1. Introduction. 2. Specific examples to prove my theory. 3. Business men too often look askance on college graduates, judging them unfit. 4. Harm done students by large allowances. 5. Conclusion. The following outlines are in Narration and Description. In this course the student is required not only to make an outline, as heretofore, but also to mention the especial form of narrative or description he undertakes, and his purpose, whether to please or to instruct. Hence the use of such terms as Purpose, Method, Plot, Setting, Characters. In the story proper, Plot is equivalent to Theme. Some of the papers, it will be observed, are more or less imaginative; others deal with actualities only. I. NEW YORK LIFE AS SEEN IN CITY HALL PARK. Theme. The business life of New York is well displayed in and about City Hall Park. Purpose. To present an interesting scene. I. Every one is in haste. 2. The typical business man may be discerned by his dress and bearing. 3. Different types of employees hurry past. 4. The newsboys and bootblacks add to the liveliness. 2. HIRAM JACOB, ANNIHILATOR OF THE UNDESIRABLE. Purpose. To write a story that will appeal to the imagination. Plot.—A man, in attempting to annihilate others, annihilates himself. 1. Seeing Hiram Jacob's advertisement, I write for information. 2. I make a test of Hiram Jacob's wonderful power. 3. I attempt to solve the mystery by finding out Hiram Jacob's whereabouts. 4. I am to be destroyed by Hiram Jacob, but am saved by a strange happening. 3. A CARRIAGE RIDE IN THE BERKSHIRES. Purpose. To give my impression of the beauty and picturesqueness of the scenery. Method.-Narrative; changing point of view.1 Theme. The drive through the country showed us some picturesque and beautiful scenery. 1. Setting and characters were congenial.' 2. The drive to the Connecticut River was full of interesting sights; particularly the drive through Deerfield. 3. The river crossing was novel and interesting and gave us a fine bit of scenery. 4. The drive home through the growing dusk was also filled with the pleasant beauty of Nature. 4. SUGAR MAKING.3 Purpose.-To entertain. Theme. To the boy it was a time of delight. 2. He loves to help gather [collect?] the sap. 3. He does not mind getting his eyes filled with smoke while watching it [the sap? 20] boil. 4. He is supremely happy, if he can [may ?] stay with the men at night. 5. He is always at hand when it is time to syrup-down. 6. Perhaps most of all he enjoys sugaring-off. 5. [THE SOPHOMORES OUTWITTED.]* Purpose.-Amusement. Plot.-The Sophomore girls try to frustrate the Freshman girls' plans for a banquet, and fail. Characters.—Freshman girl, brother, brother's friend, Sophomore girl. 1. Freshman girl, writing to her brother, tells him the date set for the Freshman banquet. 2. The brother tells his friend. 3. The friend casually mentions it in a letter to a Sophomore girl. 4. The Sophomores make great preparations to defeat the Freshmen. 1 This language is technical; it designates that form of description in which the writer describes by means of narrating. 2 Probably the writer meant simply: My companions were congenial. 3 Maple Sugar Making? There is more than one kind of sugar. As originally submitted, the outline was without a title. The omission is instructive; demonstrates that the title is not at all involved in the work of composing, but is only an afterthought (see ? 64). The wording of one or two clauses has been altered for the sake of conciseness. 5. The latter, learning of the plans,1 hold the banquet on the night before that [originally] determined on. The process of collecting and grouping items and formulating an outline is necessarily slow. Certainly the first attempt will demand much time and effort. With every fresh composition, however, the task will become lighter, untilafter the fourth or fifth composition-the student perceives that he is acquiring a certain skill in formulating. Slow or rapid, the process is the only sure means of curing the chronic fault of school and college composition, namely, the lack of unity, order, and proportion. The writer makes a false start, rambles, ends with a limp. He introduces irrelevant matter and omits what is needful, he is diffuse where he ought to be concise and vice versa, and what he says is shapeless and incoherent. The writer has written without a plan; the cure consists in requiring him to make a plan. One feature in especial of good writing can be brought out with the aid of a good working plan; namely, Proportion. The writer, let us assume, is about to describe the lakes and rivers, the woods and mountains of the Adirondacks, in a composition of 600 words. Shall he treat all four parts of his subject alike, giving to each 150 words? Or may he, by grouping together the lakes and rivers, reduce the parts to three, giving to each 200 words? Or, again, may he introduce a third variation, by giving 150 words to the mountains and 250 to the woods? Such questions can be answered only by the writer himself; his answer will turn upon the range of his knowledge and the bent of his tastes. He is first to prepare his outline and then answer arithmetically the following general question : Given so many hundred words for a whole composition in four, six, eight, nine paragraphs, how many words shall I apportion to each individual paragraph, according to my estimate of its relative importance? 1 Is not this discovery important enough for a separate paragraph? 3. WRITING THE COMPOSITION. 60. First Draught.-Having prepared his outline, the student is now to fill out the first draught. The following directions will be of service: 1. Use ruled paper, the lines pretty wide apart. Also leave an ample margin, perhaps of two inches or two and a half. You will need plenty of space for corrections and insertions. 2. Before beginning a paragraph go over the items which are to make up its body. Keep these points in mind: a. Compose the paragraph as rapidly as possible. b. Do not linger over words and phrases. c. Do not linger over your sentence-structure. d. Be satisfied with putting your thoughts into tolerably coherent shape. Consider that your present aim is to put the paragraph together as a whole, rather than to perfect each clause and sentence. After you have planned deliberately, you ought to write rapidly, with impetus. 61. Revision. This is just the opposite of draughting; it should be slow and deliberate. Hence the following direc tions: 1. Revise as slowly as possible. If you can spare the time, lay the composition aside for a day or two, to let it get cold, as it were. 2. Scrutinize every word and phrase; turn over every clause and sentence. 3. Be satisfied with nothing short of the conviction that every word is the proper word and stands in the proper place. Consider that revision is a critical act, calling for the utmost coolness and circumspection. The writer is to revise his work in a judicial spirit, approving and rejecting his own expressions as impartially as if they were the expressions of another person. In revising a paragraph, learn to employ Echo and Repeated Structure, also Connectives and the Topic Sentence. These devices, which may appear awkward and even mechanical at first, will become easier with each attempt. In particular, Echo and Repeated Structure will, through constant practice, become almost spontaneous. One soon learns that fitting sentences into one another leads inevitably to improving each individual sentence. Even the Topic Sentence will be mastered, if the writer tries persistently to make each paragraph turn upon some one sentence. In revising sentences, make sure of Unity and absolute Clearness; scrutinize closely every and-construction. In the matter of Force, pay especial heed to the beginning and the end of the sentence. Above all, learn to condense, to weed out whatever is superfluous. The knack of weeding is not readily learned; it comes of patience and a resolute purpose. The following specimens, taken from college papers, will illustrate the need of condensation : His appearance had that wholesome plainness about it which dispelled suspicion. Refusing all money consideration, they would only accept the rings. He was so worked up and excited that, etc. Her position was by no means of an enviable character. If you look from the tower you will see the whole city. The reason why Socrates was condemned to death was because of his unpopularity. When the first draught is thus thoroughly revised, it should, of course, be copied in the neatest and most legible shape. The paper ought to be ruled, the lines not too close together. There ought to be a margin of at least one and a half inches. |