DESIGNED FOR USE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS BY FRED NEWTON SCOTT JUNIOR PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AND JOSEPH VILLIERS DENNEY PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN OHIO Boston ALLYN AND BACON 1897 PREFACE. IN the preparation of this work the authors have been guided by three considerations, which have seemed to them. to be of fundamental importance. First, it is desirable that a closer union than has prevailed hitherto be brought about between secondary composition and secondary rhetoric. That rhetoric in the high school should be regarded as a thing apart from composition, that it should be regarded simply as a "course," to be pursued and passed and put out of remembrance as quickly as possible, is not good either for rhetoric or for composition. In this book, as the name signifies, no such apartness has been recognized. The rhetoric which is found in this book is meant to be the theory of the pupil's practice, nothing more, the explicit statement of principles which are implicit in all successful elementary composition. If here and there the temptation to put in rhetorical furniture which no gentleman's mind should be without, has not been wholly thrust aside, such temptation has, at least, been manfully resisted. To this let the treatment of figurative expressions bear witness. Second, it is desirable in secondary composition that greater use be made of the paragraph than has hitherto been done in the majority of schools. The idea that the paragraph may be made the basis of a systematic method of instruction was advanced in Paragraph - Writing six years ago. Since that time the method has been tested in many schools under a variety of conditions, and has found its way into other text-books. The authors believe that in the main it has approved itself to every teacher who has tried it fairly, and acting upon this belief they have made it the central idea of the present work. They would call attention, however, to the fact that a considerable proportion of longer compositions - descriptive, narrative, and argumentative are provided for in the exercises, the necessary additional theory being furnished in the text accompanying. A third idea which underlies the work is the idea of growth. A composition is regarded not as a dead form, to be analyzed into its component parts, but as a living product of an active, creative mind. The paragraph is compared to a plant, springing up in the soil of the mind from a germinal idea, and in the course of its development assuming naturally a variety of forms.1 This kinetic conception of discourse, besides being psychologically more correct, has proved to be practically more helpful and inspiring in composition-classes than the static conception which it is intended to displace. Where it has been employed, pupils attempt various forms of self-expression with greater willingness and confidence, and their efforts are attended with greater success. In working out these ideas, care has been taken to pro 1 For a similar conception of judgment-forms, see the Preface to Bosanquet's Logic, Vol. I, p. vii. Mr. Bosanquet acknowledges indebtedness for the idea to Mr. Alfred Robinson, of New College, Oxford, vide illustrative material of a kind that should be thought. provoking, interesting and valuable in itself, but not too far above the standard of literary practice, material which the pupil can appreciate readily and can turn to account at once in his own written work. Many of the exercises are suggested directly by the selections used in the same lessons, and may be attacked by the pupil without further help than that given in the text. With some of the topics prescribed for class-room compositions, however, it will be found advantageous to hold a fifteen-minute conversationlesson, in order to start the ideas of the class and bring their total resources to light, before the writing begins. Care has also been taken in the way the text is stated, as well as in the way the exercises are presented, to suggest at every step that the study is pursued for the purpose of acquiring constructive rather than critical power, and the authors venture to advise that until chapter four is reached minute criticism of the pupil's written work be avoided; let the criticisms be made solely with reference to the matters treated in the current lesson, and to bad English that may be used by the pupil. The attention of teachers is called to the caret and bracket devices used in the later chapters of this book. These devices avoid the evil of putting bad English before pupils, and compel the exercise of the pupils' judgment. Attention is also called to the fact that by using the method of marking shown in Appendix B, pupils will be trained to correct their own errors. Persistence in this method, it is believed, will beget in the pupil a habit of attention to his writing, a habit of watchfulness, an ability |