Exercises for Study

I. Divide into sentences the following:

Well, I came into the village, where I did not see (nor by this time expected to see) a single modern building, although many of them were nearly new notable was the church which was large and quite ravished my heart with its extreme beauty elegance and fitness the chancel of this was so new that the dust of the stone still lay white on the midsummer grass beneath the carvings of the windows the houses were almost all built of oak framework filled with cob or plaster well whitewashed though some had their lower stories of rubble-stone with their windows and doors of well-molded freestone there was much curious and inventive carving about most of them and though some were old and much worn there was the same look of deftness and trimness and even beauty about every detail of them which I noticed before in the field-work they were all roofed with oak shingles mostly grown as gray as stone but one was so newly built that its roof was yet pale and yellow this was a corner house and the corner post of it had a carved niche wherein stood a gaily painted figure holding an anchor-St. Clement to wit as the dweller in the house was a blacksmith half a stone's throw from the east end of the churchyard wall was a tall cross of stone new like the church the head beautifully carved with a crucifix amidst leafage it stood on a set of wide stone steps octagonal in shape where three roads from other villages met and formed a wide open space on which a thousand people or more could stand together with no great crowding.

I.

"A Dream of John Ball," William Morris.

REVIEW RULES FOR THE SENTENCE

Every sentence should begin with a capital letter and end with a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point. 2. Do not write phrases or clauses as if they were

sentences.

3. In a compound sentence place a semicolon between propositions which are not connected by conjunctions,

4. Every sentence should express one main thought and only one.

SECTION VIII. A REVIEW OF THE SENTENCE

Adventures With Books

I. Write in your own words a theme, drawing your material from one of the following biographical sketches. Find an apt title for your theme.

From my infancy I was passionately fond of reading, and all the money that came into my hands was laid out in the purchasing of books. I was very fond of voyages. My first acquaintance was Bunyan's works in separate little volumes. I afterwards sold them to enable me to buy R. Burton's Historical Collections. They were small chapmen's books, and cheap; forty volumes in all. My father's little library consisted chiefly of books on polemic divinity, most of which I read. I have often regretted that at a time when I had such a thirst for knowledge, more proper books had not fallen in my way, since it was resolved I should not be bred to divinity. There was among them Plutarch's Lives, which I read abundantly, and I still think that time spent to great advantage. There was also a book of Defoe's called An Essay on Projects, and another of Dr. Mather's called An Essay to Do Good, which perhaps gave me a turn of thinking, that had an influence on some of the principal future events of my life.

"Autobiography," Benjamin Franklin.

I remember well the spot where I read these volumes [Percy's "Reliques"] for the first time. It was beneath a huge plantain tree in the ruins of what had been intended for an old-fashioned arbor in the garden I have mentioned. The summer day sped onward so fast that, notwithstanding the sharp appetite of thirteen, I forgot the hour of dinner, was sought for with anxiety, and was found still entranced in my intellectual banquet. To read and to remember was, in this

instance, the same thing; and henceforth I overwhelmed my school-fellows, and all who would listen to me, with tragical recitations of the ballads of Bishop Percy. The first time, too, I could scrape a few shillings together, 1 bought unto myself a copy of these beloved volumes; nor do I believe I ever read a book so frequently, or with half the enthusiasm.

"Memoirs of My Early Life," Sir Walter Scott.

I begged my mother to give us Schwab's "Tales of Classic Antiquity," which was owned by one of our companions. We received it on Ludo's birthday, in September, and how we listened when it was read to us-how often we ourselves devoured its delightful contents.

I think the story of the Trojan War made a deeper impression on me than even the Arabian Nights. Homer's heroes seemed like giant oaks, which far overtopped the little trees of the human wood. They towered like glorious snow mountains above the little hills with which my childish imagination was already filled; and how often we played the Trojan War, and aspired to the honor of acting Hector, Achilles, or Ajax!

"The Story of My Life," George Ebers.

In those times, Cook's edition of the British poets came up. I had got an odd volume of Spenser; and I fell passionately in love with Collins and Gray. How I loved those little six-penny numbers containing whole poets! I doted on their size; I doted on their type, on their ornaments, on their wrappers containing lists of other poets, and on the engravings from Kirk. I bought them over and over again, and used to get up select sets which disappeared like buttered crumpets; for I could resist neither giving them away, nor possessing them. When the master tormented me— when I used to hate and loath the sight of Homer, and Demosthenes, and Cicero-I would comfort myself with thinking of the sixpence in my pocket, with which I should go out to Paternoster Row, when school was over, and buy another number of an English poet.

"Autobiography," Leigh Hunt,

NOTE: If possible read in Ruskin's "Praeterita," Volume II, Chapter I, his account of his study of bible stories; and in Cross's "Life of George Eliot," Chapter I, the account of her liking for "Esop's Fables."

2. ORAL. Do you find any of these experiences with books surprising? What have been your experiences? When you were very young had you any favorite stories or poems? Later, were you especially pleased with any books? Did you read them more than once?

3. Write a letter to a friend who has ten dollars to spend for books, and has asked your advice on which books to buy.

4. Write a theme with some such title as "My Literary Likings," "Good Old Friends," or "Adventures Among Books." Be sure not to make your theme a mere catalogue. Tell what these "friends," meant to you in such a way that your reader will feel interested in them.

5. Examine the theme you have written to see that you have violated none of the rules for the sentence, given on pages 36 and 37.

SECTION IX. SUBORDINATION IN THE

SENTENCE

Since the purpose of writing is to express thought, the question is not one of arbitrary rules, but of shaping the sentence to fit the thought. Sometimes we have a series of similar thoughts which need a series of like constructions to express them; sometimes our thoughts are very dissimilar; some of them are important and some unimportant. To express them aptly, then, we need different kinds of constructions.

To express our thoughts, we have only words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. Our most important thoughts we put in main statements; less important ones we put in

modifying or dependent clauses; still less important ones we put in phrases; less important ones yet in modifying words. How clumsy our expression would be if we used only statements of equal value is evident from the following, selection 1, where almost every idea is in the form of a statement. Contrast this with selection 2, and note how much more accurately the thought is expressed in the latter.

I.

Silver trumpets sounded a flourish. The javelin-men came pacing down Treggarric Fore Street. The sheriff's coach swung behind them. Its panels were splendid with fresh blue paint and florid blazonry. Its wheels were picked out in yellow. This scheme of color extended to the coachman and the two lackeys, who held on at the back by leathern straps. Each wore a coat and breeches of electric blue, and a canary waistcoat. Each was toned off with powder and flesh-colored stockings at the extremities. Within the coach sat the two judges of the Crown Court and Nisi Prius. They sat facing the horses. They were both in scarlet. They wore wigs and little round patches of black plaster, like ventilators, on top. Facing their lordships, sat Sir Felix Felix-Williams. He was the sheriff. He wore a tightish uniform of the yeomanry. A great shako nodded on his knees. A chaplain sat bolt upright by his side. Behind, trooped a rabble of loafers and small boys. They shouted, "Who bleeds bran?" The lackeys' calves itched with indignation.

2.

Silver trumpets sounded a a flourish, and the javelin-men came pacing down Treggarric Fore Street, with the Sheriff's coach swinging behind them, its panels splendid with fresh blue paint and florid blazonry. Its wheels were picked out in yellow, and this scheme of color extended to the coachman and the two lackeys, who held on at the back by leathern straps. Each wore a coat and breeches of