III. Clearness in Paragraph 14. Keep to one subject (unity of subject) and to one proposition (unity of proposition) throughout a paragraph. There is unity of proposition when the whole paragraph may be summed up in a single subject and a single predicate. The proposition may sometimes have two or even more predicates if they are closely connected. Less frequently a good paragraph has more than one subject for its topic sentence. In the following paragraph De Quincey wanders from his proposition and from his subject. Haumette clearly thinks it more dignified for Joanna to have been darning the stockings of her horny-hoofed father, Monsieur D'Arc, than keeping sheep, lest she might then be suspected of having ever done something worse. But, luckily, there was no danger of that; Joanna never was in service; and my opinion is that her father should have mended his own stockings, since probably he was the party to make holes in them, as many a better man than D'Arc does; meaning by that not myself, because, though probably a better man than D'Arc, I protest against doing anything of the kind. If I lived even with Friday in Juan Fernandez, either Friday must do all the darning, or else it must go undone. The better men that I meant were the sailors in the British navy, every man of whom mends his own stockings. Who else is to do it? Do you suppose, reader, that the junior lords of the admiralty are under articles to darn for the navy? Paragraphs of description have often but not always unity of proposition; paragraphs of argumentation and persuasion usually should have unity of proposition. 15. Indicate a marked change in the direction of the thought by inserting conjunctions and other means of transition (continuity by connectives). When, however, sentences have a common bearing (parallel sentences) and when a sentence is merely an explanation or an illustration of a preceding sentence, then connectives may be omitted (continuity without connectives). 16. Make the subject of the proposition, wherever you can, the subject of every sentence in the paragraph or let the subject be referred to prominently, near the beginning of the sentence (prominence of subject). Too strict an adherence to this practice would make a composition monotonous. Good writers are careful to note when they leave the principal subject and when they return to it. 17. See that pronouns (he, it, they, etc.) and other words of reference (former, latter, such, same, etc.) may easily be applied to the words to which they belong (explicit reference). Repeat the noun or its equivalent, especially where other subjects have intervened, and keep a close watch on the pronoun "it." EXERCISE 3 1. The Life of Johnson is assuredly a great a very great work. Homer is not more decidedly the first of heroic poets, Shakespeare is not more decidedly the first of dramatists, Demosthenes is not more decidedly the first of orators, than Boswell is the first of biographers. He has no second. He has distanced all his competitors so decidedly that it is not worth while to place them. Eclipse is first, and the rest nowhere. This is the first sentence in the essay. It is not uncommon, especially in Macaulay, to introduce a contrast abruptly as in the second sentence. The last sentences are explanatory and need no connectives. Eclipse was a famous race-horse. Don't exaggerate as Macaulay is prone to do. If your subject is not "very great," not "first," don't say so. Subjects Writing without connectives: Choose the favorite work of your favorite author, contrasting it with other works of his. Choose the best of Shakespeare's tragic or comic characters, using his own or others' characters for contrast. Our national flag is dear to us. Choose the best landscape, best painting, best building, best age of history, etc., that you know. He 2. At Oxford, Johnson resided during about three years. was poor, even to raggedness; and his appearance excited a mirth and a pity which were equally intolerable to his haughty spirit. He was driven from the quadrangle of Christ Church by the sneering looks which the members of that aristocratical society cast at the holes in his shoes. Some charitable person placed a new pair at his door; but he spurned them away in a fury. Distress made him, not servile, but reckless and ungovernable. No opulent gentleman commoner, panting for one and twenty, could have treated the academical authorities with more gross disrespect. The needy scholar was generally to be seen under the gate of Pembroke, a gate now adorned with his effigy, haranguing a circle of lads, over whom, in spite of his tattered gown and dirty linen, his wit and audacity gave him an undisputed ascendency. In every mutiny against the discipline of the college he was the ringleader. Much was pardoned, however, to a youth so highly distinguished by abilities and acquirements. He had early made himself known by turning Pope's "Messiah" into Latin verse. The style and rhythm, indeed, were not exactly Virgilian; but the translation found many admirers, and was read with pleasure by Pope himself. - MACAULAY: Johnson. It would be possible to make Johnson the subject of every sentence. Would there be any loss in so doing? Where and why is a conjunction used and why are connectives dispensed with elsewhere? Do you note other means of keeping clear the connection of ideas? Why is "needy scholar" used instead of "he"? The poverty in Johnson is the general topic discussed under three aspects: how it affected others; how it affected himself; why its evil results were pardoned. In each case a general statement is followed by its particular proof. Note each word carefully and watch for the proof, e.g., "a mirth and a pity" and the instance of each. Subjects Characterize in a like way and under similar headings: The school days of a companion or of some historical person. The administration of a president or other political officer. The campaign of a general. The work of a great reformer or missionary (Las Casas, Father Matthew, St. Charles Borromeo, etc.). 3. To eat bread in the sweat of his brow is the original punishment of mankind; the indolence of the savage shrinks from the obligation, and looks out for methods of escaping it. Corn, wine, and oil have no charms for him at such a price; he turns to the brute animals which are his aboriginal companions, the horse, the cow, and the sheep; he chooses to be a grazier rather than to till the ground. He feeds his horses, flocks, and herds on its spontaneous vegetation, and then in turn he feeds himself on their flesh. He remains on one spot while the natural crop yields them sustenance; when it is exhausted, he migrates to another. He adopts what is called the life of a nomad. In maritime countries indeed he must have recourse to other expedients; he fishes in the stream, or among the rocks of the beach. In the woods he betakes himself to roots and wild honey; or he has a resource in the chase, an occupation, ever ready at hand, exciting, and demanding no perseverance. But when the savage finds himself inclosed in the continent and the wilderness, he draws the domestic animals about him, and constitutes himself the head of a sort of brute polity. He becomes a king and father of the beasts, and by the economical arrangements which this pretension involves, advances a first step, though a low one, in civilization, which the hunter or the fisher does not attain. NEWMAN: The Turks. The proposition is stated first in general terms and then defined more exactly in the second sentence. The same subject, the savage, is kept throughout, usually in the first place. In the sixth and seventh sentences, two exceptions to the proposition are admitted. The change of thought is indicated by "indeed," and the return, by "but" and by the repeated noun “savage.” The inverted phrases help to show the change of thought and take first place also because they are emphatic, being contrasted with "in the continent and the wilderness." Is the reference in the second sentence, "such," sufficiently explicit? In the fourth sentence would a noun or its synonym make "them," "it," "another," more clear? Explain and prove why: Subjects The student chooses to be a worker rather than an idler. The historian is a patient investigator. The inventor is persistent in his application. "The smith a mighty man is he." CHAPTER II FORCE 18. Language is forceful when it excites the reader to emotion and to action. We accept a truth when it is clearly presented to the mind, but we do not act upon it unless the good or evil of the action is felt. It is good or evil which arouses the common emotions of love and hate, desire and fear, hope and despair, joy and sadness, anger and pity. Forceful language gives fit expression to these emotions and by them impels the reader to action. Exposition rarely, persuasion always, other kinds of composition occasionally, call for force. The emotions have in them a physical element which is best reached through the imagination. The heart is commonly reached, not through the reason, but through the imagination, by means of direct impressions, by the testimony of facts and events, by history, by description. Persons influence us, voices melt us, looks subdue us, deeds inflame us. Many a man will live and die upon dogma: no man will be a martyr for a conclusion. NEWMAN: Tamworth Reading Room. I. Force in Words 19. Use words which appeal to the senses (descriptive word). Prefer words which express a quality in union with the object to which it belongs (concrete word). The quality apart from its object (abstract word) cannot be imagined, though it can be thought of. The imagination pictures round objects, not roundness. Abstract ideas and inanimate objects are sometimes rendered forceful by being made to act as if living (personification). |