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a few steps would be enough to carry him beyond betrayal by the gleams from the shutter chinks and the latch hole. The rain and darkness had got thicker, and he was glad of it; though it was awkward walking with both hands filled, so that it was as much as he could do to grasp his whip along with one of the bags. But when he had gone a yard or two he might take his time. So he stepped forward into the darkness. GEORGE ELIOT, "Silas Marner"

EXERCISE 188 - Oral

STUDYING THE USE OF SIMPLE SENTENCES

Examine a page from each of several books. What is the proportion of simple sentences? When a simple sentence is used well, what is the particular effect it conveys? Read in class and comment on the best examples.

b. Compound sentences. The compound form of sentence yokes together two or more statements of equal value, equal not only grammatically but also in helping to produce some larger effect. "The game was interesting" and "The crowd yelled" are statements of equal grammatical rank, but they can hardly be combined into an effective compound sentence. "In the excitement boys yelled and girls shrieked" is a good compound sentence, however, for the two elements together give one impression of the actions of the crowd. In other words, a compound sentence, like all others, must have unity. The elements of a compound sentence may be yoked together in four ways:

I. When one proposition is merely added to another, usually by and, the relation is copulative.

2. When one proposition is contrasted with another, usually by but, the relation is adversative.

3. When a choice is given between two propositions, they being joined by or or nor, the relation is alternative.

4. When the second proposition shows the consequence of the former, being joined to it by such words as therefore and hence, the relation is illative. Note that illative conjunctions are always preceded by a semicolon or some heavier mark of punctuation.

When no connective is expressed, especially in series, and is usually understood.

EXERCISE 189 - Oral

VARYING CONNECTIVES OF COMPOUND SENTENCES

Decide whether the relation of the following pairs of statements should be copulative, adversative, alternative, or illative. Then join them so as to show this relation.

1. The old soldier was very poor. Having a pension, he was never in actual want.

2. The switchman was utterly incompetent. The freight train was derailed before it left the yards.

3. Germany has been building huge warships. England, to retain her supremacy on the sea, has been building more dreadnoughts.

4. The Democratic leader in the House of Representatives did not approve of Mr. Hobson's naval plan. He began to ridicule it.

5. Mr. Williams proposed that we build a ship twice as large as England's "Dreadnought." With droll humor he proposed that we call it" Scared o' Nothing."

6. Under the new plan the retired employee could receive a pension. He could retire to the home provided by the company.

7. After watching the flights of the aviators, Ben was satisfied to travel on trains. Sam had a wild desire to fly.

8. Shakespeare is good reading for the scholar. Give me Stevenson and Scott.

9. The boys cleaned the hall for the party. The girls decorated it with autumn leaves.

10. Being worn out by standing so long at the stores, I sank exhausted upon the couch. As the vision of my algebra problems rose before me, I got up and tried to work.

11. As he opened the door he saw on the steps a covered basket. He heard a faint wail from its depths.

12. Should he call the police, he wondered. Should he take the basket into the house?

13. In some cases, he felt, an hour of mistake was worth an age of truth. He was not sure of this case.

14. To make his part effective an actor must not rant in his stage business. He must make his speeches seem to the audience natural.

15. These things the actors last night did not do. We were all disappointed with the presentation of the play.

c. Complex sentences. Hardly ever does any one express a sentence so simple that it needs no modifier whatever. It has already been shown that a sentence simple in grammatical form may contain a number of modifiers. If any one of these modifiers, however, rises to the dignity of a clause, we call the sentence complex. Hence the difference between a simple sentence and a complex sentence is often merely a difference of the form of the modifier. A clause more than other modifiers emphasizes the detail which it expresses and shows exactly its relationship to the rest of the thought.

Inasmuch as the modifiers in a complex sentence are thus emphasized and definitely related, this form of sentence is more likely, perhaps, than either of the other two forms, to express exact thought and to be well unified. The effective use of many kinds of complex sentences manifests a good mind, well developed. In this chapter you have already seen the value of complex sentences to variety, and have had some practice in making them by using adjective and adverb clauses. In the next chapter you will have other exercises emphasizing the expression of exact relations of ideas in complex sentences.

In passing it may be noted that there is still another form of sentence, a compound sentence of which one or more propositions are complex. Being merely a combination of compound and complex sentences, however, this form presents no new difficulty.

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PRACTICING THE USE OF SIMPLE, COMPLEX, AND
COMPOUND SENTENCES

Select some old short theme and rewrite it, making each sentence simple. What is the effect? Rewrite it, using as many complex sentences as possible. What is the effect? How many good compound sentences can you make in the paragraph? Finally, after deciding which ideas are simple, which co-ordinate with some other, and which dependent, write the theme, using such a variety of sentence forms as will secure the best effect.

D. VARIETY IN PARAGRAPHS

So far in this book no formal explanation has been made of paragraphs. In all of your reading, however, you have taken them more or less as a matter of course, as they help you to see the steps the author takes in progress toward a larger effect. Perhaps without realizing the cause, many readers shrink from pages of print unbroken by paragraphs. Such reading makes demands for close attention and constructive thought; failing these, it will mean little. On the other hand, pages broken into paragraphs of one hundred fifty words, or thereabouts, give the attention occasional resting places and help the reader considerably in his effort to see the larger meaning of the author. You have used paragraphs, too, in

your own composition, making a new division wherever you felt a distinct change in the thought.

A paragraph, if we give it a formal definition, is a group of sentences developing in logical sequence one dominant idea. In other words, each paragraph presents one idea which, if it be a part of a longer composition, is a step in the development of the idea of the whole. Often the thought can be developed in one paragraph; and occasionally, particularly in dialogue, one sentence alone is set off as a paragraph.

The paragraph differs from the sentence, then, in that it is not the mere statement of an idea but the development of it. And this development, according to the definition, must have a logical sequence, that is, it must build up the central, governing idea by means of sentences arranged in such a reasonable way that the reader will get one impression from the whole.

EXERCISE 191- Oral

TESTING THEMES FOR UNITY OF PARAGRAPHS

Read several of your old themes and test the paragraphs. What, in a few words, does each one try to say?

If you find among your old themes well-unified paragraphs and sum up the content of each in a few words, you give what is usually called the topic, or topic sentence. This will express, then, in a brief form what the whole paragraph is meant to develop. The topic is not always formulated by the writer; but if the paragraph is well unified, its content may easily be condensed into one good sentence. If the topic be expressed, it is usually written at or near the beginning of the paragraph, though occasionally it is reserved until the end.

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