Practical Grammar and Composition Part 42

22. as noise it is an undoubted success as music it is a flat failure

23. that may be true but i still doubt it

24. separate the clauses by a comma unless the connection be close

25. even though that be true it does not prove what we want proved

26. mary said yes but helen said no

27. he is called the peerless leader

28. such a man for example was lincoln

29. if as you say it ought to be done why dont you do it

30. that too is a mistake

31. that is wool not cotton as you seem to think

32. the english are stolid the french lively

33. in that case let us have war

34. such an opinion i may say is absurd

35. alas when i had noticed my mistake it was too late

36. the house which was built by smith is on the corner of a large lot

37. he means the house that has green shutters

38. those are all good books but none of them will do

39. d.i.c.kens wrote nicholas nickleby hugo les miserables thackeray henry esmond

40. he is a good student and also a great athlete

41. he gave me a red silk handkerchief

42. having a.s.signed the lesson he left the room

43. royers address is danville illinois

44. you will find it discussed in paragraphs one two and three

45. i had cla.s.ses under the president dr harris

46. moreover naxon the cashier has fled

47. oh that is what you mean is it

48. for this you will need a piece of clean white paper

49. the bible says the lord thy G.o.d is a jealous G.o.d

50. the boundary of uncle sams lands is the rio grande river

51. theodore roosevelt is not the only strenuous man in history

52. the north quickly recovered from the civil war

53. he told mother to write to my uncle about it

54. he said then why are you here

55. in that army old young and middle aged men served for their country could no longer raise a picked army 56. he was told to ask the princ.i.p.al professor morton

57. in the same town muncy lives smith now a respected man

58. a peasant named ali according to a good old oriental story needing badly a donkey for some urgent work decided to apply to his neighbor mehmed whose donkey ali knew to be idle in the stable that day i am sorry my dear neighbor said mehmed in reply to alis request but i cannot please you my son took the donkey this morning to the next village i a.s.sure you insisted ali i shall take the very best care of him my dear neighbor can you not take my word demanded mehmed with a show of anger i tell you the donkey is out but at this point the donkey began to bray loudly there that is the donkey braying now well said the justly indignant mehmed if you would rather take my donkeys word than my word we can be friends no longer and under no circ.u.mstances can i lend you anything.

59. a coroner was called upon to hold an inquest over the body of an italian the only witness was a small boy of the same nationality who spoke no english the examination proceeded thus where do you live my boy the boy shook his head do you speak english another shake of the head do you speak french another shake do you speak german still no answer how old are you no reply have you father and mother no reply do you speak italian the boy gave no sign well said the coroner i have questioned the witness in four languages and can get no answer it is useless to proceed the court is adjourned.

NOTE. Further exercise in punctuation may be had by copying without the marks of punctuation selections from books, and afterwards inserting the proper marks.

CHAPTER IX

THE PARAGRAPH

141. The PARAGRAPH is a connected series of sentences all dealing with the development of a single topic. Where the general subject under discussion is very narrow, the paragraph may const.i.tute the whole composition; but usually, it forms one of a number of subtopics, each dealing with some subdivision of the general subject. For each one of these subtopics a separate paragraph should be made.

The purpose of the paragraph is to aid the reader to comprehend the thought to be expressed. The paragraph groups in a logical way the different ideas to be communicated. It gives rest to the eye of the reader, and makes clearer the fact that there is a change of topic at each new paragraph.

142. PARAGRAPH LENGTH. There is no fixed rule governing the proper length of the paragraph, but, probably, no paragraph need be more than three hundred words in length. If the whole composition is not more than two hundred and fifty words in length, it will not often need to be subdivided into paragraphs. In a letter, paragraphing should be more frequent than in other compositions.

Paragraphing should not be too frequent. If paragraphing is too frequent, by making each minute subdivision of equal importance, it defeats its purpose of grouping ideas about some general topic.

143. Sometimes a sentence or even a part of a sentence may be set off as a separate paragraph in order to secure greater emphasis.

This, however, is only using the paragraph for a proper purpose--to aid in gaining clearness.

144. PARAGRAPHING OF SPEECH. In a narrative, each direct quotation, together with the rest of the sentence of which it is a part, should const.i.tute a separate paragraph. This rule should be always followed in writing a conversation. Examine the following:

A certain Scotch family cherishes this anecdote of a trip which Dr. Samuel Johnson made to Scotland. He had stopped at the house of this family for a meal, and was helped to the national dish.

During the meal the hostess asked: