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Jay Goldston
GOOD WRITING A MODERN RHETORIC
GOOD WRITING A MODERN RHETORIC
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IN making this book, we have kept in view one main purpose: to aid the student who is learning to speak and write acceptably. In order to accomplish this purpose, we have provided material for the study of those principles of composition which our experience as teachers has led us to believe are essential for his guidance. Our desire to present a practical treatment of the subject has not, however, persuaded us to refrain from discussing at considerable length the theory of effective expression. Some teachers of composition are disposed to reduce rhetorical theory to its lowest terms; others wish to abandon it altogether. We have done neither. Believing that rules governing certain matters of speech, and principles governing others, have grown up, under the shaping influence of the best common consent, with the growth of our language, and should therefore be made familiar rather than feared and shunned, we have thought it best to discuss these rules and principles with necessary directness and completeness. Theory well understood and thoroughly mastered, far from impeding practice, makes it surer and more intelligent, even when writing has become an unconscious process.
It has been our aim, in the presentation of the theory, to keep constantly before the student the great ends to be achieved through practice. We have insisted that, no mat-ter what particular purpose he may have in any composition, — to explain, to convince, to tell a story, to reproduce a picture of something which he has seen or
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imagined, — he must try to meet at least the three fundamental requirements of good English, — Correctness, Clearness, and Force,— and, if the nature of the subject demands it, Beauty as well. Since these terms seem to us to have the advantage of being easily understood, we have employed them throughout the book; and, since the long-used designations, Unity, Coherence, and Emphasis, the first two of which are not mutually exclusive, are liable to cause some confusion in the student's mind, we have discarded them altogether. Whatever loss may result from this break with tradition will, we believe, be fully offset by greater clarification of the whole subject.
The book takes for granted that the student has already had a course in composition, in which the essentials of formal and practical grammar, and the most important principles of effectiveness, have been taught, and which has afforded some training, particularly in Narration and Description. Grammar is reviewed, but not more fully than is necessary to ensure a working knowledge of the terminology required in the discussion of grammatical errors and the grammatical structure, rhetoric, and punctuation of the sentence. It is made entirely subordinate to practical requirements, and is intentionally ignored where it applies to matters of usage in which nobody ever goes astray.
The book is designed as an organized presentation of the subject in its main features from first to last, as a handbook for reference, and as a practice book. In determining the most effective order for the explanation of the theory, we have been influenced by two considerations: the desirability of some strictly logical scheme, on one hand, and the actual demands of instruction, on the other. Between these two considerations there is undoubtedly a conflict. Every teacher is well aware that, however desirable it may be to discuss each point in its proper
It has been our aim, in the presentation of the theory, to keep constantly before the student the great ends to be achieved through practice. We have insisted that, no mat-ter what particular purpose he may have in any composition, — to explain, to convince, to tell a story, to reproduce a picture of something which he has seen or
iii
iv PREFACE
imagined, — he must try to meet at least the three fundamental requirements of good English, — Correctness, Clearness, and Force,— and, if the nature of the subject demands it, Beauty as well. Since these terms seem to us to have the advantage of being easily understood, we have employed them throughout the book; and, since the long-used designations, Unity, Coherence, and Emphasis, the first two of which are not mutually exclusive, are liable to cause some confusion in the student's mind, we have discarded them altogether. Whatever loss may result from this break with tradition will, we believe, be fully offset by greater clarification of the whole subject.
The book takes for granted that the student has already had a course in composition, in which the essentials of formal and practical grammar, and the most important principles of effectiveness, have been taught, and which has afforded some training, particularly in Narration and Description. Grammar is reviewed, but not more fully than is necessary to ensure a working knowledge of the terminology required in the discussion of grammatical errors and the grammatical structure, rhetoric, and punctuation of the sentence. It is made entirely subordinate to practical requirements, and is intentionally ignored where it applies to matters of usage in which nobody ever goes astray.
The book is designed as an organized presentation of the subject in its main features from first to last, as a handbook for reference, and as a practice book. In determining the most effective order for the explanation of the theory, we have been influenced by two considerations: the desirability of some strictly logical scheme, on one hand, and the actual demands of instruction, on the other. Between these two considerations there is undoubtedly a conflict. Every teacher is well aware that, however desirable it may be to discuss each point in its proper
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