Chapter 12

TO THE TEACHER.--It will be found profitable for pupils to break up for themselves into short sentences model selections from classic English, and, after examining the structure and style as suggested above, to note and, so far as possible, explain how these were blended together in the original. A written reproduction of the selection may then be made from memory.

This study of the thought, the structure, and the style of the great masters in language must lead to a discriminating taste for literature; and the effect upon the pupil's own habits of thought and expression will necessarily be to lift him above the insipid, commonplace matter and language that characterize much of the so-called "original" composition work.

In the study of these selections, especially in the work of copying, the rules for punctuation, and other rules, formally stated further on, may easily be anticipated informally.

For composition work more nearly original the class might read together or discuss, descriptions of home scenes; then, drawing from imagination or experience, they might make descriptions of their own. In these descriptions different persons might be introduced, with their attitudes, employments, and acts of hospitality.

For exercises in narration pupils might write about trips to these homes, telling about the preparation, the start, the journey, and the reception. (For studies on narrative style, see pages 157-162.)

To insure thoroughness, all such compositions should he short.

Exercises on the Composition of the Sentence and the Paragraph.

ADAPTED FROM IRVING'S "SKETCH BOOK."

1. Every window and crevice of the vast barn seemed bursting forth with the treasures of the farm. 2. The flail was busily resounding within from morning till night. 3. Swallows and martins skimmed twittering about the eaves. 4. Rows of pigeons were enjoying the sunshine on the roof. 5. Some sat with one eye turned up as if watching the weather. 6. Some sat with their heads under their wings or buried in their bosoms. 7. Others were swelling and cooing and bowing about their dames. 8. Sleek, unwieldy porkers were grunting in the repose and abundance of their pens. 9. From these pens sallied forth, now and then, troops of sucking pigs, as if to snuff the air. 10. A stately squadron of snowy geese was riding in an adjoining pond, convoying whole fleets of ducks. 11. Regiments of turkeys were gobbling through the farmyard. 12. Guinea fowls fretted about, like ill-tempered housewives, with their peevish, discontented cry. 13. Before the barn-door strutted the gallant cock, clapping his burnished wings, and crowing in the pride and gladness of his heart--sometimes tearing up the earth with his feet, and then generously calling his ever-hungry family of wives and children to enjoy the rich morsel which he had discovered.

+The Uses of Words and Groups of Words+.--In the first sentence _seemed_ asserts something about what two things? _Every_ goes with what word or words? What word or words does the phrase _of the vast barn_ make more definite in meaning? The two words _window_ and _crevice_ are joined together by what word? The group of words _bursting forth with the treasures of the farm_ describes what? Notice that _bursting_ also helps _seemed_ to say something about window and crevice. _Seemed_ does not make sense, but _seemed bursting_ does. What does _forth_ modify? What does _with the treasures of the farm_ modify? In the third sentence what two nouns form the subject of _skimmed?_ What connects these two nouns? In the fourth what word tells what the rows were enjoying? In the fifth _turned up as if watching the weather_ describes what? _As if watching the weather_ goes with what? The expression introduced by _as if_ is a shortened form. Putting in some of the words omitted, we have _as if they were watching the weather. They were watching the weather_, if standing by itself, would make a complete sentence. You see that one sentence may be made a part of another sentence. What does each of the two phrases _under their wings_ and _buried in their bosoms_ describe? What connects these two phrases? In the seventh sentence _were_ is understood before _cooing_ and before _bowing_. How many predicate verbs do you find, each asserting something about the pigeons represented by _others_? Why are these verbs not separated by commas? What two nouns form the principal part of the phrase in the eighth sentence? What connects these two nouns? Read the ninth sentence and put the subject before the predicate. You may now explain _as if to snuff the air_, remembering that a similar expression in the fifth sentence was explained. In the tenth sentence _convoying whole fleets of ducks_ describes what? Does _convoying_ assert anything about the squadron? Change it into a predicate verb. In the twelfth sentence find one word and two phrases joined to _fretted_. _Clapping, crowing, tearing_, and _calling_, in the thirteenth, all describe what? Notice that all the other words following the subject go with these four. Find the three words that answer the questions made by putting _what_ after _clapping, tearing, calling_. What phrase tells the cause of crowing? The phrase _to enjoy the rich morsel which he had discovered_ tells the purpose of what? _Which he had discovered_ limits the meaning of what? The pronoun _which_ here stands for _morsel_. _Which he had discovered_ = _He had discovered morsel_. Here you will see a sentence has again been made a part of another sentence. Notice that without _which_ there would be no connection.

TO THE TEACHER.--It may be well to let the pupils complete the examination of the structure of the sentences above and point out nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs.

It will be noticed that in the questions above we especially anticipate the regular lessons that follow Lesson 27. This we do in all such "Exercises."

+The Beauty and the Force of the Description above+.--Why may we say that this farmyard scene is surrounded by an atmosphere of plenty, happiness, and content? Which do you prefer, the first sentence above, or this substitute for it: "The large barn was entirely full of the products of the farm"? Give every reason that you can find for your preference. We often speak of a barn or storehouse as "bursting with plenty," or of a table as "groaning with a load of good things," when there is really no bursting nor groaning. Such expressions are called +Figures of Speech+. Examine the second sentence and compare it with the following: "The men were busy all day pounding out the grain with flails." Do the words _busily resounding_ joined to _flail_ bring into our imagination men, grain, pounding, sound, and perhaps other things? A good description mentions such things and uses such words as will help us to see in imagination many things not mentioned. In the third sentence would you prefer _skimmed_ to _flew_? Why? Compare the eighth sentence with this: "Large fat hogs were grunting in their pens and reposing quietly with an abundant supply of food." _Sleek, unwieldy porkers_ would be too high-sounding an expression for you to use ordinarily, but it is in tone with the rest of the description. _In the repose and abundance of their pens_ is much better than the words substituted above. It is shorter and stronger. It uses instead of the verb _reposing_ and the adjective _abundant_ the nouns _repose_ and _abundance_, and makes these the principal words in the phrase. Repose and abundance are thus made the striking features of the pen. Arrange the ninth sentence in as many ways as possible and tell which way you prefer. Is a real squadron referred to in the tenth sentence? and were the geese actually convoying fleets? These are figurative uses of words. What can you say of _regiments_ in the eleventh? In the twelfth Guinea fowls are compared to housewives. Except in this one fancied resemblance the two are wholly unlike. Such comparisons frequently made by _as_ and _like_ are called +Similes+. If we leave out _like_ and say, "Guinea fowls are fretting housewives," we have a figure of speech called +Metaphor+. This figure is used above when flocks are called "squadrons" and "fleets." In the thirteenth sentence notice how well chosen and forceful are the words _strutted, gallant, burnished, generously, ever-hungry, rich morsel_. See whether you can find substitutes for these italicized words. Were the wings actually burnished? What can you say of this use of _burnished_?

SUGGESTIONS FOR COMPOSITION WORK.

The sentences in the description above, when read together, have a somewhat broken or jerky effect. You may unite smoothly such as should be joined. The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh can all be put into one. There is danger of making your sentences too long. Young writers find it difficult to make very long sentences perfectly clear in meaning.

TO THE TEACHER.--While the pupils' thoughts and style are somewhat toned up by the preceding exercises, it may he well to let them write similar descriptions drawn from their reading, their observation, or their imagination.

If the compositions contain more than two or three short paragraphs each, it will be almost impossible to secure good work.

Exercises on the Composition of the Sentence and the Paragraph.

FROM FRANKLIN'S "AUTOBIOGRAPHY."

1. I was dirty from my journey, my pockets were stuffed out with shirts and stockings, and I knew no soul nor where to look for lodging. 2. I was fatigued with traveling, rowing, and want of rest; I was very hungry; and my whole stock of cash consisted of a Dutch dollar and about a shilling in copper. 3. The latter I gave the people of the boat for my passage, who at first refused it on account of my rowing; but I insisted on their taking it.

1. Then I walked up the street, gazing about, till near the markethouse I met a boy with bread. 2. I had made many a meal on bread, and, inquiring where he got it, I went immediately to the baker's he directed me to, in Second Street, and asked for biscuit, intending such as we had in Boston; but they, it seems, were not made in Philadelphia. 3. Then I asked for a three-penny loaf, and was told they had none such. 4. So not considering or knowing the difference of money, or the greater cheapness and the names of his bread, I bade him give me three-penny worth of any sort. 5. He gave me, accordingly, three great puffy rolls. 6. I was surprised at the quantity, but took it; and, having no room in my pockets, walked off with a roll under each arm, and eating the other.

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+The Uses of Words and Groups of Words+.--Break up sentence 1, paragraph 1, into three distinct sentences, and tell what changes this will make in capitals and punctuation. Do the same for 2. Which read more closely together, and are more closely connected, the parts of 2, or of 1? How is this shown to the eye? Analyze the first two sentences you made from 1. Find two object complements of _knew_, one a noun and the other a group of five words. Find in 2 a phrase whose principal part is made up of three nouns. What have you learned about the commas used with these nouns? In making separate sentences of 3 what words do you change or drop? Are these the words that bind the parts of 3 together? What noun is used adverbially after _gave_? Supply a preposition and then tell what phrases modify _gave_. Find the object complement of _gave_. What modifies _refused_ by telling when? What, by telling _why_?

In 1, paragraph 2, who is described as gazing about? What does _gazing about_ modify? Read the group of words that tells how far or how long Franklin walked up the street. Notice that this whole group is used like an adverb. Find in it a subject, a predicate, and an object complement. Drop _till_ and see whether the parts of 1 make separate sentences. What word, then, binds these two sentences into one? Read 2 and make of it three distinct sentences by omitting the first _and_ and the word _but_. The second of these three sentences just made contains several sentences which are not so easily separated, as some are used like single words to make up the main, or principal, sentence. In this second part of 2 find the leading subject and its two predicates. Find a phrase belonging to _I_ and representing Franklin as doing something. Put _what_ after _inquiring_ and find the object complement. What phrase belongs to _went_, telling where? _He directed me to (whom)_ belongs to what? Who is represented as intending? _Intending such as we had in Boston_ belongs to what? _As we had in Boston_ goes with what? Notice that _it seems_ is a sentence thrown in loosely between the parts of another sentence. Such expressions are said to be parenthetical. Notice the punctuation.

Notice that _gazing, inquiring, intending, considering, knowing_, and _having_ are all modifiers of _I_ found in the different sentences of paragraph 2. Put _I_ before any one of these words, and you will see that no assertion is made. These words illustrate one form of the verb (the participle), and _look_ in 1, paragraph 1, illustrates the other form (the infinitive), spoken of in Lesson 11 as not asserting. Change each of these participles to a predicate, or asserting form, and then read the sentences in which these predicates are found. You will notice that giving these words the asserting form makes them more prominent and forcible--brings them up to a level with the other predicate verbs. Participles are very useful in slurring over the less important actions that the more important may have prominence. Show that they are so used in Franklin's narrative.

Examine the phrase _with a roll under each arm, and eating the other_, and see if you do not find an illustration of the fact that even great men sometimes make slips. Does _other_ properly mean one of three things? Try to improve this expression.

+The Grouping of Sentences into Paragraphs+.--The sentences above, as you see, stand in two groups. Those of each group are more closely related to one another than they are to the sentences of the other group. Do you see how? In studying this short selection you may find the general topic, or heading, to be something like this: _My First Experiences in Philadelphia_. Now examine the first group of sentences and see whether its topic might not be put thus: _My Condition on Reaching Philadelphia_. Then examine the sentences of the second group and see whether all will not come under this heading: _How I Found Something to Eat_. You see that even a short composition like this has a general topic with topics under it. As _sub_ means _under_, we will call these under topics _sub-topics_. There are two groups of sentences in this selection because there are two distinct sub-topics developed. The sentences of each group stand together because they jointly develop one sub-topic.

A group of sentences related and held together by a common thought we call a +Paragraph+. How is the paragraph indicated to the eye? What help is it to the reader to have a composition paragraphed? What, to the writer to know that he must write in paragraphs?

+The Style of the Author+.--This selection is mainly +Narrative+. The matter is somewhat tame, and the expression is commonplace. The words are ordinary, and they stand in their usual place. Figures of speech are not used. Yet the piece has a charm. The thoughts are homely; the expression is in perfect keeping; the style is clear, simple, direct, and natural. The closing sentence is slightly humorous. Benjamin Franklin trudging along the street, hugging a great roll of bread under each arm, and eating a third roll, must have been a laughable sight.

Have you ever known boys and girls in writing school compositions, or reporters in writing for the newspapers, to use large words for small ideas, and long, high-sounding phrases and sentences for plain, simple thoughts? Have you ever seen what could be neatly said in three or four lines "padded out" to fill a page of composition paper or a column in a newspaper?

When Franklin said. "My pockets were stuffed out with shirts and stockings," he said a homely thing in a homely way; that is, he fitted the language to the thought. To fit the expression to the thought on every occasion is the perfection of style. If Franklin had been a weak, foolish writer, his sentence might have taken this form:--

"Not having been previously provided with a satchel or other receptacle for my personal effects, my pockets, which were employed as a substitute, were protruding conspicuously with extra underclothing."

Compare this sentence with Franklin's and point out the faults you see in the substitute. Can you find anything in the meaning of _provided_ that makes previously unnecessary? Do you now understand what Lowell meant when, in praise of Dryden, he said, "His phrase is always a short cut to his sense"?

TO THE TEACHER.--What is here taught of the paragraph and of style will probably not be mastered at one reading. It will be found necessary to return to it occasionally, and to refer pupils to it for aid in their composition work.

SUGGESTIONS FOR COMPOSITION WORK.

TO THE TEACHER.--We suggest that the pupils reproduce from memory the extract above, and that other selections of narrative be found in the Readers or elsewhere and studied as above.

The pupils may be able to note to what extent the narrative follows the order of time and to what extent it is topical. They may also note the amount of description it contains. They should, so far as possible, find the topic for each paragraph, thus making an outline for a composition to be completed from reproduction.

It will now require little effort to write simple original narratives of real or imagined experiences.

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Exercises on the Composition of the Sentence and the Paragraph.

FROM C. D. WARNER'S "MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN."

1. In the driest days, my fountain became disabled; the pipe was stopped up. 2. A couple of plumbers, with the implements of their craft, came out to view the situation. 3. There was a good deal of difference of opinion about where the stoppage was. 4. I found the plumbers perfectly willing to sit down and talk about it--talk by the hour. 5. Some of their guesses and remarks were exceedingly ingenious; and their general observations on other subjects were excellent in their way, and could hardly have been better if they had been made by the job. 6. The work dragged a little--as it is apt to do by the hour.

1. The plumbers had occasion to make me several visits. 2. Sometimes they would find, upon arrival, that they had forgotten some indispensable tool; and one would go back to the shop, a mile and a half, after it; and his comrade would await his return with the most exemplary patience, and sit down and talk--always by the hour. 3. I do not know but it is a habit to have something wanted at the shop. 4. They seemed to me very good workmen, and always willing to stop, and talk about the job or anything else, when I went near them. 5. Nor had they any of that impetuous hurry that is said to be the bane of our American civilization. 6. To their credit be it said that I never observed anything of it in them. 7. They can afford to wait. 8. Two of them will sometimes wait nearly half a day, while a comrade goes for a tool. 9. They are patient and philosophical. 10. It is a great pleasure to meet such men. 11. One only wishes there was some work he could do for them by the hour.

+The Uses of Words and Groups of Words+.--How can you make the last part of 1 express more directly the cause of becoming disabled? Would you use a semicolon to separate the sentences thus joined, or would you use a comma? Give a reason for the comma after _days_, Find in 2 an adverb phrase that expresses purpose. Use an equivalent adjective in place of _a couple of_. Explain the use of _there_ in 3. What adjective may be used in place of _good_ in _a good deal_? What long complex phrase modifies _deal_? Put _what_ after the preposition _about_ and find a group of words that takes the place of a noun. Find in this group a subject and a predicate. Find in 4 an objective complement. Find a compound infinitive phrase and tell what it modifies. Notice that the dash helps to show the break made by repeating _talk_. When 5 is divided into two sentences, what word is dropped? This, then, must be the word that connected the two sentences. Notice that the two main parts of 5 are separated by a semicolon. This enables the writer to show that the two main divisions of 5 are more widely separated in meaning than are the parts of the second division where the comma is used. Give the three leading predicate verbs in 5 and their complements. _If they had been made by the job_ is joined like an adverb to what verb? What is the predicate of this modifying group?

The infinitive phrase in 1, paragraph 2, modifies what? Is _me_, or _visits_, the object complement of _make_? Put _what_ after _would find_ in 2 and get the object complement. Can you make a sentence of this group? What are its principal parts? Does the writer make an unexpected turn after _talk_? How is this shown to the eye? Put _what_ after _do know_ in 3 and find the object complement. Can you make a sentence of this object complement? What phrase can you put in place of the pronoun _it_ without changing the sense? By using the word _it_, a better arrangement can be made. What group of words in 5 is used like an adjective to modify _hurry_? Change the pronoun _that_ to _hurry_ and make a separate sentence of this group. What word, then, must have made an adjective of this sentence and joined it to _hurry_? What is the object complement of _can afford_ in 7? Supply a preposition after _will wait_ in 8, and then find two groups of words that tell the time of waiting. Find a subject and a predicate in the second group. What explains _it_ in 10? Find the object complement of _wishes_ in 11. What is the subject of _was_? The office of _there_? After _work_ supply the pronoun _that_ and tell the office of the group it introduces. What is the object complement of _could do_? What connects this group to _work_?

+The Grouping of Sentences into Paragraphs+.--There are two distinct sets of sentences in this selection--distinct because developing two distinct sub-topics. Accordingly, there are two paragraphs. Let us take for the general topic _The Visits of the Plumbers_. Let us see whether all the sentences of the first paragraph will not come under the sub-topic _First Visit_, and those of the second under the sub-topic _Subsequent Visits_. The sentences of each paragraph should be closely related to one another and to the sub-topic. They should stand in their proper order. Do the paragraphs above stand such tests? If they do, they possess the prime quality of +Unity+.