laughed and laughed till she split her sides. 10. Fortunately a tailor was taking his rest by the stream. 11. As he had a sympathetic heart, he brought out a needle and thread and stitched her up again; but as he used black thread all beans have black seams to this day. EXERCISE 7 MAKING A SHORT STORY CLEAR BY PLANNING IT BEFOREHAND As you have seen, one way of arranging details clearly in telling a story is to follow the time order. If two things happen at the same time, we must decide which to tell first. (Notice that the fifth sentence in the first version is the ninth sentence in the second version of the story above. Which is the better place for the important detail told in it?) Unfortunately our minds do not always work logically (What does this word mean?), and often we leave out an important link that must be supplied later. We have to go back and put it in, breaking the reader's thread of interest, or else we leave it out; and in either case we partly spoil the clearness of our story. To be sure of clearness, then, we must plan beforehand what we are going to say, arranging it in the best order possible. A study of the following incident from "Jack Ballister's Fortunes may help you. What is told first here? What next? etc. Exactly what is the subject? What good details are given? JACK'S LUCK It was pretty late in the afternoon when they approached the fishing-ground. Dennis leaned over the rail [of the boat] every now and then, and peered down into the water, as the hoy drifted along close-hauled to the wind. One of the negroes stood ready to drop the sail, and the other stood in the bow to throw over the stone that served as an anchor when Dennis should give the order. "Let go!" shouted Dennis, suddenly, and the sail fell with a rattle of the block and tackle, and in a heap of canvas. At the same time the negro in the bow threw the stone overboard with a great loud splash. Jack and Little Coffee were the first to drop their lines into the water. Jack sat watching the negro boy; he hoped with all his might that he might catch the first fish, but it did not seem possible that he could catch a fish in that little open spot of the wide, wide stretch of water. Then all of a sudden there came a sharp, quivering pull at the hook, and he instantly began hauling in the wet and dripping line wildly, hand over hand. He thought for a moment that he had lost the fish; then there came a renewed tugging at his line, and in another second he had jerked the shining thing into the boat, where it lay flashing and splashing and flapping upon the boards of the bottom. "I caught the first fish, Little Coffee!" he shouted. "Look dar, now," said Little Coffee, testily. "Fish just bite my hook, and you talk and scare 'um away." Jack jeered derisively, and Dennis burst out laughing, while Little Coffee glowered at Jack in glum sullenness.- PYLE, "Jack Ballister's Fortunes Tell some personal experience to the class. Plan it carefully, state your plan in a sentence like those made in Exercise 6, and follow your plan. However, try to tell your experience without having to look at a paper. If there is not time for all members of the class to speak, let one squad speak and. others write. Planning is so important that you might give several lessons to this exercise. Here are some reminders of what you have already learned. Answer these questions before you prepare your story, and keep them in mind as an outline for helpful criticism: What three things should you think of beforehand to make your story interesting and clear? What four things can you specify that are necessary for effective oral presentation? What matters of form can you specify that are necessary for effective written presentation? The following titles may help you think of something to tell. You will need to limit your subject according to your individual experience; as, "How I saw the Camp Meade soldiers parade on the Fourth of July." How I Saw the Parade An Amateur Street-Cleaner My First Adventure Catching Billy in the Pasture. The End of the Game How the Tables Were Turned A Long Five Minutes Just in Time "Check!" Tarred and Feathered by Mistake Too Sharp A Warrior Turkey Earning the Last Quarter PROBLEM IV MAKING SURE OF KNOWING SENTENCES Although you have been talking about sentences ever since you were in the first grade, you probably still make mistakes in writing them. If you do not, you will be allowed to omit this problem; if you do, you will not wish to omit it. It is meant to give you help in recognizing sentences, and practice in writing them. There are two principal kinds of mistakes that people make because they do not really know what a sentence is. They write two or more separate sentences as if they were one, and they write part of a sentence as if it were complete. To cure these faults you need first to understand perfectly and then to take care in writing until good habits are strong enough to take care of themselves. EXERCISE 1 PICKING OUT SENTENCES AND PARTS OF As you read these groups of words aloud imagine that somebody is speaking them to you. In which cases should you feel that the speaker had finished his remark? In which cases should you expect him to say something more? Which groups of words are sentences? Let the best reader in the class dictate to you the groups that are sentences, and the rest of the class write them, using capital letters and periods where they belong. You will find in these sentences several words that frequently cause trouble in spelling, most of them everyday words that you have known by sight ever since you could read. Don't be tripped by them this time. If you have now ten or more words on your individual spelling list, you should clear your record by spelling them correctly for somebody appointed to hear you. 1. I have written my composition for tomorrow 2. Harold is writing his today 3. when I was writing my composition Susie turned the bottle of ink over on the table 4. wipe up the ink quickly 5. when mother saw the spilled ink 6. because the recitation has not yet begun 7. the recitation had already begun 8. speak so distinctly that no one will have to make an effort to understand you 9. if you read too rapidly 10. he was too late for the four o'clock train 11. the boy standing near the door 12. whenever I do not know my lesson well 13. whenever Kate speaks to the class, she tells something interesting 14. the book of poems that you wanted is lying on the desk 15. the boy sitting in the back row 16. if somebody cries "Fire!" sit still and keep your head EXERCISE 2 DEFINING A SENTENCE In geography and arithmetic you have had to define certain things that is, to tell exactly what they are; for example, "A cape is a point of land projecting into a body |