Practical English Composition: Book II - Edwin L. Miller (i read book .TXT) 📗
- Author: Edwin L. Miller
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The model in Section IV is a bit of exposition composed partly of description and partly of narration. Its framework is as follows:
Par. 1. The “Four W’s”: Who = hundreds of people; What = handiwork in snow; When = yesterday; Where = Brook Avenue near One Hundred and Forty-ninth Street. Par. 2. The Exterior of the House. Par. 3. The Interior. Par. 4. The Architects. VIII. Some Possible Subjects The Gas Engine that Jack built. A Profitable Garden. How a Boy earned his Education. A Cabinet. How to bind Books. Stocking and keeping an Aquarium. How to build a Flatboat. How to make Dolls from Corn-Husks. Metallic Band Work. A Sled made of Ice. Silk Culture. Chickens. A Good Notebook. A Sketch-Book. A Successful Composition. Skees. A Paper Boat. Toys made in the Manual Training Rooms. A Hat. A Dress. The best subject of all, however, is none of these, but one that the pupil finds himself. IX. Suggested ReadingElbert Hubbard’s A Message to Garcia.
X. MemorizeLet the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, act in the living Present!
Heart within and God o’erhead!
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
To Teachers. At this point a review of Chapter V, “Proof-Reading” and Chapter VI, “The Correction of Themes,” of Practical English Composition, Book I, will be found an invaluable exercise.
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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES
We can make our lives sublime.”
Longfellow.
I. AssignmentWrite a biographical note of about two hundred words concerning a citizen who has just come into public notice.
II. Obtaining the FactsIf the subject of the note is already distinguished, the facts can usually be collected from books and periodicals. Poole’s Index of Periodical Literature will point the way. Most newspapers keep an indexed mass of biographical material, which, of course, is at a reporter’s disposal. When these sources fail, the man himself must be interviewed, which is a task that requires tact, politeness, persistency, a good memory, and a clear idea of the character and quantity of the information needed.
III. ModelsJames McHenry was born in Ireland, 1753; came to Philadelphia, 1771; studied medicine under Dr. Benjamin Rush; served in the Revolutionary War as surgeon; became Washington’s secretary, 1778; sat in Congress, 1783–86; was a member of the Constitutional Convention; was Secretary of War under Washington and Adams, 1796–1801; and died in Baltimore, 1816. His most conspicuous public service was rendered in inducing Maryland to ratify the Constitution. Fort McHenry, the bombardment of which in 1814 inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star-Spangled Banner, was named in McHenry’s honor.
Alexander Hamilton is one of those great Americans of whose services to the nation no American can afford to be ignorant. As a soldier in the Revolution, no man possessed more of Washington’s confidence. To him as much as to any one man was due the movement that resulted in the formation of the Constitution; he took a leading part in the debates of the Convention; and the ratification of the Constitution was brought about largely by the Federalist, a paper in which he so ably interpreted the provisions of that instrument that it has ever since been regarded as one of the world’s political classics. As Secretary of the Treasury under Washington he performed wonders; Daniel Webster said of his work in this office: “He rent the rock of the national resources, and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. He touched the dead corpse of Public Credit, and it sprung upon its feet.” He was born in Nevis, one of the West Indies, in 1757, and was mortally wounded by Aaron Burr in a duel, 1804, at Weehawken, New Jersey.
IV. Organization of MaterialModels I and II illustrate two types of biographical notes. That about James McHenry consists of three sentences, which give: (1) A chronological survey of his life; (2) a statement of his chief public service; (3) the fact by which he is most likely to be remembered by the casual reader. It is a good brief form to use in writing about most men and women. Model II is better if the subject is remarkable for many achievements. Its structure is as follows: (1) A keynote sentence; (2), (3), (4) three illustrations of the fact stated in (1); (5) dates. The same principles apply to notices of living people. In writing use one model or the other; do not deviate from them, unless you first find a better model, and can persuade your teacher that it is better.
V. Exercises Reduce some biography which you have read and enjoyed to a biographical note of two hundred words. Write a biographical note of two hundred words about a living person of national reputation. Write a biographical note of two hundred words about a living person of state or city reputation. Write a biographical note about the school janitor, the school engineer, a member of your own family, your hired man, your maid, or any other interesting person from whom you can extract the desired information. VI. Suggested ReadingCarl Schurz’s Life of Abraham Lincoln.
VII. MemorizeAnd all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad
Made to his mistress’s eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard;
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II, Scene 7.
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REPORTING ACCIDENTS
“The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”
I. AssignmentReport an accident which you have seen. The object of this exercise and those which are to follow is threefold:
Vocational—to begin to teach the art of reporting, and hence perhaps lay a foundation for students’ earning a living. Ethical—to show all the pupils how a report should be made and thus give them a standard by which to measure newspapers. Artistic—to teach all how to write modern English clearly, simply, and correctly. II. ModelThis is a report of an accident on a city street, witnessed by a reporter, and telephoned to a colleague at the newspaper office.
With a crash that could be heard for blocks, a high-powered touring car, owned and driven by Mrs. William J. Sheldon, wife of the millionaire gum manufacturer, who lives at East Boulevard and Clifton Drive, collided late last night with a heavy milk wagon at Payne Avenue and East 30th St. Both Mrs. Sheldon and John Goldrick, 656 East 105th St., driver of the milk wagon, escaped injury, except for a few minor cuts and bruises.
Mrs. Sheldon was driving east on Payne Avenue on the way to the Pennsylvania Station at Euclid Avenue to meet her husband, who was coming from New York. The street at Payne Avenue and East 30th St. had just been flushed; and, when Mrs. Sheldon endeavored to turn out toward the car tracks to avoid hitting Goldrick’s wagon, which was just turning into Payne Avenue, the car skidded and side-swiped the wagon.
One wheel of the machine and the mud guard were torn loose, while glass from the shattered wind-shield rained over Mrs. Sheldon as she strove desperately to twist the wheel. Goldrick was hurled from his seat, landing in the back of the wagon, which was piled high with cases of milk bottles. The horses were thrown from their feet by the shock.
Mrs. Sheldon and Goldrick were extricated from the wreckage and conveyed to the office of Dr. W. A. Masters, Payne Avenue and East 32d St., where their injuries were dressed. Later they were taken to their homes.
III. Suggested Time Schedule Monday —Dictation of Model and Study of Last Week’s Errors. Tuesday —Notes and Queries. Wednesday —Oral Composition—e.g., Telephoning. Thursday —Written Composition. Friday —Public Speaking. IV. Notes, Queries, and Exercises How many paragraphs are there in the report in Section II? What is the subject of each? The object? Point out the “Four W’s.” State why each capital and each mark of punctuation in the model is used. Tell whether each sentence is simple, complex, or compound. Find in the model an adverbial phrase, an adverb, a noun used adverbially, a noun in apposition, a clause modifying a verb, a participle modifying the subject of a verb, a non-restrictive clause, and a clause used as an adjective. Point out four words or phrases that give color to the story. Write an appropriate heading for the model. V. Oral CompositionPrepare a report of some accident which you have yourself seen or which has been described to you by an eye-witness. Be sure to get into the report in the proper order the “Four W’s,” the cause, and the result. Note that a good story usually consists of three parts:
The Previous Situation. What Happened = The Climax. The Result = The Dénouement.These are all in the model, but 2 is put first because it is most important. Observe the order of the model. Each member of the class will have a chance to make his report orally, and it will be subjected to the analysis of the class and teacher, who will blame or praise it according to its deserts. The reporter must defend himself, if attacked. Each pupil will therefore in turn play the rôle of a reporter, telephoning a story to headquarters while the class and teacher enact the part of the city editor.
VI. Written CompositionAfter the process outlined in Section IV of this chapter has shown the reporter how to go about the job, the report is to be written, proof-read by the teacher, corrected by the reporter, and rewritten until it is letter-perfect.
VII. Suggested ReadingKipling’s 007 in The Day’s Work.
VIII. MemorizeThe dim leaf-latticed windows of the grove
How jubilant the happy birds renew
Their long melodious madrigals of love;
And, when you think of this, remember too
’Tis always morning somewhere, and above
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