INDUCTIVE RHETORIC.

QUALITIES OF STYLE.

I. Clearness.

1. What is our object in talking and writing? What is needed in order to do this readily? What in order to convey the exact thought? What quality of style then is most important? Make a careful definition of it. What is the effect of a lack of clearness?

What is necessary in the mind of the writer in order to have clearness of expression? Upon what then does clearness chiefly depend? Why do so many school recitations lack in clearness? What are the causes of the "I-know-but-I-can't-tell" disease? How may clear and exact thinking be cultivated?

2. Diction. Upon what else does clearness depend? We call choice of words diction; why is it important for clearness? Which is the more important, clear thought or good diction? Why? Does clearness of expression affect power to think? Give reasons for your opinion.

3. What violations of good diction do you find in the following?

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1. The wind yesterday afternoon caused such a discom bobberation of the telegraph wires that the fire alarm sounded

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2. He is said to have frugalized his earnings to a considerable extent.

3. Tote the bucket under the shed, honey, mighty quick. 4. The soirée was attended by the elite of the town and was a very distingué affair.

Which words in these extracts are not pure English words? When is a word pure English?

Purity. Purity is the first essential of good diction. Define purity of diction in your own words. Learn the following, which is called Campbell's Law of Purity: "A word to be pure must be in present, national, and reputable use." What does he mean by present use? by national use? by reputable use?

What classes of words are to be avoided because not in reputable use? Select the violations of reputable use in the following, and substitute for each a pure word:

1. The recitation by the junior pupils was boss.

2. The boys have gone off on a jamboree.

3.

I don't catch on to your meaning.

4. John is off his base to-day, you can't get a pleasant word out of him.

5. He is such a crank that I can't get along with him at all. 6. John is decidedly cranky to-day, you can't get a pleasant word out of him.

7. He is a perfect crank, continually talking of that wonderful invention of his.

8. I went to a perfectly swell dinner last evening at the

Johnson's. You know they have recently come here from London, and they are really right in the swim. All the swells in town were there, and we had a perfectly lovely time. I wore my new satin dress and looked as swell as you please.

Slang. How many of these impure expressions are generally known as slang? What is the object of using each? Select from these impure expressions the words that are used with several different meanings. What is the effect upon good diction of using such words? What upon the thoughts of those who accustom themselves to such use? What would be the effect upon the language if all should adopt such use?

Which of these slang expressions are used for humor? When is slang humorous? When is its humor lost? Bring to class one example of humorous, and one of indefinite slang, neither of which is given in your book. Try to combine in a definition the statement of what slang is and why it is used.

Where does slang originate? What are its most common sources? What or who are its most effective disseminators? What are the general tendencies of slang? What are its effects on the user? On society? On the language? Is there any harm in using slang if that which is low and vulgar is avoided? Do you think slang is ever allowable? Write your answers to the last six questions.

Find the derivation of the words mob, caucus, guy, bigot. What can you learn about slang from the history of these words?

4. Find the violations of national use in the following

sentences:

1. He calculates to sell a right smart chance o' hogs.

2. The quantum of good which we do ought not to affect us. 3. Everything is to him couleur de rose, and he devotes his time to belles lettres.

4. Every substance is negatively electric to that which stands above it in the chemical tables, and positively to that which stands below it.

5. I hain't got no receipt for yourn.

6. Excoriations of the skin with all lymphatic swelling tending to suppuration are benefited by this remedy.

Provincialisms. What are provincialisms?

Select in the preceding sentences all the provincialisms you can find, and give a pure expression for each. Name as many as you can of the common provincialisms of your locality. Why are such expressions to be

avoided?

Foreign terms. Why are foreign terms violations of purity? How and why are they frequently used? In what classes of writing? By what people in conversation? What impression does such a use generally make on the ignorant? on those who understand the language from which such words are taken? What is to be done in case a foreign word should express a shade of meaning which no pure English word will exactly convey?

Technical terms. What are technical terms? Are they violations of purity? Why? Are they necessary? When and where should they be used? If one is

familiar with technical terms, what caution should be exercised in using them? What custom in respect to technical terms should govern a physician writing a series of articles on health for a weekly newspaper? For a scientific medical journal ?

5. Why do words not in present use prevent clearness? What two classes of these words can you find? In the following sentences select the words not in present use, and assign them to their respective classes:

1. I have torn my new frock, and the grandam will punish me sorely.

2. The house on the hill was burglarized last night.

3. Oftentimes have I purposed to come to you, but was let hitherto.

4. He does not seem to enthuse over her.

5. The prisoner will be electrocuted on Tuesday.

Find in the Bible ten obsolete words. Find five in Shakespeare. Find as many newly-coined words not yet adopted into common use as you can.

Commit to memory Pope's rule with reference to present use:

"In words as fashions the same rule will hold,
Alike fantastic if too new or old;

Be not the first by whom the new are tried,
Nor yet the last to lay the old aside."

6. Select the impure expressions in the following, tell what requisite of purity each lacks, and express the same thought in pure English: