COMPOSITION AND RHETORIC By MAUDE L. RADFORD Assistant in English, in the University of Chicago HINDS, NOBLE & ELDREDGE Note I wish to offer hearty thanks to the following persons for helpful criticisms and suggestions: Miss Harriet Crandall, Head of the English Department of the James Millikin University, Decatur, Ill.; Miss Fanny Smith, Instructor in English, the South Division High School, Chicago, Ill.; and Mr. B. A. Heydrick, Head of the English Department in the State Normal School, Millersville, Pa. PREFACE: TO TEACHERS Aim of Book. THE body of essential working principles in Rhetoric is small. It is the aim of this book to present to the student a minimum of rhetorical theory, and a maximum of practical illustrations and exercises. These are chosen from classics with which he is familiar, and from other good books in which, it is hoped, his interest may be aroused. The advantage of presenting the theory briefly is that the student can grasp a few principles accompanied with much illustration, better than he can understand these principles when they are put before him in expanded form with detailed discussion. When the student realizes these few principles, he feels that he has at last found a sure guide in the task of writing, which ordinarily appears to him both vague and difficult. Moreover, such a brief presentation allows the teacher's individuality fuller play. The most important function of this book, then, is to present clearly and forcibly the fundamental principles which underlie good writing, and to drive home that theory through plentiful illustrations, and through questions and comments upon these illustrations. From practical experience the writer has come to be |