ber, this, if these are princesses, and what dreams might they not dream therein ! But the two American girls were neither princesses, nor seers, nor dreamers. By infinite self-indulgence, they had reduced themselves simply to two pieces of white putty that could feel pain. The flies and the dust stuck to them as to clay, and they perceived, between Venice and Verona, nothing but the flies and the dust. They pulled down the blinds the moment they entered the carriage, and then sprawled and writhed and tossed among the cushions of it, in vain contest, during the whole fifty miles, with every miserable sensation of bodily affliction that could make time intolerable. They were dressed in thin white frocks, coming vaguely open at the backs as they stretched or wiggled; they had French novels, lemons, and lumps of sugar to beguile their state with; the novels hanging together by the ends of string that had once stitched them, or adhering at the corners in densely bruised dog's-ears, out of which the girls, wetting their fingers, occasionally extricated a gluey leaf. From time to time they cut a lemon open, ground a lump of sugar backwards and forwards over it till every fiber was in a treacly pulp, then sucked the pulp, and gnawed the white skin into leathery strings, for the sake of its bitter. Only one sentence was exchanged, in the fifty miles, on the subject of things outside the carriage (the Alps being once visible from a station where they had drawn up the blinds). "Don't those snow-caps make you cool?" "No - I wish they did." And so they went their way, with sealed eyes and tormented limbs, their numbered miles of pain. - Fors Clavigera, RUSKIN. 1. State the point of the exposition. 2. Quote the details that are in themselves description or narration. 3. Show what each of these details contributes toward making the point of the exposition clear. To write exposition: I. Select proper material. SUMMARY IV 1. Choose a subject about which you have considerable definite 2. Decide upon the person or persons whom you intend to address. a. Remember that these may be: (1) The more minute details. (2) Details which give specific instances. (3) Details which point out resemblances or differences. (5) Details which tell what a thing is not and then what it is. (6) Details which set forth the relation of cause and effect. II. Arrange material in the most effective order. 1. Arrange the steps of a process in the order in which they must be performed. 2. Arrange the details of a characterization according to some definite plan. For example: a. Arrange details giving characteristics: (1) in the order in which the characteristics developed; (2) in the order in which the characteristics would become known to a person studying the original; or (3) in the order of increasing importance. 3. Arrange the details of compiled information or of a body of opinions in the order which the subject demands. III. Express ideas in language suited to the subject and adapted to the person or persons addressed. 1. Choose words that state exactly or suggest vividly the idea to be expressed. 2. Choose words sure to be understood by the person or persons addressed. 3. Remember that apt comparisons and appropriate figures of speech give force and vitality to expression. IV. Criticize your work. 1. Examine your work to see: a. That the first statement of your exposition indicates the subject, defines its scope, and suggests the point to be made by the exposition. b. That you have used no detail that does not bear upon the point or that is not essential to the point. c. That you have arranged details in the order best suited to give to the person or persons addressed a clear and exact understanding of the subject. d. That the final statement of your exposition is a summary of the details used. e. That the words which you have used are words in keeping with. the subject and adapted to the persons addressed. V. Review your work. 1. Examine your work to see: a. That each sentence is grammatical. b. That each sentence is accurately punctuated. c. That each word is correctly spelled. ADDITIONAL SUBJECTS FOR ORAL OR WRITTEN EXPOSITION 1. The Function of the Telephone. 2. The New Football Rules. 3. The Submarine. 4. Color Photography. 5. Our Flag: What it Means. 6. The Bread-mixer. 7. The Value of State Roads. 8. Government Ownership. 9. A Useful Mechanical Contrivance. 10. A soft answer turneth away wrath. II. The Duties of a District Nurse. 12. The Benefits of Long Walks. 13. Great oaks from little acorns grow. 14. The Manufacture of Paper Money. 15. Farming without Horses. 16. Making Maple Sugar. 17. Silence is Golden. 18. The Reflecting Telescope. 19. How Powder is Manufactured. 20. Every tub must stand on its own bottom. 21. House-moving. 22. A rolling stone gathers no moss. 23. Breaking-in Horses. 24. Silk-weaving. 25. A Popular Candidate. 26. Instinct. 27. Save the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves 28. The Economic Value of the Panama Canal. 29. The Place of Social Life in High Schools. 30. The Preparation of Wool for the Market. 31. My Pet Fad. 32. The Avocations of High School Students, 33. He laughs best who laughs last. 34. Undeveloped Resources of the United States. 35. Patient waiters are no losers. 36. It is hard for an empty sack to stand upright. 37. Running a Sawmill. 38. Cleanliness is next to godliness. 39. Textile Manufactures. 40. Practical Management. CHAPTER XI ARGUMENT AND PERSUASION WHEN, in addition to explaining the meaning of a proposition, a composition aims to use the proposition to alter the opinions, the beliefs, or the course of conduct of the person or persons addressed, it must take the form of argument or of persuasion or of a combination of both. Argument. Argument is the kind of speech or of writing which aims to establish the truth or the falsity of a proposition. The purpose of argument is to present demonstrable facts or accepted beliefs or judgments in such a way as to win the person or persons addressed to the point of view of the speaker or writer. Like exposition, argument of itself appeals purely to the understanding. Unlike exposition, argument deals only with propositions, never with terms. Whatever may be the basis of discussion for or against a proposition is material for argument. The material commonly used consists of opinions or beliefs, judgments, principles, and demonstrable facts. Opinion and Fact. To be trustworthy, opinion must coincide with fact. Too frequently, however, opinion not only fails to coincide with fact, but even contradicts fact. For example, A glances out of the window and sees a person whom he takes for his friend B disappearing around the corner of the first cross street. The person is of B's height and general appearance, walks like B, apparently is B. In the course of a day or two, it develops that B is in a distant |