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times. Nothing could be easier, and scarcely anything more tiresome; but time brings an end to all things, even bores.

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Conversation in novels. - Students of the art of conversation are advised to read the novels of Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy. There, rather than in Scott, or Dickens, or Thackeray, or George Eliot, they will find real talk, the talk of simple and of gentle folk, of peasants and students, of people who are ridiculous in the way that real folks are ridiculous, and clever in the way that modern men and women can be clever. The conversation in Hawthorne's romances is a model of simple and natural English, though of an older generation. Among contemporary writers, of course, there are many disciples of Mr. Howells who have faithfully recorded the actual conversation of middle class Americans, with all its banality and benevolent dullness.

Yet it is doubtful if any one ever yet learned to talk by reading novels, or to swim by correspondence. The only way is to take a long breath and jump in- not too far beyond one's depth.

ASSIGNMENTS

As a study in the choice of topics for conversation, and in the forms of good colloquial English, write an imaginary conversation of 1000 words. Such material as the following may suggest topics. Remember that each question and each answer is separately paragraphed and quoted.

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1. A young college man (A) is introduced at a fraternity banquet to an alumnus of the same fraternity from another college (B), a man apparently forty years of age. The chain of conversation is as follows: The initiates the list of speakers - B's college - his class his professional school - his profession - the law magazine article on "the law's delay" contrast with efficiency of other professions — the burden of judicial precedents—excess of statutory legislation — the referendum — recall of judicial decisions - politics.

2. A freshman (A) introduces himself at a general college reception to an elderly alumnus (B). The introduction takes the form of picking up the old gentleman's glasses. Topics: Large crowd

to-night-large freshman class - more than in B's day, when the whole college was hardly as large as that-class of '62- civil war took many college men-Gettysburg - reunion of July, 1913modern wars-peace movement - arbitration - Panama Canal.

3. A freshman (A) is introduced at a football or baseball game to a friend (B) of his father. The friend is a wholesale grocer who never went to college. It is fifteen minutes before the game. The conversation begins about the two teams soon to play, and then turns upon the elder man's inquiries about the college and the freshman's responses.

4. It falls to the lot of A to meet at the station a high school principal (B) from another town who has come to be one of the judges at a college debate. A is to take B to a house seventeen blocks away, and the conversation, begun on the railway platform, and continued on the street corner, must be varied enough to last for those seventeen blocks.

5. A student is unlucky enough to be a guest at a musicale. The reason he is unlucky is that he is not musical, and neither are the performers. During a long intermission the student (A) becomes aware of a kindred spirit (B) on his right hand. A is uncertain whether B is unhappy because there is too much music or not enough, and in low tones he proceeds to find out. Of course these persons are not to say anything really unkind, but they may, in strict confidence, relieve their feelings on the subject of music and its counterfeits.

6. In the dining-room at a reception a bashful girl named A is seated next to a distinguished lecturer on modern drama (B). Nobody knows how it happened, for there are at least three fluent ladies present who would have welcomed the opportunity. But A is bound to do her duty, since it is her mother who is giving the reception. She has heard the lecture on Ibsen, but does not care for problem plays herself. Since B has addressed a few genial remarks to his partner on the subject of salad, and has admitted that coffee keeps him awake at night, it is now A's lead.

7. A freshman named A is hailed on the street by the family physician, B, who is passing in his touring car. B offers the young man a lift on his way to college. Yes, everybody is well at home. No, it is not a new car. There is no doubt that the weather is partly cloudy. What else do they talk about?

CHAPTER XII

ARGUMENTATION

What can we reason, but from what we know? - POPE.

ARGUMENTATION is exposition under fire. It is explaining something about which people disagree; seeking to overcome opposition or indifference by an appeal to reason. Exposition answers the questions, What do you know? What do you think? Argumentation answers the questions, How do you know it? Why do you think so?

In Chapters I-VIII the materials and methods of ordinary exposition have been studied. Common uses of English in daily life were next taken up, such as speeches for special occasions, letter-writing, and conversation. In all the kinds of writing and speaking so far considered the explanation of a subject has been the principal aim. The hearers or readers for whom this explanation was designed were sometimes thought of as indifferent and hard to rouse, but never as hostile. When, as in some of the business letters and some of the speeches for special occasions, disagreement was assumed, the presumption was that the disagreement rested upon a misapprehension as to matters of fact. It could be removed, we were confident, by supplying further information.

But one of the commonest uses of English is to meet and overcome definite opposition. Every day we try to convince or to persuade people: to convince them that our view is correct; to persuade them to do that which they are disinclined to do. Argumentation in its simplest forms is practised in the daily conversation of almost everybody. The moment our assertions are challenged and we begin to support them,

either by facts or by reasoning about facts, we have begun to argue. We may aim simply to defend ourselves against misrepresentation or ridicule; we may desire to bend the will of others to serve our pleasure or convenience; or we may wish to maintain the superiority of one opinion over another for the mere pleasure of intellectual contest. When, instead of arguing with individuals on questions of individual opinion or action, we try to convince a group of persons, such as a society, a club, or a class, we are more likely to rely upon general rather than personal considerations. We depend less on mere assertion, take less for granted, and try, as the phrase goes, to make out a case. Whatever the kind of argumentation, the incentive is always the same

the desire to win.

Questions of fact and questions of opinion. — There are two kinds of arguments of very different nature, yet often confused: those which seek to prove a fact, and those which seek to defend an opinion. The one kind of question asks, Is this statement true? The other kind asks, Is this opinion sound, this estimate just, this decision right, this policy wise? The one is the question of truth, the other of opinion or expediency. The one has reference always to the past or the present, the other frequently to the future. Examples of these two sorts of questions may be compared to show the difference.

QUESTIONS OF FACT

Was the Maine blown up by Spaniards?

Is the average rate of women's wages below the necessary cost of living?

Does cigarette smoking among boys tend to impair health?

Does deforestation cause floods?

Do any Southern states deny the right of suffrage to negroes?

QUESTIONS OF OPINION

Was the United States justified in declaring war against Spain ?

Is a minimum wage law for women desirable ?

Should the sale of cigarettes to minors be prohibited ?

Should the remaining forests be purchased and administered by the government?

Was the adoption of the fifteenth amendment unwise?

QUESTIONS OF FACT

Was a certain criminal guilty of murder?

Did a certain student cheat in examination ?

QUESTIONS OF OPINION

Did the governor do right in pardoning him?

Should the honor committee inflict the extreme penalty for a first offense?

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In many cases the two kinds of questions appear together, questions of opinion depending in part on questions of fact. There is, however, a tendency to confuse the two, illustrated by a very prevalent misuse of the word fact as the equivalent of opinion or belief. A fact is something done, an event, a truth, something which can be tested, proved, demonstrated to the satisfaction of all intelligent and impartial persons. is true that the demonstration of a fact in chemistry may not be evident to persons unfamiliar with chemistry; but if it be a fact, the chemists will agree about it. Evidence in regard to a historical event such as the sinking of the Titanic may be more or less conflicting on minor points, but the fact that the ship was sunk by an iceberg is doubted by no one. On the other hand, we may not speak of the alleged fact that chemistry should be a required study in college, or that the officers of the Titanic were negligent. Those are matters of opinion. Facts are proved by evidence; opinions are supported both by evidence and by reasoning.

College argumentation tends too much to slight questions of fact. Debaters like to choose questions that deal with the future, for it is easier to predict than to prove. When reasoning is based on facts, the facts are commonly taken on the authority of a magazine or newspaper writer or a partisan advocate. The idea of tracing statements to their original sources and estimating the credibility of those sources is not popular. It means hard work, whereas one may easily build an apparently convincing argument out of assumptions and inferences and bold guesses. The difficulty of getting adequate proof of facts is indeed often too great for undergraduates to surmount.

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