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(16) Embarrassment.

(17) Driving a Pig.

(18) The Old Swimming Hole.

(19) Politeness and Politeness.

(20) A Small Boy's Pocket.

(21) Two Clerks.

Many proverbs that are suggestive as topic sentences may be found in the Standard Dictionary, pages 2351-2364, and in Hazlitt's "English Proverbs" (Charles Scribner's Sons).

(22) The bad workman finds fault with his tools.
(23) Beware of a silent dog and still water.
(24) Idle folks have the least leisure.
(25) Lazy people work the best

When the sun is in the west.

(26) We are apt to believe what we wish for.
(27) It's a long lane that knows no turning.
(28) Love me, love my dog.

(29) A cat may look at a king.

(30) It's the early bird that catches the worm.

CHAPTER VII

COHERENCE

Every thought has threads of connection with many other thoughts, and upon any one of these threads the mind may seize. If the word tomatoes were pronounced to a class of twenty, and each member of the class let his mind follow its own way among the possibly connected thoughts, at the end of one minute probably these twenty minds would have arrived at twenty entirely different stopping-places. Tomatoes and church are far apart, but the path between them may have been easy; from tomatoes to cans, goats, initiation into secret orders, Masonry and its founding by King Solomon, Solomon's temple, and church! There must, evidently, be some sort of connection between any successive thoughts; but connectedness as accidental as that in the series given is hardly worthy of the name. What a scatter-brain would be the person who habitually thought in this fashion!

By coherence, or connectedness, in composition is meant the clear expression of vital connections among well-unified thoughts or ideas. As this statement implies, unity of thought is closely related to coherence in several ways. Frequently the lack of unity is only apparent, and due to poorly expressed connections. For example, thinking how busy he was all Saturday morning, a boy might say, "I put away my football suit, sharpened my skates, oiled my heavy shoes, and read the morning paper." He has mentally supplied the binding element among these apparently separated thoughts,

but he has not stated it. His sentence would be better unified because more coherent if he should say, "Putting away my football suit, sharpening my skates, oiling my heavy shoes, and reading the morning paper kept me busy up to twelve o'clock." On the other hand, no care in expression could make a wellunified and coherent sentence out of the statements, "The woman is ill," "She is the mother of the butcher," Meat has advanced in price," because the relation of the last thought to the first two is an accidental, not a vital one. To coherent writing and speaking, then, two things are necessary: (1) vital connection in thought, and (2) clear expression of that connection.

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To this clear, coherent composition there are five principal aids: (1) logical arrangement, or order; (2) wise use of connectives and words of reference; (3) proper subordination of the less important ideas; (4) forms of sentences; and (5) avoidance of all blurring ellipses. In this chapter you will have practice that will help in securing a command of all these aids. Use them not only in any compositions required, but in all written work for which you have opportunity.

A. COHERENCE IN PARAGRAPHS AND SENTENCES

I. ORDER

a. Order of sentences. The order of details in a paragraph of description has already been considered (Chapter IV), though not with special reference to coherence. For good connectedness not only must details of a description and all ideas used in developing a topic be arranged in logical order, but the words in a sentence must lead naturally from one to another, and the beginnings and endings of sentences must link themselves together. In other words, not only the thought but the wording of the thought must be carefully ordered.

EXERCISE 204 - Written

ORDERING THE DETAILS IN A PARAGRAPH

Arrange in proper order the items in each group. Then embody them in a paragraph, joining the sentences into a connected whole.

1. A good fire all evening. Big back log. Plenty of kindling. Back log of green wood. Building a fire in this way requires skill.

Fire started from the top.
Fire eats down into wood.

2. Father yields at last. Slippers ready warmed; easy chair drawn up. Dislike for late parties. Mother on our side. Father comes home tired from work. Waiting all day for him. The question proposed.

3. Fascinating story. Paper a sample copy. End at most exciting point. Giles, the crafty news-agent. Subscription.

4. Planning to get Alice from home. Surprise party. Discovery of her birth date. Her innocent stubbornness. Aid from unexpected source. Alice's surprise and delight.

5. Discovery of "peeper" frogs. Catfish's disdain of liver. Determination to catch him. Seeing a big catfish. Stealing grasshopper bait. Weight and length. Caught by trailing frog on bottom. Excitement of landing him.

b. Order of modifiers. Place adjuncts close to the words that they modify. If you do this, the chances are that each sentence will be clear in meaning, even though it may be notable for nothing else. If you fail to do this, your writing will be not only confusing but also at times absurd. After only a moment's thought the sign "Lunches put up for travellers in boxes" is clear; but at first sight it is suggestive of uncomfortable quarters for the travellers. Errors of this kind in coherence are usually due to misplaced adverbs, participles, or clauses.

1. Adverb adjuncts—words and phrases. While seeking exactness of meaning through the position of the adjunct, try to avoid awkwardness of statement.

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