Here the long succession of clauses, added one after another, is well adapted to express the swift succession of events. In this sentence, then, the loose structure is preferable to the periodic.

TO THE TEACHER. In discussing this subject it will be necessary to put the pupil on his guard against the erroneous notion that a loose sentence is a bad sentence, or indicative of looseness of thought. The term is an unfortunate one, but is fixed in the technical vocabulary of rhetoric. The pupil should notice how prevalent loose sentences are in the very best authors, and may learn by experiment that strictly periodic sentences are correspondingly rare. Modern English style tends distinctly toward moderate "looseness" and away from elaborate periodicity.

SECTION 220.

PUNCTUATION.

Punctuation is a device for indicating to the eye the pauses and the modulations of the voice which do so much to make spoken language intelligible and expressive. It is an imperfect device, to be sure, for no system of "points can represent the infinite variety of these phenomena; but, such as it is, it assists the reader considerably and must therefore be carefully attended to. See if you can make sense out of the following passage:

Thought and speech are inseparable from each other matter and expression are parts of one style is a thinking out into language this is what I have been laying down and this is literature not things not the verbal symbols of things not on the other hand mere words but thoughts expressed in language.

1 For the rules of punctuation, see Appendix.

Now read the same passage, properly punctuated, as it came from the hand of the author (Newman), and you will appreciate the usefulness of punctuation.

Thought and speech are inseparable from each other. Matter and expression are parts of one: style is a thinking out into language. This is what I have been laying down, and this is literature; not things, not the verbal symbols of things; not on the other hand mere words; but thoughts expressed in language.

Punctuation, you observe, indicates the natural grouping of the words into phrases, clauses, and sentences, and this grouping is an essential part of the expression of thought.

The most important mark of punctuation is the period, since we need particularly to know where a sentence ends. Yet, as the passage from Newman shows, the colon and the semicolon are of great utility in marking the natural divisions of the thought within the limits of a single sentence. The semicolon, indeed, is often quite as effective as a conjunction.

In the following sentence from Stevenson the first two semicolons make conjunctions between the clauses unnecessary:

I had all my first pains; my throat was so sore I could scarce swallow; I had a fit of strong shuddering, which clucked my teeth together; and there came on me that dreadful sense of illness for which we have no name either in Scotch or English.

You should form the habit of punctuating your sentences as you write, in order to make them more easily intelligible. If you try to imagine how each sentence would sound if you were speaking, you will do this almost unconsciously.

SECTION 221.

EXERCISES IN SENTENCES.

1. Study the sentences in "The Country in Winter" (p. 161). a. Observe the variety in sentence structure.

b. See if you can find any short emphatic sentences.

c. Try to express the thought of the third paragraph in simple sentences only. Note the effect.

2. Select two complex sentences from "The Battle of Bannockburn" (p. 11). Vary the emphasis by rearranging the modifiers in different ways. In each case state the effect of the change. 3. Review pp. 48-56. Study the sentences in these exercises, with a view not merely to the form and the grammatical construction but to the change in the shade of thought or of emphasis expressed by each change of structure.

TO THE TEACHER. - This exercise is not intended merely as a review. The pupil should now be ready to scrutinize the sentences in question in a maturer and more philosophical way and to see more clearly the connection of their form with the relations of thought which they express. Additional exercises may be based on "The Siege of Arcot" (pp. 350-4). The amount of time devoted to work of this kind will depend on the condition of the class. Constant practice will habituate them to the use of different forms of the sentence. The correction of each other's essays will assist them to perceive and appreciate the adaptation of form to thought. The purpose of this training should be made clear to the pupils. They should understand that these exercises are not mere classroom drill, but that they have a practical bearing on the art of composition.

4. Bring to the class twelve examples of different kinds of subordinate clauses.

Show how the statements in the subordinate clauses are related to those in the main clauses; and explain the force of the subordinating connective in each sentence.

5. Rewrite the sentences, indicating the relations between the clauses without the use of subordinating connectives. Compare them with the original sentences.

6. Make as complete a list as you can of the different ways in which a clause may be subordinated.

7. Pick out a dozen complex sentences in which the subordinate clauses are introduced in different ways and stand in different parts of the sentence.

8. Write a series of statements on (1) swimming, (2) Washington, (3) your school.

Combine each series into a set of (1) compound sentences of various forms; and (2) complex sentences of various forms. Study the difference in effect.

9. Review the compositions in your notebook, criticising particularly the complex and the compound sentences, in accordance with the principles stated in Sections 209-13.

10. Rewrite the sentences on your school into a series consisting chiefly of complex sentences, in which the principal clauses shall contain the statements which concern the school. Write a second series in which the principal clauses shall chiefly contain the statements that concern the pupils.

Compare the effect of the two sets of sentences.

11. Study the sentences in the following paragraph. Observe the variety in structure. Do you find examples of loose sentences? periodic?

The little army was formed into three divisions, of which the centre, or "battle," as it was called, was led by the general. The suburbs were thronged with a countless multitude of the natives, who had flocked from the city and surrounding country to witness the showy, and, to them, startling pageant. All looked with eager curiosity on the strangers, the fame of whose terrible exploits had spread to the remotest parts of the empire. They gazed with astonishment on their dazzling arms and fair complexions, which seemed to proclaim them the true Children of the Sun; and they listened with feelings of mysterious dread, as the trumpet sent forth its prolonged notes through the streets of the capital, and the solid ground shook under the heavy tramp of the cavalry. - PRESCOTT.

SECTION 222.

CHOICE OF WORDS.

When all is said and done, it is the choice and use of words that determines whether or not we succeed in expressing our thoughts and feelings clearly and adequately. Good paragraphing makes our writing easy to follow, and variety of sentences is indispensable when we get beyond the very simplest ideas; but, unless we choose our words skilfully and use them accurately, we cannot explain any subject, no matter how well we understand it, nor can we convey to our readers our impressions about what interests us, however vivid they may be in our own minds. For composition, in the last analysis, is a matter of words.

The larger our vocabulary is, the more likely we are to succeed in expressing ourselves adequately. We have seen that the stream of thoughts and sensations that is always passing through our minds is extremely complex and that it shifts and changes incessantly (p. 276). If you watch this "stream of consciousness," and notice how rapidly one idea slips over into another, or combines with it to form a third which is different from either, you will wonder that even the largest dictionary can hold words enough to express such an unending variety of conceptions.

In itself, however, a word is merely a conventional group of sounds, and in writing it is symbolized by a conventional group of peculiarly shaped marks. There is no essential connection, in the nature of things, between the word and the object which it signifies;