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CHAPTER XVIII

STUDIES IN CONTINUOUS THINKING

Long, involved, perfectly constructed complex sentences are common in literature, but not in conversation. The average reader is unfamiliar with their construction and inexperienced in their expression. They are finished products of literary artists and eloquent orators, and upon the thought and arrangement of many of them have been expended the very best efforts of the greatest minds. To attempt their expression without understanding and appreciation is to become entangled in their complexity.

Chapter XVIII, therefore, presents for our study and practice long involved sentences, and selections containing the same.

PEDAGOGICAL INTRODUCTION

The conversation of our pupils is made up of short sentences, and loose, disjointed, poorly connected ones. Long and involved sentences are therefore something new in the field of expression and should be so recognized and so dealt with.

Begin with the complete sentence; then take it apart. Trace first the main thought, and have it read. In No. 6, for instance, it is, We do publish and declare that -- that -- that -- that. Then link on one by one the completing parts, looking into each first by itself.

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Then go back and link on the subordinate parts: We who? We-who, and where? We-who, where, and in what manner? Do - how? Publish and declare - how?

Artistic expression of a complex sentence lies in keeping the main line of thought clear, and the relation of the subordinate parts clear, and in the presentation of each part according to its relative degree of importance.

Frequently it will be advisable to get the sentence before the pupils in some form in which they can all see the various parts and their relations one to another. As an aid in this work suggestive outlines for the thought-analyses of a number of sentences are included. They are not to be looked upon as grammatical diagrams, and in working them out there is no necessity that a single grammatical term be used.

At first the outlines may be reasoned out through the combined efforts of teacher and pupils: the teacher questioning; the pupils answering; and the teacher writing the result upon the blackboard. When an outline stands complete, the teacher can indicate with the pointer the portions that she desires read or the relations that she desires expressed, concluding with the reading of the entire sentence. A few moments may then be spent by the pupils in studying the printed sentence in connection with the work upon the blackboard. THEN THE WORK UPON THE BOARD SHOULD BE IGNORED and the reading be practiced from the

BOOK ALONE.

The outlining of one long sentence may be assigned as a part of the preparation of the lesson.

Reread the Pedagogical Introduction to Chap. V.

SELECTIONS AND SUGGESTIVE STUDIES

1. Ye, who sometimes, in your rambles
Through the green lanes of the country,
Where the tangled barberry-bushes
Hang their tufts of crimson berries
5 Over stone walls gray with mosses,
Pause by some neglected graveyard,
For a while to muse, and ponder
On a half-effaced inscription,

ΙΟ

Written with little skill of song-craft,
Homely phrases, but each letter
Full of hope and yet of heart-break,
Full of all the tender pathos

Of the Here and the Hereafter; -
Stay and read this rude inscription,

15 Read this song of Hiawatha !

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1. Trace the main thought. Understand the relation which each subordinate portion bears to the main thought.

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Ye, who.. pause to muse and ponder... stay and read this rude inscription

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Ye, who... pause- how often? When? Where? To muse and ponder how long? On what? What relation does homely phrases (line 10) bear to a half-effaced inscription? Meaning of homely?

Express in your own words the meaning of lines 10-13. Why do you think Mr. Longfellow preferred to use leading words beginning with the same letter in lines II and 13?

Rude inscription (line 14). - Compare lines 8-13.

1

2. 1 Despite these oddities, and even they had, for me at least, a humor of their own, — there was much in this mode of traveling which I heartily enjoyed at the time, and look back upon with great pleasure. 2 Even the running up, barenecked, at five o'clock in the morning, from the tainted cabin to the dirty deck; scooping up the icy water, plunging one's head into it, and drawing it out, all fresh and glowing with the cold, was a good thing. 3 good thing. The fast, brisk walk upon the towing-path, between that time and breakfast, when every vein and artery seemed to tingle with health; the exquisite beauty of the opening day when light came gleaming off from everything; the lazy motion of the boat, when one lay idly on deck, looking through, rather than at, the deep blue sky; the gliding on at night so noiselessly, past frowning hills, sullen with dark trees, and sometimes angry in one red burning spot high up, where unseen men lay crouching round a fire; the shining out of the bright stars, undisturbed by noise of wheels or steam or any other sound than the liquid rippling of the water as the boat went on, all these were pure delights.

Life on a Canal Boat. American Notes

CHARLES DICKENS.

Inscription, that which is written so as to form a lasting or public record; especially a text or record on a monument. How is "The Song of Hiawatha "

Song, poetical composition; poem.

an inscription?

2. Sentence 3 is of a very different construction from the one from "The Song of Hiawatha."

All these were pure delights.

66

- Trace the series of

unmodified delights": The walk, the beauty, the motion, etc. What mark of punctuation indicates the divisions of the series?

Consider each topic separately.

What kind of a walk?

What is the difference in the meaning of fast and brisk? A walk-when? Where? Under what condition?

Read part 1, remembering that the thought is incomplete, and that the hearer must wait for the final clause to know what is said about the walk.

Consider part 2.

What is the new topic?

Observe the value of the modifying ideas. Meaning of exquisite? Can you imagine the condition described in the modifying clause?

Read parts 1 and 2, remembering that while each is independently important, both are parts of a whole. Add to the reading, these were pure delights.

Consider part 3.

Contrast the spirit of part 3 with the spirit of part I: The fast, brisk walk.

The lazy motion of the boat.

Read parts 1, 2, and 3 and the main clause. Read so that a hearer will note the divisions, and the changes in topic, and yet at the same time know that the whole thought is incomplete until the final clause has been read.

Study part 4, and how to manage the long descriptive portion and yet keep the main divisions of the series plain and the main topics clear for a hearer. Study part 5 with the same aim.

Read the sentence complete.

All these. Consider what the expression includes. Practice reading the sentence both from the outline (see page 508) and from the text.

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