] he
[says, pronounces] rightly. Above all, he is learned
in the peerage of words, knows the words of [true,
veritable J descent, and [old, ancient.] blood, at a
glance, from the words of [new, modern] canaille,
remembers all their ancestry, their intermarriages,
distant relationships, and the extent to which they
were admitted, and offices they held, among the
national noblesse of words at any time and in any
[place, country]. But an uneducated person may
know, by [heart, memory], many languages, and
[use, talk] them all, and yet truly [know, apprehend] not a word of any-not a word even of his
own. An ordinarily [clever, good] and sensible
seaman will be able to make his way ashore at
most [ports, places], yet he has only to speak [a
little, a sentence J of [Spanish or French, any language J to be [known, recognized] for an illiterate
person ; so also the accent, or turn of expression of
a single sentence, will at once mark a scholar.

· SKJJ,FCJL CII01CE OF WORDS

243

And this is so [well, Rtrongly] felt, so [ conclu·
sively, well J admitted, by educated persons, that a
false accent or a [bad, mistaken] syllable is enough
in the parliament of any civilized nation, to [assign,
send] man to a certain degree of [lower, inferior]
standing forever.
Oral Exercise. - Which words in the following
are general, which specific? Does each seem appropriate in its place, or ought some words to have
been more specific, others more gcncrnl '?
1. Her dress was dark and rich; she had pearls
round her neck, and an old rococo fan in her hand.
-

HENRY JAMES.

2. ·when gratitude has become a matter of rea,..

soning, there are many ways of escaping from its
bonds. - GEORGF. ET,JOT.
3. Friendships begin with liking or gratitude
- roots that can be pulled up. - GEORGE ELIOT.
4. \Vhat scene was ever commonplace in the
descending sunlight, when color has awakened from
its noonday sleep, and the long shadows awe us like
a disclosed presence? Above all, what scene is
commonplace to the eye that is fillei with serene
gladness, and brightens all things with its own
joy? - GEo.RGE ELIOT.
Is there danger of misconception from the use of the following words ? If so,
how ran the danger be a;oided? Discuss in class.
Oral Exercise. -

244 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

SKILFUL CHOICE OF WORDS

Fair, .fine, certain, charity, democratic, 1·epublica.n,
natm·e.
Several years ago a gentleman 1
secured from a large number of successful anthorl'I
brief vieces of a<lvice tu young writers. rn one
particular there was an extraordinary unanimity
among these authors. Nearly all agreed that a
young writer should try to express himself simply.
They agreed on other matters too, - for example,
on the need of clear t11inking and rm inclin:i.tion to
take much pains in expression. But it was noticeable that even writers whose own work is not
characterized by simplicity seemed to admire this
quality.
The greatest men are simple. Affectation, straining for effect, is a mark of a little mind. The
greatest art is simple, - governed by a noble
restraint. Over-decoration, whether in a picture,
a piece of music, in dress, in the furnishing of
a room, or iu a Llieme, i1:1 alway1:1 a mark of bau
taste.
What is called fine writing - the use of overambitious words to express simple thoughts grows up in various ways. Sometimes it springs
from a desire to be funny. Exaggeration has always
been a favorite device of the humorist- especially
Simple Words. -

1 Mr. George Bainton, The Art of Autlwrship (D. Appleton & Co.).

I

I
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245

of the American humorist. There are stuuents who
learn to use this kind of humor so well tliaL an
unconscious habit of bombast pursues them into
their more serious work. Most of us can force a
smile <tt such writing as the p;i.ss;i.gc given below,
or even langh at it when there are enough people
present to help us: "It wa:; in Lhe sixth that Captain Anson, aicletl
and abetteu by sundry young men generally calleLl
'Colts,' waded in to snn,tch laurnl, ti:aili111; nrhnLuti, auu uLhtir vegeLa1lti,:; from Lhc coy haml of
fame. He did it, too, a.nu he now has laurels to
throw to the birds. Ryan went first to the bat,
and pasted a warm one through short that turned
the grass black along its path."
But when a young fellow has read so much of
this sort that he drags similar diction into his
themes, the fun becomes vulgarity.
In general, use always the simplest word that
will express your meaning exactly. Compare
pages 216, 217.
Written Exercise. - Write in simple English the
equivalents of the following passages. Some are
from students' themes ; others from newspapers.
1. The svelte 1 young debutante received a perfect
ovation.
2. In my estimation it is far more to be desired
1

Consult a Fren~h dictionary.

.-~ -

- - ......

- ·-.~ · · ·--.,;.~,; c .- -: ~

•
24G FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLTSTI

,1:

that a tyro in the art of composition should sele..::t;
those subjects with which his acquaintance is the
most extensive.
3. In all my experience I have never enjoyed
the acquaintance of two youths of more superior
ability.
/
4. It is impossible for me to disassociate from
my mind the conception that such a course would
be disastrous to the ambitions of the team.
5. Public sentiment ·would not permit an individual or an infinitesimally small minority to clog
the wheels of progress in order to prevent t~ie escape of a few dollars from the individuals composing the obstructive element.
6. Let us indeed refrain from any course of action which will militate against the onward march
of the civilizing power of the public schools of this
great and growing nation.
7. While the birds were carolling their sweetest
strains and the grass hung heavy with water-pearls,
Peter Brant was taking his life. A more seductive
place to die in than the little garden back of 7000
Congress street is inconceivable.
Literal and Figurative Words. - Before it can he
decided how far the young writer should us~ fig.
mes of speech, it is necessary to find out the real
difference between a literal word or .statement and
a figurative word or statement. If figures are

SKTLFUJ, GllOICE OF WORDS

247

al ways mere em\Jellishmcuts of lauguage, the journeyman had better shun them anxiously ; for his
true object is to express his thought, not to decorate it. If, however, some figures are not em bellishments but ordinary building-material, the case
is different. ·
vVhen, on seeing biscuits for the first time, a
child refers to them as moons, he is not making an
effort to adorn his language. He is unconsciously
using a figure of speech because he does not know
the literal, proper, conventional name, b1'.scu.it. If
the child had formerly lived in a country where
apples grew but. potatoes did not, the first time he
saw a potato he would probably call it a ymwul-ap4
vle. As a matter of fact there are people that lrnYe
gone through some such experience with potatoes.
The French word pomme de terre indicates this.
Most words were once figures of speech, that is,
tropes. A tro11e, from the Greek word rpi7rw, to
turn, is merely the turning away of a word from
its ordinary meaning to give a name to some new
idea. 'fhe root of many a word sl10ws the figure
that was used to express a given new idea. The
root sjJfr- means to breathe. Since the inability to
breathe is one part of the process of death, the expression to breathe out became a figurative expression for the whole idea of H to <lie." In expire,
applied to death, the idea of breathe is usually not
felt. The figure is forgotten, ancl we therefore call

248 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH
it a root-figure, or radical .figure. As may be seen
from the roots of the Curious Words on page 191,
language is figurative through and through.
This is true not only of language already made,
but of that which is daily making. In every mind
shades of thought are constantly occurring for
which there are either no nal.!1-es, or none which
the mind can learn in the interval before expression is necessary. If the exact word is not at
hand, a comparison must be made. The shade of
thought must be named by telling what thing in
the reader's experience it is like.
Does the attempt at comparisqn result in a
vague, inexact phrase, or in an exact one ? The
youth who declares that his lesson is as "hard as
thunder," has expressed himself but vaguely. The
same is true of the young lady who declares that
it rained "like anything." Let us examine briefly
the chief kinds of tropes, and note whether they
are necessarily less clear and exact than literal
statements.
A person sees an accident, and reports that " a
score of hands" picked up the injured boy. Here
is synecdoche. The " hands " stand for the persons - a part for the whole ; a " score " probably
stands for a dozen,-the whole number of hands in
the group of people, for the smaller number that
actually touched the boy. Or, the "score" may
be called hyperbole, that is, exaggeration. A critic

SKILFUL CHOICE OF TVORDS

24\J

might say that either figure is inexact here. True,
in a way. But if the writer lmd reported that lte
seemed to see a score of hamls, the phrase woultl be
faithful to his thought. vVe may take the seemed
for granted, and reply to the critic that for exact
purposes in a law court, "seemed to sec a score of
hands" might be nearer the truth than an attempt
at greater precision.
Suppose, now, that the writer who reported the
accident said that the boy was in great pain, so
that his face was "as white as ivory." Here is a
sirnile, -an explicit statement of likeness in two
things which are different in most respects. 'l'his
particula.r simile is certainly more exact than the
· litera.l word while would be.
If now the writer had said, "I caught a glimpse
of compressed lips and ivory face," the comparison
would have been not explicit, but implied. An implied comparison is called metaplwt. 1\Ietaphor is
from the Greek for carrying over, because it carries
over bodily the name of one thing to another. 'l'o
speak of a man as " bold as a lion," is simile ; to
call him a "lion" outright, is metaphor. It is
less clear to call a man a lion than to say in
what respect he is like a lion; it is less clear
to say, "ivory. face" than to say "face white as
ivory."
The case of the boy who was injured may have ~
got into the newspapers: To speak more figura-

ILi
250 FIRST BOOK JN WRITING ENGLISII
tively, the press may have taken up the matter.
Press stands · here for the editors of the various
journals. This last figure is nietony11t!f· In metonymy one thing is put for another that is often
associated with it. lH the sentence given, metonymy does not seem to detract from clearness;
at all events it saves a roundabout expression.
Metaphor and metonymy, by ascribing life to
inanimate things, often become personijfo(tlion. So
above, where the press takes ttp a matter. .It is
evident that personification need not make a sentence less intelligible.
Once more, let us suppose that the reporter who
first learned of the boy's accident remarked, on
handing in his account of it, "The early· bird
catches the worm." The remark is ·pure allego1·!1
- describing some act or thing ·indirectly by describing something else. If the hearer knows
enough of the situation to understand the allegory,
he undoubtedly receives a forcible impression, and
may be helped to a clearer view. Allegory is a
kind of expanded metaphor. It is more liable to
misinterpretation than most figures; but the allegorical proverbs of our language, and the popularity of such books as the Pilgrim!s Prog1·ess, show
that it is a favorite form of expression. Like
general words, allegory can be used to say things
which policy may forbid being said more directly.
From the discussion it appears that tropes can

SJl.JLFUL CHOICE OF WORDS

251

often be made to yield a clear and sufficiently
exact phrase. Often however a trope lends force
or beauty rather than clearness. It is forcible
rather than clear to call a man a lion. It is beautiful rather than clear to speak of the Pleiades as
"a swarm of fireflies tangled in a silver braid."
Such a phrase as this is legitimate enough in poetry; it would be legitimate in highly imaginative
prose. But the fact cannot be dodged that it
would be · out of place in the midst of plain prose
description.
The practical cone! usion is obvious. Use tropes
without hesitation when they are really needed
to give clearness or force. Never use a trope for
decorative purposes only. The ability to write
plain, bare English is absolutely indispensable.
The ability to write figuratively is an enviable, but
not a necessary, possession.
When the need of a figure is actually felt, the
choice should be made with scrupulous care. If
tropes occur to you in numbers, "like flocks of
pigeons," choose only the pigeon that can carry
n, message.
To secure lucidity, employ a figure
which makes use of something already clear to the
reader. Every-day life and common things are the
best sources for both similes and metaphors. To
secure force, select such figures as appeal to the
emotional experiences of everybody. If you wish
to hold attention and ~ove your reader, appeal to

252 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

such primal feelings as love, hate, fear, courage,
joy, sorrow, aspiration, hope. Note ho~ Shakespeare appeals to the human animal's dread of deep
water: he makes Cardinal Wolsey say, "I have
ventured, like wanton boys that swi!n on bladders,
this many summers in a sea of glory." In 1'facbeth he appeals to the joy of release from pain: he
calls sleep tlte balm of each day's hurt.
A good figure of speech must be consistent,
Although a lively imagination changes its metaphors from minute to minute, it must not change
them so fast as to suggest ridiculous things. If
the metaphor gets mixed, clearness and force go
to the winds. The other day the writer hea1·d a
young man earnestly exclaim: "Now I shall have
to toe the bee-line!" The thought of that youth,
lifted to a perilous position where his toes sought
vainly in the trackless air for a " bee-line," was
quite too much for the gravity of his hearers.
This trope that failed to be a trope was about as
effective as the famous lightning-change series of
metaphors uttered by Sir Boyle Roche: "Mr.
Speaker, I smell a rat. I see him floating in the
ai.r. But I will nip him in the bud." l\fixed meta.phor may arise from mere liveliness of imagination, - a good fault sometimes. More frequently
it arises from vague thinking or from grandiloquence. The examples on page 24G shoiv how
liable fine writing is to this fault. A figure that

SKILFUL ClIOICE OF WORDS

253

is not in good taste is incomparably worse than
no figure at all.
Oral Exercise. -Name each trope, and explain
how each gets its force; what emotion each touches.
(a) "Thy soul was like a star and dwelt apart."
- \VoRDSWOinII.
(b) "W"Irnt is hope?- a smiling rainbow children £ollow thrqugh the wet." - CARLYLE.
(c) "She speaks poniards, and every word
stabs." - SHAKESPEAirn.
(cl) "Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive; uut
to be young was very heaven." - "\VoRDSWORTII.
_ (e) "Prayer is the key of the morning and the
bolt of the night." - BEECHER.
Oral Exercise. - Examine the phrases that you
made by fin<ling adjectives to fit abstract qualities
(p. 202), and llecide in each case whether clearness
or force is the chief resulting characteristic.
Oral Exercise. - Ret>tore force to the following
figures by changing whatever is incongruous m
them. Reject any that are i.rret.ricvably barl in
taste, or hackneyed.
1. The singing was led by the organ assisted by
four violins.
2. In graceful and fi;;uratiYC language he pointed
the finger of scorn at the defendant.

254

.

FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

3. It was 8 o'clock when the guests attacked
the following menu .
4. 'fhe trailer struck the car a~1idships.
5. The colonies were not yet ripe to bid d.
.. h
a leU
t o B n tis connection.
. 6. Let us cast off the shackles of doubt and
bmd ourselves with the bonds of faith.
7.. No human happiness is so serene as not to
coutam some alloy.
8. Boyle was the father of chemistry and
brother of the Earl of Cork.
'

..

\J. 'l'he m~r?le-hearted marauder might seize
the thron~ of civil authority, and hurl into thraldom
the votaries of rational liberty.
10. It.is to be hoped, now that lovely woman discountenances
the flowing bowl' that
. .
.
.
' th e r1smg
geuera~10n will .abjure it, and f?llow the weaker sex in
takmg uothmg stronger than the cup which cheers
but not inebriates.

CHAPTER XII
LETTER-WRITING
Why Important. -There are two general classes
of letters~ informal or personal, and formal or impersonal. Each kind is governed by the general
principles of clearness and courtesy. Mischief is
sure to follow if either of these principles is uisregarded. A writer may indulge iu extravagance
of statement when he writes for the public, am1
"there is no harm done, for the speaker is one a11rl
the listener is another." 1 But it is quite a different matter when one is making business promises, or trying to pacify a distant friend with whom
there is a rnisunderstan<ling. A shrewd politician
knows enough not to write too many letters, and
not to write anything that he cannot stand by. A
woman of tact knows that the success of her social
plans may turn upon the choice of a single word
in the leave-taking of a note.

Business Letters. - These are formal, imp~rsonal.
A good business letter is (1) clear, (2) courteous,
l The Tut·kish Calli to the English Traveller.
Psychology, 11. 640.

255

See James,

-

II

LETTER-WRITING

256 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

(3) brief. It shows unmistakably (a) who is writing, (b) to whom, (c) where, (d) when. It is definite in its language, so that there need be no return
letter of inquiry as to auy part of its meaning. It
observes the best conventions of address and sicr"'
nature. It refrains from brusque remarks, even in
reply to a rude letter. H is appreciative. A good
business man always takes into account that a
handful of trade is a handful of gold; if he is
favored with orders, he goes to the trouble of
thanking his customers. It does not curtly abbreviate sentences and signatures. Life is not so short
but that we may avoid writing such insults as this:
"Y'rs rec'd and contents noted. Have ordered
Jones to push the deal through. Shall see you
soon. Y'rs respy."

·I
I

·I
:i

I
II

l

I

Headings and Signatures in Business Letters. -

A

business letter should show where it was written
an<l where the answer should be sent. Tf t.he1'!e'
places are the same, the one address may be indicated either at the beginning or at the end, preferably the former. Street and number should always
be given in the case of city addresses. The date of
writing shoulcl he placed at the beginning, the mouth
being written or abbreviated, not indicated by a
figure. The heading ought also to indicate to whom
the letter is sent. Since in theory or in fact there
may be other persons of the same name, the corre-

spondent's address should usually be placed beneath
his name. The most common signatures in business
letters are Yours truly, Yours very trnly, and Yours
respectfully. In writing a business letter, a girl
signs her full name. Then at the left she writes
her name, preceded by Miss, and followed by her
address.

'I

')

I

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!

' 257

~

Titles in Business Letters. - Fir~n names need not
be preceded by Messrs., although this form certainly
adds to the courtesy of the communication. Names
of individuals should regularly be preceded by Mr.
'\Vhether a person should he addressed by his professional title depends somewhat upon the character
of the business. In the Uni:terl States a commercial
letter is sufficiently courteous if Mr. precedes the ncl1ne
of the verson addrei;sed. This title is in bettf'r
t~ste, as applied to business meu, tlrnu E,;y. DuL
there is no objection to the use of CP.rt:iin title~,
and they are desirable if the business be one which
pertains tu the profe~Bion ••f t.lH\ p1w;;on arlrlressP.cl.
Initials should always be gh'cn. "Rev. Brown,"
"Hon. Jones," are inexcusable forms.

The Envelope. -The address on the envelope
should be as legible as possible. Names of states
shoulcl not be contracted. As Professor J. l\f. Hart
remarks, "The only current abbreviations that seem
to be safe are Penna., Conn., and D. C." 1 New
1

Handbook of English CompHition, p. 348 (Eldredge & Bro.).
8

258 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISII

LETTER-WRITING

York City may be written for New York, N. Y.
The same rules for titles apply to the envelope
as to the heading. · If the comma is placed after
one line of the address, it must be placed after the
others. It is needed after none.

society, to be culled the Parnassian. vVe enclose a
copy of the proposed constitution, which we are
ready to sign. If further information is desired,
we shall be glad to appoint a committee to wait
upon you at any time you may designate.
L. Gustafson,
H. Bulkley, etc.

Written Exercise.- Write a business letter, replying clearly and courteously to the following
imaginary commtmication.
14 Grasmere Street,
Boston, Mass.,
Dec. 4, 1897.
Miss Helen Roe,
Graysville, Penna. ·
Dear Madam : We. beg to acknowledge the receipt of your
order of Dec. 2. Since you mention the fact that
the goods are intended as a Christmas surprise,
we have taken the liberty of holding them, and
writing for orders as to desired date of shipment
to the address you specify. We remain,
Very respectfiilly yours,
Weaver and 'Veaver.

Formal Social Letters. - ]formal correspondence
indicates by its style the mere acquaintance of the
correspomle1,1ts, or, in the words of l\Iiss Morton,1
"the bounds of distance which for any reason it is
desirable to maintain." A formal letter should
actually be formal. If one attempts to do an
elaborate thing, one ought to do it thoroughly and
properly. A letter that begins with formal brevity
and runs off into colloquial prolixity is a burlesque.
A letter that begins in the third person and ends
in the first is a farce.
Written Exerci~e. - Following in general the
models given below, write (1) a formal invitation
to dinner; (2) an acceptance of this invitation;
(3) regrets at inability t.o accept.

Written Exercise. - Write a petition to some
person or persons in authority, following in general
the form given below: -

1. Mr. Frederick Estoff, Jr., requests the pleasure
of Mr. Edward Edwards' company at dinner on
Tuesday, June fourth, at seven o'clock, to meet
Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Estoff.

The Faculty of Lewis Institute.
Gentlemen: We, the undersigned, respectfully
ask the privilege of organizing a new literary

12 Pear Street, June twenty-eighth.
1

I•

..

259

Lette1·-Writi11g,

p• 121 (Penn. Pull. Co.).

'!

260 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH
2. Mr. Edward Edwards accepts with much pleasure the kind invitation of Mr. Frederick Esto.ff
Jr., to dinner for June fourth, to meet Mr. and'
Mrs. Frederick Esto.ff.
14 Sycamore Street, June twenty-eighth.
3. Mr. Edward Edwards regrets extremely that a
previous engagement prevents his acceptarn~e
of Mr. Frederick Esto.ff, Jr.'s kind invitation
to dinner for June fourth, to meet Mr, and
Mrs: Frederick Estoff.
14 Sycamore Street, June twenty-eighth.
Personal or Informal Letf'.ere. - The letter one
writes informally to an acquaintance, a friend, or
a relative, should be in tone pretty nearly what
one's conversation with the given person would
be. To give such a letter the tone which represents exactly the relation between the two people
is a hard task. The nicest sense of tact is required
in order not to be too stiff and not too familiar.
Personal letters demand the art of colloquial composition. Those unperceptive persons who have but
one style of composition, - that of a book, or that
of a clerk,-make sorry work of personal letters.
Suppose that you have always known one of these
persons. You have played with him, read with
him, perhaps fought with him. When you meet,
he calls you by your first name. When he writes to

,,..

,,
LETTEU-WU11'1NG

261

ask you to vi:;it. him, he atldresses you as /J P.at Sir,
and signs himself Re:pec{full!f ! His letter gives
you a chill. There is too little of the personal
letter-writting of the better sort., the leisurely,
careful, comteous, ohl-fashiouecl kind of written
talk, - writing that, like Thomas Cholmomleley's,
could he signed, "Ever yours and not in haste."
Written Exerniee. - ,Nrite a note inviting a friernl

of your owu age to dinner, to an informal party, or
Such a note usually begins on
this wise, -1'-f.1.J Dear Tom, or Dear Tom, rather
than on this, - Dear Friend. A similar note to
an acquaintance would begin : My dear Mr. - - ,
My clear Miss - - , etc.

to an exonrsion.

" Trite a personal letter to
the instructor, concerning some matter in which
you would like to interest him. This letter will
not be read to the class.
Written Exercise. -

Written Exercise. - 'Vrite to some friend a long
letter, observing the ordinary rules for paragraphing. Suggestetl. subjects: an account of your life
since last meeting your friend; a comparison of
the town you now live iu with that in which yon
and the friend formerly Ii ved ; m1 explanation of
some scheme in which you wish the frieutl.'s cooperation.

.

_,.

REP RODUCTION , E TC.

CHAPTER XIII
REPRODUCTION, ABSTRACT, SUMMARY, ABRIDG·
MENT
Literal R ep rodu ction. - The word reproduction
is often used in Rhetoric in a somewhat general
sense, to mean any version of another composition.
As we shall use it, the term means literal rep roduction; in other words, a version that follows the
phrasing of the original as nearly as the time given
for study will permit. Writing of reproductions
trains the memory and adds immensely to one's
command of words.
Below are given lists of brief selections, most of
them requiring not more than ten minutes to reproduce. It is suggested that a given paragraph or
page be slowly reacl aloud to the class, two or thre~
times, and that the class afterward write the piece
as nearly as possible in the author's words. Ecteh

student should then insert in his vocabulary book any
new words or phrases tltat seem to him particulai·l,11
serviceable. These menwranda will prove i1waluable
later on, when similar to1iic.~ (not the 11cwte ones) ai·e
to be written about by the student himself. 'l'o illus.
262

263

trate: a student after reading two or three personal descriptions might jot down for future use
such phrases as the following: Eyes. - Laughing,
startled, heavy-lidded, hazel, vacant, pl'Otrucling,
lustrous, expressive, liquicl, dreamy, speaking, glad.
Nose. -Aquiline, Itomau, beak-like, shapely, snub,
sharp, insignificant.
Hair. - Grizzled, frowsy,
shaggy, glossy, dishevelled, unkempt, tumbled.
Manner. -.Alert, jaunty, affable, sprightly, haughty,
pretentious, moclest, diffident, reserved, ostentatious,
demure, animated. Figure. - Gaunt, emaciated,
lank, vigorous, robust, grotesque, massive, insignificant, thick-set, portly, sturdy, stalwart, erect,
decrepit, fragile.
Expression. - Rueful, crafty,
frank, wistful, stolid.
MATEmAL FOR LITERAL RErlWDUCTION

Narration

Miles, One Thousand and One Anecdotes : p. 30,
Garcia; 33, Handel; 36, Mozart; 43, Paganini; 74,
A dull witness; 96, Mrs. Sidclons; 105, 110, Wellington; 106, Coolness; 132, Bad handwriting; 142,
Dickens and Thackeray; 218, Hill; z:n, Newton;
231, Sidney Smith; 251, Scott; 253, Lessing; 254,
Geological; 255, Illackie; 268, Bern.nger; 273, A
toast; 304, A careful reader; 312, ·webster; 316,
Johnson; 318, Poetry aIJSl Pattypans; 322, Marryat;
323, Turner; 324, Dannecker; 328, Hugo and

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264 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISTT

Coppee ; 368, Heroism of a workman; 370, Roehejaquelin ; 371, Washington; 37 4, Lefevre ; 378, Virchow; 378, Cham and Gille.
Descr1jJti'.on
Pe1·sons. - Hawthorne: American Note Hooks.
See Index, p. 448, for paragraphs on characters,
mostly men.
Scenery. -1. Sunrise. Hawthorne: American
Note Books, 75, 121, 3~5. Thoreau: Spring, 99.
2. Moming. Hawthorne: American Note Books,
75, 177. Thoreau: Winter, 128, 137, 258.
3. .Afternoon.
Hawthorne : American Note
Books, 96. Thoreau: Autumn, 21, 28, 182.
4. Sunset. Hawthorne : American Note Books,
112. Thoreau: Autumn, 3, 17, 90, 112, 152, 214,
259, 311, 327, 330, 345, 388, 429, 433. ·Winter, 23,
38, 40, 127, 155. Summer, 47, 246, 313, 332, 362.
5. Sunlight. Burroughs : ·winter Sunshine, 102.
Thoreau : Autumn, 289. Winter, 114, 249.
6. Moonlight. Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter
(Custom House). Ruskin: Prreterita, vol. ii., 166.
'l'horeau: Spring, 78. Summer, 95, 97, 117, 120, ,
176, 233, 239, 333. Winter, 215, 320, 322. Burroughs : Winter Sunshine, 43.
7. lVate?-. Blackmore: Lorna Doone, vii. Thoreau: Spring, 87, 96, 101, 109, 154. Summer, 30,
117, 240, 243. Autumn, 111, 160, 182, 370, 400,
434. Ruskin: Prreterita, vol. ii., 1l>9 ('rhe Rhone).

REPRODUCTION, ETC.

265

8. JIIonntains. Ruskin: Prreterita, vol. i., 288.
Bolles: At the North of Bearcamp ·water. See
Index, p. 296, for many views of more than a score
of mountains.
9. Landscctpes. H.uskin: Prreterita, vol. ii., 78
(Rome). Hawthorue: American Note Doolrn, 441
(Gosport). Blackmore: Lorna Doone, iv. (Doone
Gate). Hugo: Les Miserables (Fielcl of Waterloo).
Bfrds, Ani?nals, and Insects. - See indexes of the
following: Thoreau: Spring; Summer; Autumn;
'Vinter; 'Valden. Durroughs: Wake Robin; \\Tinter Sunshine; Birds and Bees. 11filler: Bird-Ways;
A Bird-Lover in the ·west. 'l'orrey: A l~amLler';;
Lease; Birds in the Bush. Merriam: A-Bini ing on
a Broncho. Bolles: Frnm Blomidon to Smoky; The
Land of the Lingering Snow; At the North of
Bearcamp 'Yater. Gibson: Sharp Eyes.
B1dlcUngs and Rooms. - Ruskin : Prreterita, vol.
i., 232 (chapel); vol. iii., 5 (monasteq). Scott:
Ivanhoe, iii. (Saxon hall). SteYenson: An Inland
Voyage (Noyon Cathedral); The Amateur Emigrant (the second cabin). Hawthorne: House of
the Seven Gables, i.; Howe's l\fasquera.de (the
Province House). Irving: The Alhambra. (Palace of the Alhambra); Sketch Book (Westminster
Abbey). Lamb: 'rhe East India Office.

266 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH
Exposition
Helps: Thoughts in the Cloister and the Crowd,
14, 27, 32, 33, 40, 42, 54, 61, 72. Brevia, 5, 14, 15,
22, 37, 91, 92, 94, 105, 113, 115, 161, 163.
Blake: Thoreau's Thoughts, 4, 9, 21, 46, 89, 98,
100, 103, 108, 118, 123.

REPRODUCTION, ETC.

2B7

be found a good proportion on which to reduce the
longer pieces. Burke's Speech On Conciliation
would thus i·educe to an abstract or an abridgment of about twenty paragraphs. But this speech
can be reduced 011 a scale of 1 : 10 or even 1 : 20.
MATERIAL FOR SUMillARY, ABSTRACT, ABRIDGMENT

Summary, Abetract, Abrtdgii1ent. -The ability

to arrive at the substance of an article or book and
write it down, is demanded constantly in almost
every business and in evei·y profession. An extremely brief statement of the substance is called
a sumrnary. A longer statement, couched in language independent of that used by the author, is
an abstract. If the article or book is shortened by
the omission of the less important parts, the la1iguage of the original being in general retained, the
result is an abridgment.
Almost any well-constructed composition lends
itself to summary, abstract, or abridgment. A
story of Irving or Hawthorne, a chapter of Parkman or John Fiske, an article in the Forum or the
NaJ,ion, furnishes excellent material. Below are
given typical pieces that mn.y be used, the shorter
ones for summary, the longer for abstract or
abridgment. Stories can better be abstracted than
abridged.
It is well to plan the proportions of your version. The scale of 1: 6 (one paragraph to six) will

Narration
1. Pel"sonal' Contests: - Spartacus and Hermann,
A. J. Church: Two 'fhousand Years Ago, p. 31 ff.
Chrlstian and Apollyon, Bunyan : Pilgrim's Progress, Fourth Stage. Archery, Scott: Ivanhoe, xiii.
Dcivicl and Goliuth, I Samuel xvii. Nickleby mid
Sqtteers, Dickens: Nicholas Nickleby, xiii. The
Boat Race, Hughes: Tom Brown at Oxford. Siege
of the Round Honse, Stevenson: Kidnapped, x.
The Three-Handed Duel, Marryat: Midshipman
Easy. The Tonrnament, Scott : Ivanhoe, xii.
2. Narrative clt<tptel"s from~ Aldrich: Story of a
Bad Boy. Burnett: 'fhe One I Knew the Best of
All. Hale: A New England Boyhood. Larcom:
A New England Girlhood. Howells: My Year in
a Log Cabin. \Varner: Being a Boy.
3. St01-ies. -Hawthorne: 'l'he Snow Image; The
Great Stone Face; Ethan Brand; Legends of the
Province House; The Great Carbuncle; David
Swan; 'fiie Vision of the Fountain; Dr. Heidegger's Experiment; The Artist of the Beautiful.

>

268 FIRST BOOll JN ll'llITING ENGLISH

Wilkius: A Humble Romance; The Bar Lighthouse; A Lover of Flowers; Gentian; A Conflict
·Ended; A Village Singer; Sister Liddy; A Gala
Dress; A Village Lear; The Revolt of Mother.
Sir Roger de Coverley Papers : Spectators No.
110, 112, 113, 116, 118, 122, 123, 132, 269, 32!), 335,
:J59, 38:>, 517.
4. History. - Greeu : History of the Euglish
People. Breda, vol. i., ch. 2, pp. 64-67. Hastings,
vol. i. 1 ch. 4, pp. 113-114. Rising of baronage, B.
iii., ch. 1, pp. 240-244. Calais, B. iv., ch. 2, pp.
422-425. Armada, B. vi., ch. 6, pp. 444-446. Return
of Nazwleon; Waterloo, B. ix., ch. [I, pp. 38iJ-:38!J.
l\foMasters : History of the l'eople of the United
States. .Jial'letta., vol. i., 513-515. Death of Ha.in,.
ilton, vol. iii., 52-53. Leopai·d and Olie.~ape<tke, vol.
iii., 2£J8-259. .Jionroe's journey, vol. iv., :377-380.
Fiske: Critical l'eriocl of American History.
The Continental Congress, vol. i., ch. 3. Valley
Forge, vol. ii., ch. 9.
Rolfe, W. J.: Tales from English History in
Prose ancl Verse.
Yonge: Book of Golden Deeds.
Desm·iption

1. Schools. - See The Schoolmaster in Literature.
(Anierican Book Co.)
2. Tow11s. - Hale: Seven Spanish Cities. Howells: Three Villages; A lloy's Town. Stedman:

REPRODUCTION, ETC.

New York City (St. Nicholas, 20: 403, '93).
ton: St. Augustine (lb1:d., 21: 206, '94).

269
Stock-

Exposition. - 1. Nordhoff: Politics for Young
Americans. 2. Van Dyke: How to judge a picture. 3. Krehbiel: How to m1derstand music.
4. ·wagner: Courage. 5. Camp: American Football. 6. Stagg ancl Williams : American Football.
7. Bassett: Machinist's trade (Hai7Jer's Young
People, 64: 68~, '91). The Printing Trade (Ibid.,
6-t: 624, '91). 'fhe following articles from The
Youth's Oompanfon: 8. Journalism for girls (64: 657,
'91). 9. Civil Service (64: 245, '91). 10. Why meu
must clie (67: 426, '94). 11. Medicine as a profession (64: 258, '91). 12. Success in railway life
(65 : 505, '92). 13. Wholesome lunches (67: 8:>,
'94). 14-18. Advice to young musicians (64: 310,
418, 321, 362). . 19. Separate functions of the
Senate and House of Representatives (63: 633, '90).
20. Self-Education (65: 494, '92)" 21-23. The girl
who thinks she can write (64: 447; 65: 458, 734).
24. Trusts (67: 538, '94). 25. Uses of the census
(63: 8!), '90). 26. Monroe Doctrine (67: 388, '94).
27. Arbitration (67: 48, '94). 28. Good government
clubs (67: 448, '94).

Argunient 1
1. A property qualification for municipal suffrage is desirable.
l The fhst. fonr subjects arfl taken from llrookings :\IHI
Ringwalt: Rrie/s.for Debate (Longmans), which see for further
arl-i~lcs on the same t<Jpics.

I

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I

270 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

I;

Affirmative. White : Forum, x. 357 (Dec. 1890).
Eliot: Forum, xii. 153 (Oct. 1891).
Negative. Bryce: American Commonwealth, i., _
chaps. i., iii.

~

I

I

!
'

'i .
I

;

CHAPTER XIV
2. An eight-hour working day should be adopted
by law.

Affirmative. 'Vebb and Cox: The E_ight Hours
Day.
Negative. Walker: Atlantic Monthly, lxv. 800
(June, 1890).

3. Municipalities should sometimes give work
to the unemployed.
4/Jirniati've. Fomm, xvi. 655 (Feb. 1894).
· Forum, xvii. 276 (May, 1894).
Negative. Nation, lvii. 481 (Dec. 28, 1893).

Coit

4. The housing of the poor should be improved
by municipalities.

Affirmative. Riis: How the Other Half Lives.
Negative. . White: Improved Dwellings for the
Laboring Classes.
5. Burke: On Conciliation with the American
Colonies.
6. Chatham: On Removing Troops from Boston. 1
7. Beecher: Liverpool Speech. 1
1 See Baker: Specimens of Modern .tl.rguinentation (Henry
Holt & Co.).

NARRATION AND DESCRIPTION

Narration, or na1'rative, relates a series of events.
Description gives an account of the look of persons
or things. Character description gives both physical and mental traits. RecaU to memory various
stories you have read, and say whether narratives
of considerable length do or do not have to give
description as they. proceed.
NARRATION

Two Kinds. - If a series of events actuaUy
happened, they are historical; and the story of
them may be caUed historical narmtive. If they
did not happen, but owe their existence to the
imagination, they are fictional, and the narrative
is fiction. If we are writing a story, let the fact
be understood; if a sober rehearsal of facts, let
it be _made an exercise in the rare and difficult
art of truth-teHing.

(1) Examine a
daily paper and pick out several narratives which
seem to you to have a gerieral human interest,
Exercises in Choice of Subject. -

271

272 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISII
and several that have not. (2) "\Vrite a list of
twenty subjects for narrative and submit them to ·
the class for a vote as to which are the most interesting. Choose events which you have witnessed
or taken part in. (3) Write a list of what are
to you the most interesting events of ancient, medireval, and modern history.
Choice of Details. - In writing au account of a
simple incident it is possible to tell every detail
of what happened. But evidently no such thing
is practicable in nal'l'ating the events of a day,
a week, a lifetime. What to omit will depend
much upon the length of the composition. A
clear-headed writer will not put pen to paper before he has decided just what points he is going
to bring out.

Written Exercise. - (1) Jot down ou paper memoranda of the important things, the turning events,
in your own past life. (2) l\fake memoranda to
show what events ought to stand out most distinctly in a history of the United States.
Plot. -

Read the following: -

Ichabod Crane was ridiculously frightened one dark night
by a boy who played ghost. The lad took the part of a
traditional spectre that rode a black horse. The joker had
a cloak over his head, and before him on the saddle a pumpkin, to represent the head which the headless horseman was
fabled to carry.

NARRATION AND DESCRIPTION

273

Read now the following : Oue dark night Ichabod Crane started homeward on horseback. He approached the oak on which Andrt\, the spy,
was hanged. Ichabod's heart quaked. He passed the hauntetl
tree in safety, but his heart almost stood still when, a little
farther on, he saw a strange rider on a gigantic horse. Horse
and rider kept pace with him. Ichabod however saw that
the latter wa.~ headless, nay, carri~tl his head before him ou
the saddle. The flgure raised itself and hurled ~ts head
at Ichabod. 'Vhen the schoolmaster found himself on the
ground; did he realize that the grewsome missile was only
a pumpkin?
'

W'hich of these accounts begets suspense ns to the
011tcome ? In other words, in which is there plot ?
Recall some novel you have read, and explain how
the reader's interest is held through to the end.
Oral Exerctse. -Recall some anecdote, and present it orally with plot interest.

Theme. - Write a simple historical narrative of
about two hundred words, giving without plot all
the details of some brief incident in your own
experience. The following may suggest a topi1· :
1. M:y first day at the lathe.
2. Examination
memories. 3. How I earned some money and how
I spent it. 4. Spearing fish by night. .IJ. A personal ad venture with a window. 6. How I spent
this morning.

"\Vrite one or more imaginary uewspa.per items, without plot, e~ch detailing some
Tlleme. T

",.

275

FlllST BOOK IN IVBlTlNG ENGLISH

NARRATION AND DESCRIPTION

simple incident. Choose.a subject of local interest
if possible. For example: i. A runaway. 2. Fire
on Seventh Street. 3. Trolley-car accident. 4. Curious act of a bird. 5. April 23 at the Brown School.
6. Brave deed of a child. 7. He retumed $500.
8. An old building demolished. 9. The new library
is opened. 10. Arrested for "scorching.".

Complex Incident. - Many a nari:ative must be
composed of several threads, telling different events
. that were going on at the same time. If you were
giving an account of how two hunters after being
separated in the woods finally reached home again,
you would relate first how one got home, then how
the other got home; or, having narrated the wanderings of the first, you would let the second tell his
own story on rejoining his companion.

27 4

Themes. - Select sever~l topics for five-hundredword themes, and write outlines showing what details you would emphasize in composing. Then
write historical narratives from the outlines, making
them as interesting as you can without deviating
from facts. Sample subjects: 1. My struggles
with cooking. 2. A day in the berry patch. 3. 'l'he
first time I saw a play. 4. An adventure of my
father. 5. A few days with a doctor. 6. How a
certain town was named. 7. Misfortunes of our
circus. 8. 'l'he tribulations of a truant. 9. My first
ocean voyage. 10. An uncomfortable call. 11. My
career as an actor. 12. A visit to the World's Fair.
13. In a graveyard after dark. 14. How Smith
looked me up. 15. A week in the woods. 16. 'l'he
fall I had. 17. My experience as a clerk. 18. A
glimpse of college life. 19. What I saw some bees
do. 20. An unwilling swim. 21. That Fourth of
July. 22. Experiences with a pony. 23. Haying.
24. How the vacation passed. 25. When I was a
book-agent. 26. Crossing a swollen stream.

Relate a complex incident, either historical or fictional, in a theme about five hundred
words long. 'l'wo or three threads are enough.
The following may suggest a subject: 1. 'l'wo roads
to town. 2. How our party reached the top of the
mountain. 3. Adventures of a lost child. and its
parents. 4. The rescue of an amateur sailor from
a wreck. 5. What happened at onr club meeting.
6. 'l'hree boys and a boat. 7. An overheard discussion.
Theme. -

i I

1-

DESCRIPTION

Language is better adapted to narrate than to
describe, for words follow each other, just as events
do; they cannot flash the whole picture, with all
the details, upon the reader. Cpnsequently writers
often combine narrative and description in order to
dwell on details. Homer 1 describes the shield of
Achilles by telling the story of its forging-how
1 Iliad, xviii. 601, Bry1111t's translation.

27G

277

FlllS1' BOOK IN WllITING 1'"JNGU8II

NARRATION AND DESCRIPTION

Vulcan wrought eaeh part in tnm. ·what is called
the traveller'11 view is description from snccessiYe
points of view. 'l'here is a good example of this
kind of description in Hawthome's Am.erfoan Nute
Books, p. 181.
In some descriptions the writer is willing to
sacrifice the general look of the object, in 01=tler
to secme accuracy of detail. Giving each detail is
called description by inventory. This is often useful,
particularly in business or in science. Turn to any
hook of natural history and re(ul the inventory
tlescription of some biru or animal. But ordinarily
a description . shonld give a general impression .
whether it afterward gives uetails or not. The
most common way of doing this is to tell what in
general the object ·to be describeu makes you think
of. If the object is a river, it may remind yon of
_ a snake or a letter S; if a village, it may recall to
your mind a. flat-.iron; if a little old lady, it may
appear to you, as to Dickens, in Hard Times, " a
bundle of shawls." The main impression thus re-.
ceived is called the fundamental image.
Not every object will furnish a fundamental
image, but every object is sure to be rnmembered
for a few chief cletails. If of a given landscape
there lingers in the memory only a dim sense of
green woods, with here and there a patch of white,
it is as much description to record this dim image
as it would be to detail kinds of trees, distances,

etc. Indeed, it is a mistake often made to report in a description things that could not possibly
have been seen from the given point of view. To
keep the point of view is vital. It is a good practice
to describe a photograph - such as those published
by "the Soule Company, of Boston - in order to
learn the art of proportion in these matters of
giving details.
It must not however be thought that details
have no place in description. In studying an
-object with a view to writing about it, one should
have the eye of a hawk for every visible detail, in
order that what he writes may be truthful. There
is no better trail\ing for the powers of observation
than description. Send a careless person to the
lake to describe it. He reports" myriads of ripples
dancing in glee," things that every wretched poetaster has seen before him. . Send a careful observer,
and he will report wonderful shades of color, and
curious surface effects, like corrugation and damascene.

I :

.

Suggested Topics for Description

Inventory. -1. The bluebird. 2. A jellyfish. 3. A Inna moth. 4. Kinds of clouds. 5. In
a museum. 6. Flags of different nations. 7. A
bottle of ink. 8. A small boy's pocket. . 9. What
my room contains. 10. A shop window. 11. The
old swimming-hole. 12. A·bit of old silver.
By

I .

278 FIRST BOO!( IN WRITING

E~NGLISH

By Narrative. -1. A day in Boston. 2. Au oil
well. 3. A crowd. 4. A quaint tea party. .5. A
country fair. 6. A fire. 7., A dream. 8. The matinee. 9. A masquerade. 10. How the farm looked
when I went back. 11. The dynamo I made.
12. My tent-making. 13. Our hut. 14. Decorating a church for Christmas. 15. My baking.
16. Up Pike's Peak.

CHAPTER XV
EXPOSITION AND

AR~UMENT

E:x:rosrTION

By Fw1dame11tal Image and Details. -1. Kinds
of noses. 2. A bit of old architecture. 3. A church
altar. 4. Ji'amous deltas. 5. The shop. 6. The
lunch-room. 7. A little old man. 8. 'fhis town
in A.D. 2000. 9. An old fireplace. 10. A wreck.
12. The football field.
11. Profile Mom~tain.
13. The baseball ground described for .an Englishman. 14. 'l'he capitol. 15. An old horse.

Exposition is explanation. It may either explain
a general principle by illustrations and examples,
as the preacher's sermon expounds a statement of
scripture, or it may explain a group of facts by
getting at their underlying principle, as a scientific
treatise does. Exposition, it is clear, deals with
ideas rather than with · particular objects. I.Ye
describe a department store; we expound the principles on which it is conducted. vVe describe an
electric motor; we expound the laws of electricity.
We describe a beautiful statue ; we expound beauty.
Below are given various subjects for exposition.
In writing about them, do not drift into argument.
If you write on "dangers of exercise," do not
argue against over-exercise ; calmly explain the
matter.
Subjects fo1· Exposition

By Chief Details. -1. Uncle Billy. 2. A hermit.
3. Our postmaster.. 4. Our mail-carrier. 5. Au
lndjan. 6. ·A southern girl. 7. My chum. 8. The
procession of the pines. 9. A moonlight scene.
10. A wood interior. 11. An American boy of
1925. 12. Houses I have lived in. 13. Two
generals. 14. The boy who grins. 15. Queer
street characters. 16. A cat. 17. The fortuneteller. 18. Curious advertisements. 19. Betty in
her best chess. 20. A sunset. 21. A wave.

1. Golf. 2. Cannibalism. 3. The bear family.
4. Principles of diet. 5. C»edulity. 6. Nostalgia.
7. How to sail a boat. 8. Drowned rivers. 9. On
279
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280 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH
eating candy. 10. The formation of ravines.
11. Dangers of over-exercise. 12. Dangers of
too little exercise. 13. Why the earth quakes.
14. How men become criminals. 15. How the
will may be trained in the classroom. 16. An
ideal classroom. 17. What makes up an ideal
camping ground. 18. Advantages and disadvantages of ·classroom study. 19. Effects of climate
on man. 20. The conduct of a great business.
21. What . are home missions ? 22. How to become famous. 23. How to plan a dinner. 24. How
to furnish a sitting-room. 25. Advantages of small
classes. 26. Possibilities of electricity. 27. What
constitutes a great man? 28. 'fhe art of fly-ell.Sting.
29. The construction of a roof. 30. What good
does an examination do the student? 31. Spiritu
alism. 32. Ghosts. 33. My choice of a profession.
34. 'fhe banking system. .35. Practical values of
good manners. 36. The interpretation of any of
the proverbs given on pages 213-215.
ARGUMENT

There are various ways of bringing people to our
way of thinking. One way, by appealing to their
reason, is called argument. Can yo.u suggest other
ways?
Every argument must have a proposition'. :"hie~
is laid down to be proved. If this propos1t1on is
not stated in the title of the argument, it should be

EXPOSITION AND ARGUMENT

281

stated early in the discussion. It cannot be too
definitely formulated. Every word of it should
be made clear ; there should be full exposition of
terms. Half the quarrels in the world disappear
after a thorough definition of terms. The question
of whether Aaron Burr was guilty of treason depends on how treason is defined. In law a ma11,
however traitorous, is not guilby of treason unless
his treasoyad been witnessed by two persons.
Burr's treason was not witnessed; he escaped conviction.1 ·
In argument (a) depend upon a few weighty
arguments rather than upon many weak ones; (b)
remember that examples are but weak ~rguments;
(c) if in debate, be perfectly fair to your opponent,
admitting all that is true on his side; (d) know
your case thoroughly in every detail.

Subjects for Argument or Debate
1. Examinations are usually a fair test of scholarship. 2. Labor-saving machinery is a permanent
advantage to mankind. 3. The world owes every
man a living. 4. A truthful person will be a
better writer than a liar. 5. The Gulf of Mexico
will one day have a greater port than New York
now has. 6. High school students should read the
newspapers.
Observation helps us more than

7:

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Carpenter and Fletcher~ Introduction to Theme - Writing,

p. 117.

282 FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH
reading. 8. Examinations should be abolished.
9. Sunday observance should \le compulsory. 10. A
high school is guilty of injustice to its students
if it does not train them in public speaking.
11. People possessing no property should not. be
allowed to vote. 12. Is it right to break a friendsliip? 13. Ought department stores to be permitted? 14. Are there good excuses for being a
tramp? 15. Is it wrong to bet? 16. How far is
it right in politics that to the victors should belong
the spoils? 17. Should a parent forbid his son to
take part in football ? 18. Should a man ever shoot
a robber? 19. Is suicide ever justifiable? 20. Is it
right to evade custom house duties? 21. Is it
wrong to go to the theatre often? 22. Is it ever
best to give money on the street? 23. Is it right
for women to ·wear birds on their hats? 24. How
far is it right for students to study together ?
25. Is a curfew law desirable? 26. Is it right to
discard old friends for new? 27. Should one bear
witness against a friend? 28. Does paying a fare
entitle one to a seat? 29. Is it right to let people
deceive themselves? 30. Are there any customary
lies which are right? 31. Is capital punishment
defensible as punishment? 32. Is capital puni8lrnrn11L J.ufou;;i.Lh.: :i.s ~• ptolcction to society '!
33. 8hould Latin be a compulsory stndy ·;
34. Which is rougher, footbi.tll or pugilism'.'

SUBJECT INDEX
Abbreviations, 41-42.

Apostrophe, the, 37.

ability, capadty, 154.

crpt, likely, lirzble, 167.

Abridgment, 2fi6--270.
Abstract, 266--270.
accept, e:uept, 160.

Arabic words, 185.
Argument, 280--282: proposition, 280; exposition of terms,
acceptance, acc&ptation, 154.
281; subjects for, 126--127.
access, accession, 154.
"1
281--282.
act, actian, 155.
Arnold, M., 149. •
Adjective and noun, concol'd aromi.d, round, 177, foot-note.
of, 48-49.
artiste, 153.
Adjective, singular, with plu- as ... as, 55.
ral noun, 49.
Asterisks, 37.
advance, advancement, 155.
Audience, necessity of, 10, 136-a.O'e.ct, e.O'e.ct, 160.
137, 141--142.
African words, 185.
Authority, in choice of words,
aggravate, irritate, tantalize,
147--150.
161.
Authors, the best, 149.
Agreement. See Concord.
autoharp, 153.
a{n't, 149.
avocation, vocation, 156.
alienate, antagonize, 162.
Allenism, ln2--153.
l>rrd or brrrily, 57.
Allegory, 250.
baggage, lttgga:1e, 148.
allude, 11rnntion, 161.
l>alnncP, remainder, 15fl.
alternative, choice, 155.
Barbarisms, 151--153.
amateur, 153.
beau 11wnde, 11i3.
Ambi~uit~, 43, 2:i:i--2:34,
Beauty of style, 229.
Amer1.,ani•ms, J0.3.
be,qin, commence, 162.
and, 97, 100.
1 Bible, 212.
Auglo-:,jiu.~u pr.ilixes aud sul-1blickey,147.
fixes, lSh--187.
bug11s, 17iJ.
An;:lo·S::txon worus, 182-183, . brnckdi;, :;.:;,
1itrin,q, fclch, 162.
2:15--231'!.
antagnniu, alienate, lfi'.!.
Briticisms, lii3.
28;3

I

l·
I

I
I

I

284

FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

Bunyan, J., 212.
burglarize, 152.
but, 100.
c doubled in word, 17.
calculate, intend, 16!.

can, may, 'rn5.
·
capacity, ability, 154.

Capitals, rules for, 21-23.
Case, government of, 53-54.
Cases, concord of, 52.
Chapter, 75.
character, reputatio11, 156.
Chinese words, 185.
Choice of words. See under
Words.
claim, asse1·t, etc., 162.
Clauses, subordination of, !!6101.
Clearness, 43, 227-228, 251,
255.
Cleft infinitive, 46-47.
Climax, 112-113, 2'.l'J.
Coherence, 44-46, 101-102.
Collective noon, 47.
Colon, 30--31.
combine (noun), 152.
Comma, 24-28; with and, 84.
Comma-fault, 81.
commence, begin, 162.
Communication. See under
English, writing of.
compliment, complement, 156.
See English,
Composition.
writing of.
See
Composition,
whole.
Theme.
Compound words, 14-15.
Concord, 47-53: of subject and
predicate, 47-48; of adjective
and noun, 48-49; of pronoun
and antecedent, 49--52; of
cases, 52 ; of tenses, 1\2-53.
Conjunction, 55-56, 97, 9!)-100.
continual, continuous, 167.

Correspondence, forms of. See
Letter-writing.
council, counsel, 157.
Courtesy in letters, 255-256.
Criticism: by the instructor,
2-4; by the class, 10.
Curious words, l!Jl-l!J'l.
Dash, 31-32.
Deficiency of words, 233-235.
demean, 40, foot-not.e; demean,
degrade, debase, lll2-163.
Description,2711-278: traveller's
view, 271i; by iuventory, 276;
fundamental image, 276;
point of view, 277; topics for
themes, 277-278.
dc.iire, want, toish, lli7.
Diacritical·marks, 150.
DiaTogue, punctuation of, 34-35.
Dickens, C., 14!!.
Diction, 2'},7. See also under
Words.
Dictionary, 13-14, 150, 204.
different than for d~(f'erent
from, 56.
d\(f'erent to for d~(f'erent from,
56.
Digression: in the sentence,
90-!ll; in the paragraph or
theme, ll!>-117.
discovery, invention, 157.
don't, 153.
double cntend1·e, 152.
dnmk and dl'Unk, 63.
drive, 1·ide, 163.
Dutch words, 185.

each as pronoun, 48.
e,(t'ect, a,(f'ect, 160.
either: as distributive conjunction, 48; as pronoun, 48;
either . . . or, 48.
electrocution, Ui2.

SUBJECT INDEX
else, a part of the noun, 63-64.

French words, 184.

Emerson, R. W., 144.

funny, odd, 168.

285

eminent, imminent, im111a11ent,
Gallicisms, 11J3.
Geueral words, 238-243.
gent, 152.
Good usage, 150.
got, gotten, have, 163.
grade, gradient, 148.
Grammar, 43-73 : to secure
clearness, 43; solecisms, 44 ;
coherence, 44-47; concord,
47-113; government, 53-li4;
reference of pronouus, 54-55;
conjunctions and prepositions, 55-56; use of Rd verb
or acljecti ve with verbs of
sensation, etc., 5fr58; shall
or will, u8-G'.l; matters of
entre nous, llJ3.
etymology, 63-6-l ; exercises,
Errors, in themes, 1, 3.
oral, 45-46, 53, 58, 61-0'2,
Essay. See Theme.
64-73.
Etymology. See under GramGrammar. See al8o under
ma.r.
Punctuation.
Euphemisms, 239-240.
Greek roots in English, 191.
Euphony, 229.
4
Green, J. R., 149.
eve1·y (pronoun), 48.
Growth: of paragraph, 75-78;
ezcept, accept, 160.
of thought, 114-116.
ezceptionably, 175.
gueaa, think, recko11, 163.
Exclamation point, 35.
Exercises. See under subject.
Exposition, 279-280: explained, Hawthorne, N., 149.
279; subjects for, 126, 127, healthy, healthful, 168.
Hellenisms, 152.
27!!-280.
Holden, E. S., 197.
Hughes, T., 149.
fal&eneas,falsity, 11J7.
Hyperbole, 2-18.
fauz pas, 153.
Hyphen, 14-15.
fetch, bring, 162.
Figures : figurative uses of
common words, 199-203; Ideas: and words, 195-197;
without words, 19!.
24!>-254.
ill (adjective or adverb), 57.
Fiske, J., 149, 266.
imminent, eminent, immanent,
.f!ezibone, 153.
168.
jf11nk, 148.
Im proprieties, 154.
Force, 228-229.
in, into, 169.
Formal letters, 255, 259-260.

lli8.
Emotions, 228-22!!.
Emphasis, in the sentence, 110112, 22!!.
Emphasis, punctuation for, 8687.
endorse, app1·ove, second, 163.
Endorsement, of theme, 2.
English, writing of, 5-11: as an
art of communication, 5-6;
as a useful, art, 7 ; as a fine
art, 7-!J; limitations, !1-10;
writing for an audience,
10-11.
enthuse (Yerb), 152.

286

I

FIRST BOOK IN WRITING ENGLISH

Indentation, 1, 129-130.
India, words from, 185-186.
Indian words (North American), 186.
-infant, derivation of, 6.
InfinitiYe, cleft. See Cleft infinitive.
Informal letters, 255, 260--2Gl.
Interrogation point, 36.
invention, discovery, 157.
Inverted order, 101, foot-note,
110.
i1wite (noun), lli2.
Italian wor<ls, 18!.
Italics, 36-..'!7.
James, H., 149.
Janus-clause, 46.
Jefferson, J:, 137.
Keller, H., l!l4.

mal social letters, 259-260;
personal or informal letters,
260-261; exercises, 258-2119,
259-260, 261.
liable, likely, apt, 167.
lie, lay, 164.
like, 56.
limit, limitation, 157.
littemteui-, 153.
loan, lend, 165.
Localisms, 147.
locate, settle, 164.
Loose sentence, 102-103, 100,
10!1.
lot, 175.
luggage, ba.qgage, 148.
mad, angry, 169.

majority, plurality, 158.
Malaprop, Mrs., 1!15.
Malayan words, 18G.
m11nagerial, 152.
Manuscript: preparntion or,.
1-2; once written " solid,"
23.
may, can, 165.
Memorizing of literature, 212;
of proverbs, 213.
m.e11tio11, allude, 161.
Metaphor, 24!1.
Metonymy, 250.
Mexican words, 186.
mo.,t, almost, 16!).
motornee1·, 151.
mutual, common, 169.

Langnag!), English, furnrntion
of. See under Vocabulary,
sources of.
Language, study of, 5-7.
Language, written. See nuder
Rhetoric.
last, latest, lti!l; last, p1·eceding, 169.
Latin constructions. See L'\tiuisms.
Latinisms, 50-52, 152.
Latin words, 181, 188-l!ll:
words transferred to English,
188-189; prefixes and suffixes, 18!1; roots, lB!l-191.
Latin words, uses of, 183, 238- Narration, 271-275: historical
239.
narrntlve, 271; fiction, 271 ;
la!f, lie, l!l4.
choke of details, 272; plot,
let, 148; let, leave, Hl4.
272-27:1 ; complex incident,
Letter-writing, 255-21il: use of
275 ; exercises,
272-273 ;
capitals, 22; why important,
themes, 273-274, 275.
2a5 ; business letters, 2115- Nation, The, 266.
258; petition, 2D8-25U; for- National nsage, 147-148.

SUBJECT INDEX

287

neither, as distributive con- Participle: unrelated, 49; mis-

related, 49; in place of verbal
junction, 48; as pronoun, 48;
noun, 49.
neither ... nor, 48.
party, person, 158.
· nom de plume, 152.
Periodic sentence, 103-106, 109none,~.
110: defined, 104; use of,
Norman genitive, 63.
104; abuse of, 104, 106.
Norman-French words, 184.
permit, permission, 153.
Norse words, 183.
Note-book, need of, 4, 14, 199, Persian words, 186. ·
per.~on, part!J, 158.
262-263.
Noun and adjective, concord Personification, 250.
Petition, form of, 258-259.
of, 48-4!1.
Number of words. See Words, photo, 152.
right number and 11kilful Planning, o{ theme, 114, 133136; of paragraph, 117-120.
choice of.
vlurality' majority. 158.
Plurals and singulars, 15.
0, in apostrophe, 35.
JlOint of view, 153.
Obseryation, how sharpened, Possessive, how formed, 15, 63.
277.
posted, info1·med, 170.
obsert•ation, obsm-vance, 1·e- practicable, prcictical, 171.
mm·k, 158.
Predicate and subject, concord
Oh, punctuation of, 35.
of, 47--48.
Omission of words. See Words, predominrwt, 1n·omi11e11t, 15!1.
omission of.
Prefixes and suffixes: Angloone'.~ self, 14,.
Saxon, l&G-187; Latin, 18!1.
only, aml not only, 45-4ti.
Preposition, 55-51i.
onto, 175; onto, upon, 153.
Present usage, HS.
01·al, verbal, 170.
preventative, 152.
Orthoiipy. See Pronunciation. Prof., 152.
Orthography. See Spelling.
Prolixity, 22!1--231.
Outline of theme, 130, 138-139. Pronoun: neutral, 50; indefinite, 50; reference of, 54;
concord of, with antecedent.,
pants, 152.
4!1--52.
Paragraph, division 'iw See
Pronunc.iation: importance or,
nuder Sentenoe.
18; list of 1Vords misproParagraph: iudented,1; growth
nounced, l!l-20.
of, 7/i-78; History of the
English pamgraph, 114, foot- propose, purpose, 165.
note; nelmlru of, 116; plan- provecl, prouen, 165.
ning of, 117; kinds o{, 120- Proverbs, 213-215.
12-l; expanding of one into Pi·ovincialisms, 147.
Punctuation, 21-42: disju1H·several, 128-131.
• tive, 21, 84; capitals, :!l-'.!:I;
Parkman, F. ,V,, 1-l!J, 2U6.
reasons for pnnctuat inn, ;!3part, portion, um.

f3UBJEGT INDEX

288

289

FIRST BOOK JN WRITING ENGLISH

24; comma, 24--28; semicolon,
29-30; colon, 30-31; dash, 31-32; quotation marks, 33-35;
brackets, 35; exclamation
point,35; interrogation point,
36; italics, 36-37; apostrophe,
37 ; asterisks, 37 ; abbreviations, 41-42; punctuation for
emphasis, 86--87; exerciseR,
oral, 29-:lO, :l8--:l!); exercises,
written, 23, 27-28, 32-33, 36,

Saxon genitive, 63.

scotogi·aph, 152.

Self-expression, 5, ll.
Semicolon, 29-30, 84-85.
Sensation, verbs of, use with
adjective or adverb, 56-57.
Sense impressions, 205-207.
Sentence, 74-!l5: part of the
)lamgmph, 74-78; long and
short sentence, 78, 85; sentence unity, 7!1-!J;J; unity of
39-41.
form, 7!l (see also under Sentence, well-knit); unity of
substance, by excluding irrelquite, somewhat, very, 1·athe1·,
evant ideas, 79-82; by incluentfrely, wholly, 171.
sion of all parts of an idea,
Quotation marks, 33-35.
82-86, 88; unity sacrificed for
Quotation, rhetorical, 22.
emphasis, 86--87; seventeenth
cc~tury paragraph, 88--90;
radiograph, 152. ·
nmty by keeping to the point,
Reading: oral, 12-13; care in,
!l0-91; by supplying sup203-211.
pressed clauses, 92; exerreal, really, e-;r,treniely, 171.
cises, oral, 81,· 85--86, 87, 00,
recipe, receipt, 15!l.
!l2-95; exercises, written, 88--

reckon, guess, think, 163.

90.

Relative clause, restrictive and Sentence: well-knit, 00-113;
non-restrictive, 26-27.
unity of form, !Jll-100; comrelative, relation, 159.
plex, 97-!JS; loose and perireportorial, 152.
odic sentence, 103-110; emReproduction, 262-270: literal
phasis, 110-112; climax, 112reproduction, 262-266; sum113; exercises, 98-99, 100--101,
mary, abstract, abridgment,
102, 104-106, 107-109, 111-112.
266-267; matter for, 26i-- set, sit, 166.
270.
sewa.qe, sewerage, 160.
Reputable usage, 148--14!1.
shad-Owgraph, 151.
reputation, character, 156.
Shakespeare, 200--201, 212.
residence, house, 159.
shall and will: in direct disi·esurrectionists, 175.
course, 58--00; In Indirect disRhetoric, defined, 6. See also
course, 60-f>l; in questions,
under English, writing of.
61.
ride, drive, 163.
Rlwwing up, 17/i.
"Roentgen rays," names for, .•hunting, switching, 147-148.
151.
sideways for sidewise, 49.
round, around, 177, foot-note. Signs for marking theme11, 3-4.
Ruskin, J., 212, 241.
Simile, 249.

Simplicity, 217, 229, 244-246.
Singulars and plurals, .15.
site, situation, 160.

skiagraph, 152.
slick, 151.
so .•• as, 55.
'
So construction, 99-100.
Solecism, 44.

some, somewhat, 172.
South American words, 186.
Spanish words, 184-185.
Specific words, 235--238.
Spelling, 13-20: practice iu, 1314; of compouqd words, 1415 ; possessives, 15 ; singulars
and plurals, 15; common
errors, 16-17; word-breaking,
17; exercises, 16--18, 19-20.

spoonsful, 152.
spotted, 175.
standpoint, 153.
Stevenson, R. L., 149, 23!l.
stop, stay, 166.
Style, 227--229.
Subject and predicate, concord
of, 47-48.
Subject, choice of, 136--138.
Subjects for themes.
See
Theme.
Suffixes. See Prefixes and suffixes.
Suggestive words, 229.
suicide (verb), 152.
Summary, 266-270.
Suppressed clause, 92.
Surplusage, 231--233.

switching, shunting, 147.

Tenses, concord of, 52-53.
Teutonisms, 153.
Thackeray, W. M., 149, 196.
Theme: errors in, 1, 3; title, 2,
137-138; endorsement, 2; revision, 2, 13, 226; signs in
correcting, 3-4.
Theme: organizing of, 114-146;
different ways of planning,
114; growth of thought, 114116; unity, 116-117; planning
paragraph, 117 ; topic sentence, 117-120, 123-124; kinds
of paragraphs, 120--123, 126,
127-128; expansion, 128--133;
proportioning, 133-136; choice
of subject, 136--138, Hl-143;
outline, 130, 138-139; specimen theme, 139-141; transitions between - paragraphs,
143--144; transitions between
sentences, 144-146; exercises,
oral, 123-126, 133-135, 141-142,
145-146 ; exercises, written,
135, 142-143, 144; themes, 126128, 131, 141-142.

Theme, 11ubjects for, 34, 81-82,
88, 126-128, 131-133, 135-136,
141--143, 263-266, 267-2i0, 277278, 279-280, 281-282.
those kind, 48.
Thought, growth of, 114-116.
Threads of narrative, 275.
Topic sentence, 117--120.

Transitions: l>ctween paragraphs, 143-144; between sentences, 144-145.
Translation, 211.

Syllables, joining of, 15.
transpire, happen, 166.
Synecdoche, 248.
Synonyms, 215--226: a method Trope, 247-253.
of study, 217--220; groups of,
220-225; books of, 2l!l, 220, Uniformity of sentence structure, 101-102 .
foot-note.
(See also 154-Unity of form in sentence, 79,
180.)
96-102.
Syntax. See under Grammar.
u

I,

290 FJJIST BOOK IN

Unity of substance: in sentence, 79-95; in theme, llH-

ons words, l!ll-192; written
exercise, 1!12-193.
117.
Vocative words, punctuation
unless, without, 172.
of, 25.
Usage: national, 147-148 ; rep- Vulgarisms, 149.
utable, 148-149; present, 148;
good, 150.
tortlkiat, 152.
want, wish, desire, Hl7.
Variety: of words, 226; as au well (adjective or adver\J), ll7.
element of beauty, 229.
West India words, 186.
ve1·bal, ora.l, 170.
wheatena, 153.
Verbosity, 233.
will and shall. See Sha.ll and
Vocabulary: mastery of a writwill.
ing, l!H-220 ; ideas without wish, want , 1/psi1'e, lfi7.
words, l!H ; wor•ls willwut wi th , iutro<lucing parc uthe l.ical
ideas, l\!4-l!l.> ; ideas ancl
clause, 47 .
words, l!l:i-1!17; the two Y<>- withont, 1<11/css, 172.
ca\Jularics, l!ll-l!l!J; vocrilln- \\'ord-hrcaking, 17.
lary l!ook, l!J!J; ti~urative use 'Vords : correct11essi11choi£'P. of,
of common words; Hl\1-'.!0:\ ;
lH- 180; anthority, 117- lf>tl ;
value of <~arefnl reading,~()~

211; contrihuti011s from othrr
stnclies, 211; translation, :ll 1 ;
inetnorizing, 2l~-2l::i; pr1H'erbs, il3-~15; 8ynonyms, ~15226; synonyms for adjecti Yes

of praise, 2Hi; d!\nger or
bookish words, 21G-217 ; a
method of study, 217-220;
groups of synonyms, 220-2:!;;;
variety, 2:!6 ; exercises, oral,
2Hi, 218-21!1, 2'.!0; writ Len,

provinciahsms or lrn•a li~llls.
1-17; national irnngc, l·17- 14S ;
present n;:.ag-P, 1.f8; n•1wl n.hlc
usag-c, 148-14!1; Ynlg-arisms,
H!l; good nsage, mo; r! ict ionary, l!iO; hnrbariRms, 1:1 1-i.r;;~ ;
a.lien isms , 152-103: impropriel.ies, lfH-; choi.P.e o[ nouns,
1:11-lfiO; ,·erlls, lliO-lt;7; ar!jcetives a11d :uln·rhs. [1;7-ll:l;

exercises, oral, 17:!-l/1, 17:i-

IRO.
20:!-203, 218, 219-220, 2:!5-'.Qtl. Word<, fignratfre use of comVocallul:iry note-\Jook, 4, 1\1\l,
mon. f'ec Fignre~.
211, 2ti2-2ti3.
Words, lists of: ineorrcctly

Voca\Julary: sonrces of the
English, 181-1!)3; historiral
sketch, 181-186; Anglo-Saxon
prefixes anti stiflixcs, 186-187 ;
Latin element, 188; Latin
words transferred to English, Hl8-18\I; Latin prelixes
and suffixes, 189; Latin roots
in English, 189-191; Greek
roots in English, 191 ; curi·

SlJB,TECT INDEX

JrUITING ENGL/Sil

spellerl, Hl-17; componnri,
H-10; mispronourn·c•l. l!l-'.!O;
Latin, 181-1R2. 188-18!1, 1!10l!ll; Ccltic, 182; A11glo-~faxnn,
182-18.'l; Norno, rn:l; lt>dian
l H4; Spanish, 18/l; Du tc.h,
18u ; African, 180; Arabian,
18.~; Chinese, 185; Indian,
(i.e. Hindoo), 185--186; Malayan, 18G; Persian, 186 ;

Nort.h American Indian, 186;
lllexican, 186; West Indian,
186; South American, 186;
·Greek, 191; curious, 191-192;
adjectives, 203; synonyms,
220-225.

·words, omission of, 55, 92, 234235.

291

of, 231-232; deficiency of,
specific worrls, 235238; general words, 238-243;
· ambiguous words, . 243-24'1;
simple words, 244-246; literal
and figurative worrls, 2'1!i25:l; exercises, 232-233, 235,
2:~3-235;

237-238, 241-244, 24r>-24!i. W3-

2M.
·words: right numl>er and skilful choice of, 227-254; as Words withotH ideas, l \14-19.'\.
a!Tecting clearness, 227-228; Writing Yoca\Julary. ::ice Voforce, ~~8-~~~J; beauty, 22U;
callnlary.
prolixil,I', 22!1-'.l:a; surplus

I '

\
INDEX OF AUTHORS QUOTED
Keats, J., 240.
Keller, H., _194, foot-note.

INDEX OF AUTHORS QUOTED
Diekons, C., 27G.
Drayton, M., 13G.

Aiken, C., 18.
Hainton, G.i 2-4-l-, ft:tnt-n-ot~.
Baker, G. P., 270, foot-note.
Ba1·deen, C. ·w., 44.
Bartlett, J., 201, foot-note.
Beecher, 11. W., 7iJ, :W3.
Bible, 107.
Bigelow, N. T., 15.
Blackmore, Ii.. D., 193, 205,
:t()t).

Brookings, W. D., and Ringwalt, R. C., 2G9, foot-note.
Browning, R., 135.
Bryant, W. C., 275, foot-note.
Buck, G., lH, foot-uotti.
Burke, E., H!i, 207.

Eliot, Goorge, 213.
Emerson , R. W., 34, 77, 1211231 210.
FallowH, 8., 22-0, foot-note.
Fem aid, ,J. e., 21!1, 2'20, footnote.
Fiske, J., 101.

Gaskell, Mr~., 177-179.
Genung, .J. 1''., 109, foot-note.
Goethe, 35.

Hale, E. E., Jr., 240, foot-note.
Ilall, S., ix.. foot-note.
!fart, ,J. M., 2G7, foo!-n11te.
t:arlyle, T., 204-200, 21'>3.
Hawthorne, N., 10:i-101i, 2/li.
Carpenter, G. R., 3, Ioot·notc; Hazlitt, \V ., 21:1, foot-1111tc.
48, 211, foot-nutti; 238-23!1; Hill, A. S., lti4, fool-note; 199,
and Fletcher, J.B., 281, foot211.
note.
Holmrs, 0. W., 7fi-7fj.
Chesterfield, P. D. S. (4th earl), Hmner, 27;), fnnt ~uote.
151, 179.
Howells, W. D., 200.
Choate, R., 211.
lfnghes, T., lil--71.
Cholrnon<leley, T., 2Gl.
Huxley, T. H., 108.
Clarendou, E. H. (1st lord),
89-90.
Ining, W., 12!-126.
Coleridge, S. T., IG-77, 136.
James,
H., tw;, u:i.
Cook, A. S., 212, foot-note.
Jruncs, "r., 2.r;r;, fool-note.
Johnson, S., 129....-123, 192-193.
Defoe, D., 89.
. Jowett, B., 144.
De Quincey, T., 78.
292

.

l,
t
l

Lamb, C., 39-41.
Lanier, S., 107.
Lewis, E. H., 114, foot-note.
Lincoln, A., rn;i....134 .
Longfellow, H. W., 22, 130.
Lowell, ,J. H., t:~i, ~:H.

293

Roget, P. M., 220, foot-note.
Rousseau, J. J., 13.
Ruskin, J., 100-101, 111, 145,
172-174, 207-211.
Scott, F. N., and Denney, J. V.,
114, foot-note; ]:);{, font-nntP.
Shakespeare, 30, n:.1, !H, 201,
Siwrirla11 P. B., lq;),
Smith, C .• f., :!l!I.
1

llfacaulay, T. B., 107, 118-119.
J\fandPdl1P 1 Ri1· .J. i ~)-t-n:-i 1 !1g_q7.
l\Ieynell, A., ix.
Milton,.)., 117, 207-208.
Moliere, 4:l.
l\Iors0, E. S., 120.
Morion, Agnes, 25'.J.

So11fl11·yi IL,

11 2- 11~.

Spalding, E. lL, k, fnot-no1P:.
St.cvenson, H.. L., 27-~8, :32-:J:~,
3(;, 17G-177.
'J'enny.son, A. 1:10.
Thackeray, IV. 111., 1:>G.
1

Newman, J. II., !ll, 108-109.
Webster, D., 107-10.~.
Outlook, The, 118.
\Yendell, B., 111, foot-note.
Oxford English Dictionary, 153, Whittier, .J. G., 1:l1i.
foot-note.
Wood, .J. G., llll, 12H, 1:n.

Phyfe,

w. H. r.,

\Vordswort.h, \V.,

~2'10, ~53.

18.

H.oche, Sir B. 1 252.

See also
:l70.

bibliography, 2G3-

EXERCISES IN RHETORIC
AND

ENGLISH COMPOSITION.
RY

GEORGE R.

CARPENTE~,

Preftssor of Rhttoric and English Composition, Columbia Colltgt.

HIGH-SCHOOL COURSE.

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