off a series with the right forefinger on the left palm, or picturing some verb of motion with an instinctive two-hand gesture. It is because the first step in this emancipation of the mind from the body is to furnish other employment for one of the hands that a piece of chalk, or a pointer, is so potent in loosening the tongue. Teachers of elocution may succeed by mechanical drill in getting men to put in premeditated gestures at specified points in a memorized piece; but only the student himself can learn what is of infinitely more worth to him, this lifting of the self-imposed ban against movement. To some it comes suddenly like a revelation, to others gradually and imperfectly. No student can afford to neglect so important a means of augmenting his merely vocal means of expression.

Proportion in oral exposition. In these five-minute oral expositions unity and coherence should be insured by the previously prepared analytical outline. A proper emphasis, however, will hardly be maintained unless the time is carefully proportioned. It is difficult for any speaker to estimate time without a timepiece before him; and even then the constant calculation from the starting point is apt to distract attention to the minute hand of the watch or clock. A five-minute sandglass on the desk has the obvious advantage that a glance shows when one's time is half gone, or when the last minute gives the signal for the concluding sentences. However marked, the time must be carefully divided and completely utilized. No student should be allowed to speak much more or much less than the allotted period. Such training in the power to work within assigned limits is of the utmost importance in all practical speaking and writing.

After an oral exposition the questions to be answered by the class are as follows:

CHECK LIST FOR ORAL EXPOSITION

1. Did the speaker properly announce his subject?
2. Did he stick to it and complete it? (Unity.)
3. What were his principal points (three or four)?

4. Were the points properly arranged and connected? (Coherence.)

5. Was there a proper distribution of time? (Emphasis.) 6. Was there any lack of clearness? At what point? To what was it due?

7. Were there any errors of grammar?

8. Were the sentences well formed?

9. Were any words mispronounced?

10. Was the talk in general effective and interesting?

Those

Sentence structure. - Before the writing of the essay based upon the outlines already made, the subject of good sentence structure should be called to the attention of the class. same principles of unity, coherence, and emphasis which govern the composition and the paragraph govern also the sentence. The following rules in Woolley should be studied and made the basis of recitation: 24, 72-75, 97, 221, f, g, 230, 231, a, b; the definitions in Appendix B of the terms sentence, clause, conjunction, simple sentence, complex sentence, compound sentence; together with exercises xxxvi, lxxiv, and lxxvi in Appendix A.

The one thing aimed at in this assignment is to make clear once and for all what the class should already know as to the unity of the sentence. Commonest of all sentence faults in freshman writing are (1) the writing of phrases (lacking predicates) as sentences (Rule 24), and (2) the improper coördination in a compound sentence of ideas which should be subordinated in a complex sentence (Rule 97). The distinction, in the punctuation of a compound sentence, between a simple conjunction and a conjunctive adverb is also apparently unknown in high school English (Rules 221, f, and 231, 6). Neither of these faults is to be regarded as a matter of a formal and arbitrary punctuation. They arise from careless thinking, not from careless writing. Persistent correction in class of faulty sentences chosen from the themes seems to be the only way to arouse an instinctive sense for logically complete sentences.

Upon the return of the outlines to the class the next assign

ment is the writing of a 600-word theme based upon them. In this task the first point is, of course, to maintain that unity and coherence of ideas which it is the object of the outline to insure. Beyond this, however, the writer should center his attention upon sentence form. The time to do this is not in the first draft, which should be written rapidly, if possible at one sitting. Slow, laborious writing is never to be recommended, but laborious revision before copying is indispensable. This revision should cover an enlarging range of subjects as the term progresses. At present it should include at least the

following points:

CHECK LIST FOR REVISION OF ROUGH DRAFT

1. Do the paragraphs coincide with the real divisions of the subject?

2. Is any paragraph (except an introductory or transitional paragraph, Woolley, 190, 191) shorter than 150 words, or longer than 250? The number of words in each paragraph should at first be actually counted; later the writer will learn to estimate in accordance with his handwriting and the size of paper used. A paragraph that is too short must be developed, or combined with another if pertinent to it, or omitted. A paragraph that is too long inust be shortened by omissions, or divided.

3. Does every group of words punctuated as a sentence contain a finite verb ?

4. Does any compound sentence contain two or more clauses joined by simple coördinating conjunctions without punctuation (comma or semicolon)? See Woolley, 221, ƒ, 231, c.

5. Does any compound sentence contain two clauses joined by a conjunctive adverb, such as "so" or "then," without the indispensable semicolon (231, b)?

6. Does any compound sentence contain ideas so distinct that they should be stated in separate simple sentences?

7. Does any compound sentence contain ideas of which one is so clearly dependent upon the other that the sentence should be complex (Rule 97) ?

8. Are any two successive simple sentences so closely connected in thought that they should be combined in a complex or compound sentence?

Care in copying. After revision of the rough draft in accordance with these tests, and correction of all misspelled words, the theme is to be copied. Errors arising from haste in copying should be detected by a final reading. Missing commas should now be supplied, omitted words interlined above a caret, inadvertently repeated words canceled or altered. In its final form the essay is supposed to be the very best the writer can do, and no excuses based on carelessness or haste are valid. Not what one meant to write, but what one actually turns in, is the test in a newspaper office, in business, in every department of practical life. A college man should get above the pleading of gool intentions as a defense for errors. He should be willing to accept responsibility for a piece of written work precisely as it stands, since, unlike oral composition, it is capable of revision and correction. Typewriters are not to blame for bad punctuation or missing letters. Fountain pens should not be charged with deliberate or malicious falsification of the writer's intent in matters of commas and capitals. To get a thing exactly right before it is turned in as complete is the business of every man who hopes to become efficient. Even then, there is plenty left to learn.

Those students

Oral exposition after writing in full. who are called on to speak in class after the finished exposition has been written should not attempt to reproduce the precise phraseology of the theme, except in the carefully framed keysentences of the several paragraphs. They will find that the experience of writing has so quickened the mind that extempore speaking is easier than speaking from a mere outline. Many experienced public speakers write in full upon the subjects which they are to treat, but do not attempt to memorize or to read. The writing has so stimulated the mental associations connected with the subject that words and sentences come with little effort. Such speakers, if they have any outline before them, sometimes prefer not a detailed analytical outline but a. paragraph outline made up of key-sentences. Such an outline

on the subject of "Precautions against Residence Fires" would be somewhat like this:

A KEY-SENTENCE OUTLINE

1. Precautions against fire must embrace the origin of fires, the conditions of their rapid spread, the means of extinguishing them at the start, and the means of escape for tenants.

2. Most residence fires start from careless use of matches, gasoline and kerosene, open-flame gas burners, overheated furnaces, and defective electric wiring.

3. The rapid spread of small fires is chiefly due to the ignition of inflammable hangings or rubbish, or to the unwise opening of doors and windows which creates a draft.

4. Chemical fire extinguishers are the best means of checking small fires at the start, together with smothering by means of wet blankets or rugs, tearing down blazing hangings, and cutting off draft.

5. Escape of tenants should be made possible by suitable stairways, fire escapes above the second floor of frame buildings, and a knowledge of the proper way to pass through smoke.

Other speakers, if intending to use notes, would prefer to put the same material into a form more readily adapted to catch the eye, such as this:

2. Origin of residence fires

Matches

Gasoline and kerosene
Open-flame gas burners
Overheated furnaces
Defective wiring
(and so on).

From such an outline, written on a single sheet of paper or on five library cards, a speaker can talk for five or for thirty minutes with equal ease, proportioning his development of subtopics to his time. The same speaker would have much more preparation consisted of the four phrases:

difficulty if his only

Origin of fires.

Spread.

Extinguishing small fires.

Escape of tenants.