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EMPHASIS

Is that stress we lay on words which are in contradistinction is other words expressed or understood. And hence will follow thi general rule: Wherever there is contradistinction in the sense of the words, there ought to be emphasis in the pronunciation of them.

All words are pronounced either with emphatic force, accented force, or unaccented force; this last kind of force may be called by the name of feebleness. When the words are in contradistinction to other words, or to some sense implied, they may be called emphatic, where they do not denote contradistinction, and yet are more important than the particles, they may be called accented, and the particles and Lesser words may be called unaccented or feeble.

EXAMPLES,

1. Exercise and temperance strengthen the constitution 2. Exercise and temperance strengthen even an INDIF. FERENT constitution.

The word printed in Roman capitals is pronounced with emphatic force; those in small Italics are pronounced with accented force; the rest with unaccented force.

SINGLE EMPHASIS.*

RULE.- When a sentence is composed of a positive and negative part, the positive must have the falling, and the negative the rising inflection.†

EXAMPLES.

1. We can do nothing against' the truth, but for the truth.

2. None more impatiently suffer' injuries, than they who are most forward in doing' them.

* When two emphatic words in antithesis with each other are either #xpressed or implied, the emphasis is said to be single.

To this rule, however, there are some exceptions, not only petry, but also in prose,

8. You were paid to fight against Alexander, and not to rail' at him.

DOUBLE EMPHASIS.*

RULE.-The falling inflection takes place on the first em phatic word, the rising on the second and third, and the falling on the fourth.†

EXAMPLES.

1. To err' is human'; to forgive' divine'.

2. Custom is the plague' of wise' men, and the idol' of fools'.

TREBLE EMPHASIS.

RULE.-The rising inflection takes place on the first and third, and the falling on the second of the first three emphatical words; the first and third of the other three have the falling, and the second has the rising inflection.

EXAMPLES.

1. A friend' cannot be known' in prosperity'; and an enemy' cannot be hidden' in adversity'.

2. Flowers of rhetoric in sermons or serious discourses are like the blue and red flowers in corn, pleasing' to those who come only for amusement', but preju dicial to him' who would reap the profit.

* When two words are opposed to each other, and contrasted with two other words, the emphasis on these four words may be called double.

†The pause after the second emphatic word must be considerably onger than that after the first or third.

t When three emphatic words are opposed to three other emphatic words in the same sentence, the emphasis is called treble.

THE ANTECEDENT..

RULE -Personal or adjective pronouns, when anteos denis, must be pronounced with an accentual force, to intimate that the relative is in view, and in some men sure to anticipate the pronunciation of it.

EXAMPLES.

1. He, that pursues fame with just claims, trusts his happiness to the winds; but he, that endeavors after it by false merit, has to fear, not only the violence of the storm, but the leaks of his vessel.

2. The weakest reasoners are always the most posi tive in debate; and the cause is obvious; for they are unavoidably driven to maintain their pretensions by violence, who want arguments and reasons to prove that they are in the right.

RULE II.- When the relative only is expressed, the an tecedent being understood, the accentual force then falls upon the relative. ироп

EXAMPLES.

1. What nothing earthly gives or can destroy,

The soul's calm sunshine, and the heartfelt joy,
Is virtue's prize.

2. Who noble ends by noble means obtains,
Or failing, smiles in exile or in chains,
Like good Aurelius let him reign, or bleed
Like Socrates, that man is great indeed.

GENERAL EMPHASIS

Is that emphatic force, which, when the composition is very ani mated, and approaches to a close we often lay upon several words in

uccession. This emphasis is not so much regulated by the sense of the author, as by the taste and feelings of the reader, and therefore does not admit of any certain rule.

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Is done already: heaven and earth will witness,
If' Rome' must' fall', that we are innocent.

2. There was a time, then, my fellow-citizens, when the Lacedæmonians were sovereign masters both by sea and land; when their troeps and forts surrounded the entire circuit of Attica; when they possessed Euboea, Tanagra, the whole Boeotian district, Megara, Ægina, Cleone, and the other islands, while this state had not one ship, not one' wall.

THE INTERMEDIATE OR ELLIPTICAL MEMBER

Is that part of a sentence which is equally related to both parts of an antithesis, but which is properly only once expressed.

EXAMPLES.

1. Must we, in your person, crown' the author of the public calamities, or must we destroy' him?

2. A good man will love himself too well to lose' aa estate by gaming, and his neighbor too well to win' one.

RHETORICAL PAUSES.

RULE I.—Pause after the nominative when it consists of more than one wor *

EXAMPLE.

1. The fashion of this world passeth away.

• The place of the pause is immediately before each of the words printed in italics.

Note.-A pause may be made after a nominative, even when iş consists of only one word, if it be a word of importance, or if we wish it to be particularly observed.

EXAMPLES.

1. Adversity is the school of piety.

2. The fool hath said in his heart there is no God.

RULE II.-When any member comes between the nomina tive case and the verb, it must be separated from both of them by a short pause.

EXAMPLES.

1. Trials in this state of being are the lot of man. 2. Such is the constitution of men, that virtue howeve it may be neglected, for a time will ultimately be acknowledged and respected.

BULE III.- When any member comes between the verb and the objective or accusative case, it must be separated from both of them by a short pause.

EXAMPLE.

I knew a person who possessed the faculty of distinguishing flavors in so great a perfection, that, after having tasted ten different kinds of tea, he would distinguish without seeing the color of it the particular sort which was offered him.

RULE IV. When two verbs come together, and the latte is in the infinitive mood, if any words come between they must be separated from the latter verb by a pause

EXAMPLE.

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The stings and arrows of outrageous fortune;

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