Business English Part 54

When you have been a.s.signed to one of these divisions, prepare a talk on a topic that you understand thoroughly. Begin your talk with a clear statement of your subject, as explained in Exercise 140; amplify it by details or ill.u.s.trations; and end with a sentence of conclusion, forecasting the future of your topic or restating what you have proved.

=Exercise 162=

For a week follow the same current event as recorded in the newspaper, taking notes as you read. Then choose from all your material only those facts that belong strictly to one topic. Write an outline, setting forth the facts in logical order. Deliver the speech, following your outline closely.

=Exercise 163=

Let the cla.s.s choose four or six members one week in advance, who are to prepare a debate on a topic of current interest. Let the other members of the cla.s.s act as judges or volunteer on either side, as the instructor may see fit. Such debates should occur as often as possible.

=Exercise 164=

About once a month devote a day to the production of a cla.s.s paper. Let the cla.s.s choose a name. During the first year let the items be developed into paragraphs. Longer compositions should be reserved for the second year.

SUGGESTIONS FOR ARTICLES FOR THE PAPER

1. A column of interesting business items clipped from leading papers.

2. An important news item that would make a good "story."

3. Original editorials on one or more of the following: _a._ Needs or improvements in city, school, or home.

_b._ Recent city news.

_c._ Business news.

_d._ State news.

_e._ National news.

_f._ Foreign news.

4. Personal experiences, amusing incidents, or anecdotes, preferably of the business world.

5. For sale advertis.e.m.e.nts, or "want ads" that the cla.s.s would understand.

=Exercise 165=

Criticise the following outlines. Each topic is supposed to represent a division in thought.

1

THE WHEAT HARVEST

1. A group of reapers.

2. Their costumes.

3. The field.

4. Starting the harvest.

5. Carting the sheaves to the barn.

6. The stacks.

7. The field after the harvest.

2

THE TONGUE

1. What it is.

2. It is a good thing.

3. It instructs.

4. Evils done by the tongue.

5. Especially slander.

6. Conclusion.

3

THE NEWSPAPER STRIKE

1. The cause.

(_a_) Strikers want higher wages.

(_b_) Poverty of the families of the strikers.

(_c_) Police have to protect newsboys against strikers.

2. Disadvantages.

(_a_) Newspapers are losing business.

(_b_) Newsboys sympathize with strikers.

3. Riots.

(_a_) Newsboys hurt and newspapers burned.

(_b_) Police cannot watch all sections of city.

4. Conclusion.

CHAPTER XII

PUNCTUATION

WHEN we speak, we make our meaning clear by the expression that we put into our words and sentences. Some sentences we say all in one breath and with not much change in emphasis from one word to the next. We may be pretty sure that such a sentence is short and simple, with all its elements arranged in their natural order. In this respect compare the sentences given below.

Notice that the following sentence is spoken as one word group:

Steam and electricity are making one commercial community of all nations.

A part that is subordinate in idea is subordinate in tone; as,

Steam and electricity, _which are the greatest of all discoveries_, are making one commercial community of all nations.

In the usual order of the sentence the subject comes first. Sometimes for emphasis a participial phrase or an adverbial clause precedes the subject. Such inversion is always indicated; as,

_If the grape crop is large_, the price of grapes is low.

Sometimes a word or phrase is thrust into the sentence to give clearness or force; as,

If, _on the other hand_, the season is poor, the price of grapes is high.