EXERCISE 96.-Re-write the following, making corrections, wherever necessary, in accordance with the rules given above:

In my wicker-ware I also improved much, and made abundance of necessary baskets, as well as my invention showed me, though not very handsome, yet convenient for my laying up things in, or fetching things home in. For example, if I killed a goat abroad, I could hang it up in a tree, flay it, and dress it, and cut it in pieces, and bring it home in a basket: and the like by a turtle; I could cut it up, take out the eggs, and a piece or two of the flesh, which was enough for me, and bring them home in a basket, and leave the rest behind me. Also large deep baskets were the receivers for my corn, which I always rubbed out as soon as it was dry, and cured, and kept it in great baskets instead of a granary.-Defoe.

"Robinson Crusoe" abounds in sentences of this kind, which present admirable material for exercises in style.

630. Be careful to observe the rules for the repetition of the article. (See §§ 316-321.)

EXERCISE 97.-In the following sentences, insert the article where necessary:

1. A cotton and silk umbrella were found in the depot.

2. She has two brothers, a tall and short one.

3. The dog and cat are lying in front of the stove.

4. Which is the larger, the box or trunk?

5. Some think Napoleon was a better general than an emperor.

6. The carriage was broken; but neither the driver nor horse was injured.

7. Both the house and stable are for sale.

8. Lincoln was both an honest and conscientious man.

9. Lincoln was an honest and a conscientious man.

10. Neither the first nor second chapter is interesting.

631. Economy of attention requires the avoidance of pleonasm, or the expression of some part of the meaning more than The most frequent pleonasms are the following:

once.

1. The use of a noun and a pronoun to indicate the same person or thing; as, My banks, they are furnished with bees. This construction is, however, sometimes used in poetry to lend force to the expression; as, The deck, it was their field of fame. 2. Double negation. Two negatives destroy each other, or are equivalent to an affirmative; as, Nor did they not perceive him. = They did perceive him. I can not drink no more will never be no taller.

He

3. Tautology, the unnecessary repetition of the same word, or the repetition of the same meaning in different words; as, It was founded mainly on the entire monopoly of the whole trade with the colonies.

EXERCISE 98.-Correct the errors in the following sentences :

1. He doesn't know nothing about the matter.

2. You don't know hardly anything about him.

3. I can not scarcely comprehend the enormity of the offense.

4. She hasn't learned her lessons yet, I do.'t think.

5. If you want to vote, you had better hurry, for you have not scarcely a moment left.

6. Neither his father nor his mother knew nothing about it.

7. I have received no information on the subject, neither from him, nor from his friend.

8. I am resolved not to comply with the proposal, neither at present nor at any other time.

9. I can not by no means permit you to do it.

10. Charles hasn't got any money.

11. The friends separated and walked in two opposite directions.

12. The English, they won the battle of Waterloo.

13. General Sheridan, the officer of whom we were speaking, he was not a tall man.

14. At the Liliputian Bazaar, ready-made clothing can be bought for small boys and children.

15. The troops which the chiefs commanded, were divided into three divisions.

16. In a few weeks he was at the head of 1500 troops, chiefly horsemen, at the head of which he entered Jassy.

17. To it alone I shall confine myself.

18. It was almost intolerable to be borne.

19. It was want of imagination I suppose that failed them.

632. The direct form of quotation gives the words of a speaker or writer exactly as they were spoken or written; the indirect form gives them as reported by another; as,

DIRECT.-"I will arise and go to my father," he said.

INDIRECT.-He said he would arise and go to his father.

Use the direct form when you wish to impart liveliness to the narrative, or when it is necessary to prevent ambiguity in the use of he or she or it. In She told her teacher that she did not know what she was doing, it is difficult to tell whether the pupil is making an impudent remark or confessing her ignorance.

The ambiguity is removed by using the direct form, She said to her teacher, "I do not know what I am doing."

633. The principal changes from the direct to the indirect form of quotation are these:

1. The first and second persons are changed to the third; as, Stay with me = They should stay with him.

2. A present tense is changed to its corresponding past; as, I can not remain = He could not remain.

3. The imperative mode is changed to the future subjunctive, or must followed by an infinitive; as, Let them go (or must) allow them to go.

=

They should

EXERCISE 99.-Change the following passages from the indirect form to the direct:

1. He said he had often left his childish sports to ramble alone in the woods.

2. Lord Chatham observed that the people whom they at first despised as rebels, but whom they now acknowledged as enemies, were abetted against them, supplied with every military store, had their interests consulted and their ambassadors entertained by their inveterate enemy-and ministers did not, dared not, interpose with dignity and effect.

3. Robert Emmet said that no man must dare when he was dead to charge him with dishonor; that no man must attaint his memory by believing that he could have engaged in any cause but that of his country's liberty and independence; or that he could have become the pliant minion of power in the oppression or the miseries of his countrymen.

4. Webster said they consecrated their work to the spirit of national independence, and that they wished that the light of peace might rest upon it forever. They came, as Americans, to mark a spot, which must forever be dear to them and their posterity.

5. Henry Clay said they were fighting a great moral battle, for the benefit, not only of their country, but of all mankind. whole world were in fixed attention upon them.

The eyes of the

634. Economy of attention is secured by arranging words, phrases, or clauses, bearing upon the same thought in such a way that each succeeding term shall be stronger or more expressive than that which precedes. This is called climax.

What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason how infinite in faculty in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god-Shakespeare.

The reason is that, after receiving a brilliant or terrible thought, the mind can not appreciate a weaker one; just as the eyes after looking at the sun can not perceive the light of a fire. Whereas, if the weaker be presented first, and the stronger afterward, both will be understood.

635. As economy of attention requires that the mind should be brought to a thought in the shortest and easiest possible way, a decided gain is often effected by putting a part for the whole. Thus, a fleet of ten sail presents a more easily grasped picture of vessels at sea than a fleet of ten ships. Bringing gray hairs with sorrow to the grave, and employing a hundred hands, are other examples. This is called synecdoche.

636. A thought is often more easily understood by comparing one thing with another which it resembles in some respect; as, The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold. This is called simile. The words like or as are generally used to express the comparison. A simile, when fully expressed, contains four terms which may be treated as a proportion:

A: B: C : D.

Thus, As the wolf comes down on a fold, so the Assyrian came down on the city.

EXERCISE 100.-Express fully the following similes:

1. We all do fade as a leaf.

2. Their ranks are breaking like thin clouds before a Biscay gale.

3. Fragrance, pure as light, floats all around.

4. Black were her eyes as the berry that grows by the wayside.

5. The gates once opened, our men poured into the town like a flood. 6. The righteous shall flourish as the palm-tree.

7. Many a flower, radiant as dew, glances on every spray.

637. When the comparison between two things which resemble each other is made still more vivid by the omission of words denoting comparison, such as like or as, we have what is called metaphor; as, The ship ploughs the sea. This, when fully expressed, becomes a simile: As the plough cleaves the land, so the ship cleaves the sea.

EXERCISE 101.-Expand the following metaphors into similes, and state each simile fully:

1. The atmosphere rises above us with its cathedral dome.

2. The cold weather sheds its snow feathers on the earth.

3. Man thou pendulum betwixt a smile and tear.

4. Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.

5. I will be unto her a wall of fire round about.

6. The prophet ascended, and left the mantle of his inspiration to his

successor.

7. One burnished sheet of living gold, Loch Katrine lay beneath him rolled.

8. In peace, thou art the gale of spring; in war, the mountain storm. 9. There is a blush on the cheek of night.

10. I speared him with a jest.

EXERCISE 102.-Compress the similes in Exercise 100 into metaphors.

CHAPTER VII.

PROSODY.

638. Prosody is that part of grammar which treats of the rules that govern verse. (See §§ 100, 101.)

639. Verse, as distinguished from prose, is the name given to the peculiar structure of language employed in poetry.

The word verse is derived from the stem vers = turn, and is so called because when the writer has written a certain number of syllables he turns, as it were, and commences a new line. Originally, the word was applied only to a line of poetry. It is now, however, used to designate the general structure of poetry, as well as a group of lines of poetry, and even one of the subdivisions of a chapter in the Bible.

640. The chief distinction between verse and prose is that the former is marked by the recurrence, at regular intervals, of syllables that must be accented by the voice in reading. This regular recurrence of accent is called rhythm.

The word rhythm comes from a Greek word, meaning measured motion.