Elementary English Composition

Front matter

ELEMENTARY

BINGEISH COMPOSITION

BY

Preface To The Revised; Edition

Tue more than kind reception which this little book has had at the hands of teachers and school authorities, since it has made necessary a new set of plates, has given opportunity for a complete revision of the text. Believing, however, that the general idea of the book is not only right theoretically but -has approved itself in application, the authors have made no fundamental changes in plan or in method. They have confined themselves to replacing the shop-worn material by a fresh stock, and to making such modifications in the details as will, in their judgment, effect a closer adaptation of the work to the needs of secondary pupils.

iv PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION

In the eight years that have passed since the book was ~ first published, a striking change has come about in the spirit and method of composition teaching in secondary schools. Composition as a subject of secondary instruction has received not only greater attention, but more intelligent and more respectful attention. Its peculiar place in the curriculum and its importance as a discipline have been more generally acknowledged. ‘The possibility of vitalizing and enriching it and the variety of the means for accomplishing this have been more widely recognized. In brief, secondary composition has come into its inheritance. And, together with this renewal of interest in the subject, has come into existence, or at least into prominence, a new type of composition teacher, — a teacher burning with enthusiasm for the once detested subject, and equipped intellectually and spiritually to attain the goal of this part of education; that is, the training of youth for the fullest and freest communion with their fellow-beings.

In bringing about this significant change of attitude toward the teaching of secondary composition —a change which no student of education can have failed to perceive, however he may have interpreted it —the authors would claim for this book a modest part. It has served, they believe, as a stimulus to those who have accepted its principles, and as a not unwholesome irritant to those who have not. Its very unconventionality (what some may have called its extravagance) has provoked more or less inquiry and discussion, and has aided in some quarters in breaking down the hampering formalism of an older method of instruction. It is hoped that in these regards, as well as in others, the revision which is here presented may be found to be an improvement upon the original text.

Review of English Grammar ‘ , : ‘ Exe

Chapter I. Oral Composition Section

1. What a Composition Is. 5 , : - A 2. Conversation-English . A 2 RY esr : 2 3

Assignments - 2 c 3 ° °

4, Grammar in Spoken English s : ° 7 9

Assignments - : 7 4 ‘ 5 ; SLO)

6. Pronunciation and Enunciation . “ - pele Assignments on Pronunciation . ° ° e ° 13

8. The Hearer . ; : : : , 4 Ae Het Assignments - : ° : e 3 é aa fede:

10. Recitation-English : , : Z ; nly el) Assignments on Recitation . ° ° ° . 20

12. The Topical Plan of Recitation . : : ene Assignments for Topical Recitation - ° ° ; 23

14. The Oral Report . j é 5 : . Se Assignments for Oral Reports - . ° . : 28

16. The Oral Reproduction . 7 : : - spol Assignments for Oral Reproduction -_ - 6 <2 30

18. Telling a Personal Incident . A : : = pop.

Assignments for Stories + : 3 A ; peeO Vv vl

SECTION

20. 22.

‘25. 26. 27.

29. 31. 33.

39. 41.

Oral Description . : ‘ ° ° : .

Assignments for Description - ° e ° °

The Extempore Speech. “ ‘ ° ° .

Assignments for Extempore Speaking . ° .

The Oral Paragraph . ; : : : :

CHAPTER II. WRITTEN COMPOSITION The Reader . 3 3 4 & A 5

Form for Compositions . : . “ .

Illustration of Form . 5 5 ° .

Assignments for Written Compositions ° . .

Letters . : < Assignments for Letters . 6 : ° . :

Capitals, Abbreviations, Contractions . Assignments on Capitalization .« . . . Spelling : :

Assignments on Spelling - : . .

Punctuation .

Assignments in Punctuation . ; :

. Sentence-Length and Sentence-Structure

Assignments on the Use of Sentences

Variety in Sentence-Making .

Assignments for Securing Variety

Loose, Periodic, and Balanced Sentences

Assignments on Types of Sentences .

The Written Paragraph

PAGE

81 85

‘CHAPTER III, DESCRIPTION —ORAL

AND WRITTEN

SECTION

44, 45.

47. 49.

cae

52. 53.

62. 63.

The Purpose of Description A

Clear Seeing . ‘ ° . : .

Assignments in the Study of Description .

Comparison and Contrast . : .

The Phraseology of Description

Assignments on the Phraseology of Description

The Descriptive Paragraph ..

CHAPTER IV. NARRATION — ORAL AND WRITTEN The Purpose of Narration

Truthful Reporting Assignments on Narration

Conversation and Dialogue in Stories .

Pictures in Stories and Stories in Pictures

Apsignments -

The Phraseology of Narration

Assignments on the Phraseology of Narration

The Narrative Paragraph

CHAPTER V. EXPLANATION The Need of Explanation . Using Simpler Words

Assignments on the Use of Simpler Terms .- vii

PAGE

101 104

112 113

132 135

150 152

164 165.

Lig 172

178 181

188 189 viii

SEOTION

(pile

. The Essentials of Argument.

. The Prerequisite to Reasoning

. The Phraseology of Argument

. The Argumentative Paragraph

Explaining by Examples . C . . :

Assignments on the Use of Examples e . : Defining Shoo Ics : ° 5 A ° .

Assignments on Definition . . ° °

Telling what an Idea Includes. : .

Assignments - ° . . é . . ° Explanatory Description and Narration 2 Assignments « ° °

The Phraseology of Explanation .

Assignments on the Phraseology of Exposition . . Miscellaneous Assignments in Exposition - .

The Explanatory Paragraph . ;

CHAPTER VI. ARGUMENT Assignments on the Prerequisites of Reasoning

Reasoning, Good and Bad

Assignments on the Choice of Arguments .

.

Assignments on the Phraseology of Argument :

CHAPTER VII FIGURES OF SPEECH Definition

Assignments - : . : . : Classes of Figures. : K

Assignments + .

SECTION

89. Figures of Imagery :

Metaphor and Simile .

Synecdoche and Metonymy Personification : .

Apostrophe . ° 0 Allegory . ° : Faulty Figures of Imagery Assignments °

91. Figures of esas

Antithesis . : 3 Climax Assignments

93. Figures of Contradiction

Index

Humorous Anticlimax .

Irony - 5 ° .

Epigram . ° ° Hyperbole . . ‘

Interrogation . .

Assignments : ° General Assignments .-

. Group of Buildings

ILLUSTRATIONS

. Irving, Bryant, and Burns

. The Hollander .

. Columbus and the Egg. °

. Three Portraits of Dante

5 Napoleon and Octavius . . Webster and Gladstone.

e

. Cathedral of Paris (Notre Dame) . Cathedral of Rheims . . . Baseball Game . . ( . An Old Fable 5 : peebucTOLNVater. : : . The Story of the Ship . An Old Man. (Albrecht Diirer) . The Reprimand. (Eastman Johnson)

x e

. English and American Authors in Early Life

. Profiles of Savonarola and George Eliot

. Temple of the Wingless Victory (Athens)

e

. Daniel in the Lions’ Den. (Briton Riviére) .

. An Old Monarch. (Rosa Bonheur)

. English and American Authors in Late Life .

Page 107

110 114 115 116 117 119

120 121

EXERCISES FOR GRAMMAR REVIEW.

0050300

1. Introductory,

A. When did you begin the study of grammar? In what grade ?

B. What was it about? What kinds of things? What parts of it did you like? Why? What parts did you dislike? Why? What book, if any, did you use ?

C. If some one should say to you that he thought the study of grammar was of no particular use to anybody, what would you reply? How would you defend your position?

D. A young friend of yours who works all day in a machine shop thinks of taking up in a night school either grammar or arithmetic. Which will probably do him most good? Why? Suppose his choice to lie between grammar and geography, which would you advise him to‘take, and why?

E. Can you mention any particular occasion when a knowledge of grammar was a help to you?

F. Do you think grammar is made up of “rules”? If so, state some rule of grammar which in your opinion every one ought to observe. j

G. Are any of the rules of grammar violated in the following passage? Point out the violations, and in each case state the rule as nearly as you can remember it.

The walking delegate was a stout young man with a bristling red mustache. “So you was laying for him too, was xi xii EXERCISES FOR GRAMMAR REVIEW.

you? Well now, between you and I, if I had have known that, I might have saved you a lot of worry. See! that’s him yonder.” And he pointed with a stubby forefinger to the centre of a group of excited men at my left.

2. Parts of Speech.

A. Below you will find, first a prose selection, second some lists of words. The lists have been made by breaking up the sentences into single words, then classifying these words according to their uses. All words that do the same work in the sentence have been put into the same class. Suggest a name for each of the classes, and show that it is an appropriate name.

“That is the life for me,” said he eagerly. “ What a gentleman of an animal the elephant is; and he has nearly a dozen men to wait upon him. Ha! old Longnose, what a very happy fellow you must be. Oh, if I were only an elephant, or even the keeper of an elephant!”

(1) (2) (3) (4)

gentleman me ‘the is animal he a said elephant him an has men you dozen wait Longnose old must fellow happy . be keeper were () (6) (7) (8) eagerly for and Ha nearly of if Oh very upon or only

From this list six words occurring in the selection have been omitted. Find them and insert each in the class where it belongs. gs

EXERCISES FOR GRAMMAR REVIEW. xii

B. Break the following passage up into single words and find a place for each word in one of the eight classes illustrated above. In each case give a reason for classifying the word as you do.

As soon as he had said this, he could feel his nose lengthening into a slender trunk, — his body swelled out to a great size, —his feet grew large, and his black, shining skin turned into a coarse, rough, gray hidey—and he found himself walking along the road with a man on his head. He arrived at the great stable where he was to be exhibited, thinking that it was an admirable thing to be an elephant. They gave him something to eat, and soon the men and boys came in to see him. For half an hour he had a fine time, walking around, carrying boys about on his tusks, — taking his keeper’s head into his mouth, picking up nuts and pieces of gingerbread with the finger and thumb at the end of his proboscis, — lying down and rising again at the keeper’s command. Pretty soon, however, he got tired, and when the keeper ordered him to lhe down, he concluded that he would not get up again. But the keeper taught him by blows that he was not his own master, if he was a gentleman. New troops of starers kept coming in, and he got tired out completely with going over and over again the same evolutions. He could hardly stand at last, and when they left him for the night, and he lay down to try to rest, and reflected that it must be just so to-morrow, and the next day, and so on as long as he lived, he was almost in despair. “Oh!” said he, “how foolish I was to wish to be an elephant! I had rather to be anything else. What a hard life I lead.”

“ And then such a window as this to look out of after my hard day’s work,” said he, as he turned his eye upward towards a little square hole in the stable wall. “ What a window for an elephant’s residence!”

xiv EXERCISES FOR GRAMMAR REVIEW.

$1, Sentences.

The following paragraph is about a single thing; namely, the chipmunk. It says just one thing about it; namely, that it awakens early in the spring. If we put these two ideas together, we have the sentence: The chipmunk awakens early in the spring.

Before the crocus is out of the ground, you may look for the first chipmunk. When I hear the little downy woodpecker begin his spring drumming, then I know the chipmunk is due. He cannot sleep after that challenge of the woodpecker reaches his ear.

A. What is the following paragraph about? Put the answer in as few words as possible. What does the paragraph say about it? Put the answer in as few words as possible. Now join these two sets of words together to make a sentence.

The squirrel would shoot up the tree, making only a brown streak from the bottom to the top; would seize his nut and rush down again in the most hurried manner. Halfway to his den, which was not over three rods distant, he would rush up the trunk of another tree for a few yards to make an observation. No danger being near, he would dive into his den and reappear again in a twinkling.

- B. In the following sentences what is the office of the words “the coast,” ‘small service,” “a sense of duty”? What is the office of “is clear,” “is true service while it lasts,” “ pursues us ever”? Suggest names for these two elements of the sentence.

1. The coast is clear.

2. Small service is true service while it lasts. 3. A sense of duty pursues us ever.

C. Write a paragraph upon the sentence, « Every American schoolboy is entitled to a good education,” using the words “Every American schoolboy” as the paragraph-subject, and

EXERCISES FOR GRAMMAR REVIEW. XV saying about it what is suggested by the words “is entitled to a good education.”

D. Point out in each of the following sentences how much of the sentence tells what the writer is talking about and how much tells what he says about it. 6

1. Guilty consciences always make people cowards.

2. He that plants thorns must never expect to gather roses.

3. Practice in time becomes second nature.

4. To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.

E. In each of the two parts of the following sentences one word seems to be more important than the other words. In the first part the important word answers the question What? or Who? In the second part the important word answers the question Does what? or Has done what? Point out these important words and explain why they are important.

1. Eternal sunshine settles on its head.

2. The thirsty earth soaks up the rain.

3. The worthy gentleman who has been snatched from us at the moment of the election, and in the middle of the contest, whilst his desires were as warm and his hopes as eager aS ours, has feelingly told us what shadows we are and what shadows we pursue.

F. Point out the difference between the corresponding sentences in I and II.

it II. 1. England can rule the 1. England andthe United world. States can rule the world. 2. You were mistaken. 2. You and I were mistaken.

3. Lilacs will makeagood| 3. Either lilacs or everhedge. greens will make a good hedge.

Xvi

4, Error,wounded, writhes with pain.

5. TheYainbow comes.

6. Our echoes roll from soul to soul. ©

7. This medicine will cure.

EXERCISES FOR GRAMMAR REVIEW.

4, Error, wounded, writhes with pain.

And dies among her worshippers. 5. The rainbow comes and goes. 6. Our echoes roll from soul to soul, And grow forever and forever. 7. This medicine either kill or cure.

will

Kinds of Sentences.

A. What is the difference between the sentences in the left-hand column and those in the right? How many different kinds of sentences do you find in the right-hand column ?

name for each kind.

1. The pilot cannot calm the winds.

2. I am watching my opportunity.

3. Nothing succeeds like success.

4. Forgiveness than revenge.

5. He held the, fort.

is better

Suggest a

1. Can the pilot calm the winds ? 2. Watch your opportunity.

3. What succeeds like success ?

4, How: much better is forgiveness than revenge! 5. Hold the fort!

B. Convert each of the following sentences into a sentence of each of the different kinds illustrated above.

form are necessary ?

1. We are then all agreed,

What changes in gentlemen.

2. Happy the people whose annals are blank in history books.

EXERCISES FOR GRAMMAR REVIEW. Xvil

3. Woodman, spare that tree! 4, Life is real! life is earnest !

C. What was the mood of the speaker when he uttered each of the following sentences?

1. How stupid the waiter is! 2. What lovely roses you see in the gardens here!

5. Clauses.

In the following sentences how is the part in italics related to the remainder of the sentence? ub Though inland far we be, Our souls have sight of that immortal sea Which brought us hither. 2. He that plants thorns must never expect to gather roses. 3. While we stop to think, we often miss our opportunity. 4. What is left, when honor is lost ? 5. He sleeps well who knows not that he sleeps ill. 6. Every one excels in something in which another fails. 7. Why he has come and what he desires, we do not yet know. 8. If the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle ?

6. Phrases.

A. In each of the first four sentences below certain words appear to be closely connected. They form little groups, as indicated by the italics. Find similar groups of words in the remaining sentences. Suggest a name for such groups.

1. Labor to keep alive in your hearts that little spark of celestial fire — conscience.

2. The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time.

Xvill EXERCISES FOR GRAMMAR REVIEW.

3. Thoughts are mightier than strength of hand.

4. Custom is almost a second nature.

5. The measure of a man’s life is the well spending of it, not the length.

6. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.

7. Earth is here so kind, that just tickle her with a hoe and she laughs with a harvest.

8. I have not the chancellor’s encyclopedic mind. He is indeed a kind of semi-Solomon. He half knows everything, from the cedar to the hyssop.

B. In the sentences below compare the group of words in IL with the corresponding word or words in I. Do the corresponding words mean the same thing? Are they of the same use in the sentence? What is the difference in form? To which of the eight classes enumerated in Section 2, A, do the words “gentle,” -“human,” “sail-like,” “unhesitatingly,” and “civilly” belong?

I

1. This is a glorious day, — bright, very warm, yet wnspeakably gentle both in its warmth and brightness.

2. He looked like an aged human grasshopper.

3. Their sail-like fins were set all around them.

4. He signed his name wnhesitatingly.

5. The duke saluted me quite civilly.

1. This is a glorious day, —bright, very warm, yet with an unspeakable gentleness both in its warmth and brightness.

2. He looked like an aged grasshopper of some strange human variety.

3. Their fins, like sails, were set all around them.

4. Hesigned his name without a moment’s hesitation.

5. The duke saluted me with entire civility.

C. Find a single word that will do the work of the italicized group of words in each of the following sentences.

To what class

EXERCISES FOR GRAMMAR REVIEW. XX

” of words does the substituted word belong? Of what classes of words is each group composed ?

4: And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds For the ashes of his fathers And the temples of his gods ?

2. An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit.

3. Some might consider him as too fond of fame.

A. Thou hast taught me at last to forget thee

In secret, in silence, and tears.

He heeds not, he hears not, he’s free from all pain. Do noble things, not dream them, all day long. We mmay with advantage at times forget what we know.

eee ee

D. Where in the following sentences would you insert the words in parentheses? How would the insertion change the meaning of the sentence? What part of the sentence would it affect?

1. The two Londoners listened to my indignant protests (in stolid silence).

2. Accepting the decision of the laird as final, the Highlander immediately set out for Edinburgh to deliver himself up to justice (without a murmur).

3. A book or a certain fashion will have a run like a garment, and, like that, will pass away before it waxes old (in letters).

4. A universal and wholesome pastime of boys has been developed into a great national industry (during the past fifteen years).

7. Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences.

A. Make a statement of the difference in form between the sentences in the left-hand column and those in the right-hand xx EXERCISES FOR GRAMMAR REVIEW.

column. Suggest a name for the class or type of sentences illustrated in II.

I. II. 1. My foot is onmy native| 1. My foot is on my native heath. heath, and my name is Mac- Gregor. 2. Oh, Brignall banks are| 2. Oh, Brignall banks are wild and fair. wild and fair, And Gretna woods are green.

B. What is the difference in form between the sentences in I and in II? Suggest a name for the class or type of sentences illustrated in the right-hand column.

i. II.

1. All human beings must} 1. All that is human must retrograde. retrograde, if it do not ad-

vance.

2. There is a pleasure in} 2. There is a pleasure in poetic pains. poetic pains,

Which only poets know.

3. He needs fear no fall. 3. He that is down needs

fear no fall.

4. It beareth the name of| 4. It beareth the name of Vanity Fair. ; Vanity Fair, because the town where ’tis kept is hghter than

vanity.

8. Nouns.

A. Explain to some person who has never studied grammar the use of the italicized words in the following sentences; that is, the work which each word performs in helping to express the thought of the sentence. Suggest a name for this class of words.

EXERCISES FOR GRAMMAR REVIEW. xxi

1. The miller sees not all the water that goes by his mill, 2. Morn Waked by the circling hours, with rosy hand Unbarred the gates of light. 3. The cow is a very good animal in a field, but we turn her out of a garden. 4, As the Spanish proverb says, “He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him.”

B. What differences do you notice between the following two classes of words? Suggest a name for each class.

(1) (2) man London scnool Wednesday flower Tennyson committee + Tvanhoe wisdom America army April strength baseball courage squirrel flock sweetness congregation

C. The following lists contain the same words that are in (1) above, but the words.are grouped in two classes. Do you see any reason for arranging them thus, and can you suggest a name for each class ?

(1) (2) man school flower | committee wisdom army

XXil EXERCISES FOR GRAMMAR REVIEW.

strength baseball courage squirrel sweetness flock congregation

D. The following lists present the same words in yet a third arrangement. What reason is there for this classification, and what name would you suggest for each class ?

eo)

man

school

flower committee army baseball squirrel flock congregation

(2) wisdom strength courage sweetness

E. What is the difference in meaning between the corresponding words in (1) and (2)?

What is the difference in form?

Classify the words, putting into the same class words which undergo the same change of form.

(1) gas ox army echo datum book lady knife mother-in-law attorney

(2) gases oxen armies echoes data books ladies knives mothers-in-law attorneys

9. Pronouns.

A. What is the difference between the sentences in the left-hand column and those in the right? Which do you prefer, and why?

I

1. If the squirrel miss his footing and fall, he is sure to catch on the next branch; if the connection be .broken, he leaps recklessly for the nearest spray or limb, and secures his hold, even if it be by the aid of his teeth.