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upon the classification adopted by the Greeks for kinds of poetry; that their categories of epic, dramatic, lyric, and so forth, have a natural propriety, and should be adhered to. It may sometimes seem doubtful to which of two categories a poem belongs; whether this or that poem is to be called, for instance, narrative or lyric, lyric or elegiac. But there is to be found in every good poem a strain, a predominant note, which determines the poem as belonging to one of these kinds rather than the other; and here is the best proof of the value of the classification, and of the advantage of adhering to it. Wordsworth's poems will never produce their due effect until they are freed from their present artificial arrangement, and grouped more naturally.

As to the length to which a paragraph may be permitted to run, no strict rule can be laid down. In general it is wise to avoid very long paragraphs. Whenever a paragraph extends over several pages, it will usually be found either lacking somewhat in unity, or developed beyond the limits marked by the importance of its topic with regard to the subject of the composition. In any case, if it is too long to be at once mentally reviewed and grasped as a whole, it is too long to be effective. The modern theory of paragraphing really hinges upon the fact that a paragraph should be an organic part of the discourse small enough for the mind to take it in as a whole at one moment of time. On the other hand, frequent very short paragraphs should likewise be avoided, since they tend to give a scrappy "' effect to a discourse. Here, as in all things, the golden mean is the rule to follow.

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When all has been said about the structure of the

paragraph, considered as a unit by itself, the fact must not be overlooked that the paragraph is in reality but a part of a larger whole, and that therefore it must be so shaped that it will fit properly into its appointed place. Each paragraph of the composition must be properly linked with the adjoining paragraphs, so that the reader may be able to pass easily from one topic to another. In other words, the transitions between paragraphs must be made smooth and natural.

One way of securing good transitions-and perhaps the best way is to shape every paragraph so that the end of it will seem to suggest that which is to follow. When this is impossible or undesirable, transition from one paragraph to another may be made by means of some word or phrase of backward reference placed at or near the beginning of the second. paragraph.

Good illustrations of smooth and natural transitions may be seen, for example, in the following:

Sometimes, in addressing men who sincerely desire the betterment of our public affairs, but who have not taken active part in directing them, I feel tempted to tell them that there are two gospels which should be preached to every reformer. The first is the gospel of morality; the second is the gospel of efficiency.

To decent, upright citizens it is hardly necessary to preach the doctrine of morality as applied to the affairs of public life. . . . The first requisite in the citizen who wishes to share the work of our public life . . . is that he shall act disinterestedly and with a sincere purpose to serve the whole commonwealth.

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But disinterestedness and honesty and unselfish desire to do what is right are not enough in themselves. must not only be disinterested, but he must be efficient. He must stand firmly for what he believes, and yet he must realize that political action, to be effective, must be the joint action of many men, and that he must sacrifice somewhat of his own opinions to those of his associates if he ever hopes to see his desires take practical shape.

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The prime thing that every man who takes an interest in politics should remember is that he must act, and not merely criticise the actions of others. . . . We need fearless criticism of our public men and public parties; . . . but it behooves every man to remember . . . that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does the things, and not by the man who talks about how they ought or ought not to be done.

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Therefore the man who wishes to do good in his community must go into active political life. . . . He may find that he can do best by acting within a party organization; he may find that he can do best by acting . . . in an independent body of some kind; but with some association he must act if he wishes to exert any real influence.1

5. THE STRUCTURE OF THE SENTENCE

The sentence, like the paragraph, is but a part of a larger whole, and the writer in fashioning it must always keep this fact in mind. Every sentence has a certain function to perform in the paragraph, and its structure must be such as will enable it to perform that function properly.

1 From Theodore Roosevelt's The Manly Virtues and Practical Politics.

Considered as a unit by itself, the sentence, like any other unit of expressed thought, must have, of course, definiteness of form and coherence. It must have, that is to say, at least one independent verb, and it must have its component parts so arranged that the relation of each to other is apparent at a glance, and it must, further, be contained within rather narrow limits as regards space. The sentence that has no verb that can stand alone is not, properly speaking, a sentence at all. On the other hand, an indefinitely prolonged series of more or less loosely articulated clauses, is just as objectionable; a sentence that goes everywhere and takes in everything usually fails to accomplish anything.

The first rule of the sentence that it must be the expression of one complete thought, and only one is easily enough observed, of course, in the simple sentence, which has only one subject and one predicate; and even in the complex sentence, where there is only one main assertion, formal unity at least may always be secured, though logical unity will be lacking if to the main assertion are joined subordinate assertions not really related to it. In the compound sentence, however, the question of unity often arises. Are the assertions which one wishes to join together in a single sentence intimately enough related to form parts of a larger whole, or do they lack that intimate relationship? This is a question which nearly every writer has to ask himself occasionally, and for the beginner it is sometimes a troublesome one. Very often it is a mere matter of punctuation. Should one use a comma or semicolon, or a period between

such and such clauses? It is impossible to lay down any rule that will cover all cases; but in general it may be said that the law of unity for the compound sentence demands not only that there be a close connection between the parts, but that the meaning expressed by the whole be different from that which would have been expressed by the parts, if each were taken separately. Such a sentence as the following, for example, violates every principle of unity:

Some parts of the lake are very deep, as is the case with most of the Wisconsin lakes, and deep down in these holes amongst the reeds the muskallonge makes his home, and I know no better sport than to get out early in the morning with a deep troll baited with salt pork and wait for the big fellows to strike.

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It is impossible to unify such utterly disconnected assertions as some parts of a certain lake in Wisconsin are very deep," and "trolling for muskallonge in the early morning is excellent sport." But whether a given series of assertions which are intimately connected should be grouped together in one sentence or kept apart in separate sentences, will depend upon the precise shade of meaning which the writer wishes to convey, or upon the structure of the paragraph of which they are to form a part.

The point may be illustrated by the following passages from Macaulay:

(a) Pitt, who did not love Legge, saw this event with indifference. But the danger was now fast approaching himself. Charles the Third of Spain had early conceived

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