Composition-Rhetoric Part 26

+88. The Transition Paragraph.+--Just as a word or phrase may serve to denote the relation in thought between paragraphs, so may a whole paragraph be used to carry over the thought from one group of paragraphs to another in the same theme. Such a paragraph makes a transition from one general topic or method of treating the subject of the theme to some other general topic or to the consideration of the subject from a different point of view. This transitional paragraph may summarize the thought of the preceding paragraph in addition to announcing a change of topic; or it may mark the transition to the new topic and set it forth in general terms.

+89. The Summarizing Paragraph.+--Frequently we give emphasis to our thought by a final paragraph summarizing the main points of the theme.

Such a summary is in effect a restatement of the topic sentences of our paragraphs. If our theme has been coherent, these sentences stated in order will need but little changing to make a coherent paragraph. In a similar way, it is of advantage to close a long paragraph with a sentence which repeats the topic statement or summarizes the thought of the paragraph. See the last sentence in Section 57.

+90. Development of a Composition by Comparison or Contrast.+--The third method of development is that of comparison or contrast. Nearly every idea which we have suggests one that is similar to it or in contrast with it.

We are thus led to make comparisons or to state contrasts. When these are few and brief, they may make a single paragraph (Section 48). If our comparisons or contrasts are extended, they may make several paragraphs, and thus a whole theme may be developed by this method.

In such a theme no fixed order of presentation is determined by the actual occurrence in time or s.p.a.ce of that which we present. Consequently, in outlining a theme of this kind, we must devote special attention to arranging our paragraphs in an order that shall give coherence and emphasis.

+Theme XLVIII.+--_Write a theme of three or more paragraphs developed by comparison._

Suggested subjects:-- 1. Compare men with verbs (active, pa.s.sive, transitive, intransitive, defective, redundant, auxiliary, copulative, etc.).

2. Show that the body resembles a machine.

3. In what way is the school like a factory?

4. How do two books that you have read differ?

5. Compare Lincoln and McKinley. How alike? How different?

6. How can you tell an oak tree from an elm tree?

7. Without naming them, compare two of your friends with each other.

8. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of public high schools with those of private academies.

+91. Development of a Composition by Use of Generalization and Facts.+-- Using the fourth method of development, we may give an entire composition to the explanation of the meaning of a general proposition or to the demonstration of the truth of such a proposition. To accomplish this purpose we state facts or instances that ill.u.s.trate the meaning of the proposition or that show it to be true. In such a composition each important fact or instance may be given a separate paragraph, while several minor facts or ill.u.s.trations may be properly combined in the same paragraph. (See Section 44.) Greater emphasis may also be given the more important facts by a.s.signing them to the emphatic positions.

Notice how by specific instances the following selection ill.u.s.trates the truth of the generalization set forth in the second sentence and restated in the last sentence.

DEGENERATION THROUGH QUIESCENCE

While parasitism is the princ.i.p.al cause of degeneration among animals, yet it is not the sole cause. It is evident that if for any other reason animals should become fixed, and live inactive lives, they would degenerate. There are not a few instances of degeneration due simply to a quiescent life, unaccompanied by parasitism.

The Tunicata, or sea squirts, are animals which have become simple through degeneration, due to the adoption of a sedentary life, the withdrawal from the crowd of animals and from the struggle which it necessitates. The young tunicate is a free-swimming, active, tadpolelike, or fishlike creature, which possesses organs very like those of the adult of the simplest fishes or fishlike forms. That is, the sea squirt begins life as a primitively simple vertebrate. It possesses in its larval stage a notochord, the delicate structure which precedes the formation of a backbone, extending along the upper part of the body below the spinal cord. The other organs of the young tunicate are all of vertebral type.

But the young sea squirt pa.s.ses a period of active and free life as a little fish, after which it settles down and attaches itself to a sh.e.l.l or wooden pier by means of suckers, and remains for the rest of its life fixed. Instead of going on and developing into a fishlike creature, it loses its notochord, its special sense organs, and other organs; it loses its complexity and high organization, and becomes a "mere rooted bag with a double neck," a thoroughly degenerate animal.

A barnacle is another example of degeneration through quiescence. The barnacles are crustaceans related most nearly to the crabs and shrimps.

The young barnacle just from the egg is a six-legged, free-swimming nauplius, very like a young prawn or crab, with a single eye. In its next larval stage it has six pairs of swimming feet, two compound eyes, and two antennae or feelers, and still lives an independent free-swimming life.

When it makes its final change to the adult condition, it attaches itself to some stone, or sh.e.l.l, or pile, or s.h.i.+p's bottom, loses its compound eyes and feelers, develops a protecting sh.e.l.l, and gives up all power of locomotion. Its swimming feet become changed into grasping organs, and it loses most of its outward resemblance to the other members of its cla.s.s.

Certain insects live sedentary or fixed lives. All the members of the family of scale insects (Coccidae), in one s.e.x at least, show degeneration that has been caused by quiescence. One of these coccids, called the red orange scale, is very abundant in Florida and California and in other fruit-growing regions. The male is a beautiful, tiny, two-winged midge, but the female is a wingless, footless, little sack, without eyes or other organs of special sense, which lies motionless under a flat, thin, circular, reddish scale composed of wax and two or three cast skins of the insect itself. The insect has a long, slender, flexible, sucking beak, which is thrust into the leaf or stem or fruit of the orange on which the "scale bug" lives, and through which the insect sucks the orange sap, which is its only food. It lays eggs under its body, and thus also under the protecting wax scale, and dies. From the eggs hatch active little larval "scale bugs," with eyes and feelers, and six legs. They crawl from under the wax scale and roam about over the orange tree. Finally, they settle down, thrusting their sucking beak into the plant tissue, and cast their skin. The females lose at this molt their legs and eyes and feelers.

Each becomes a mere motionless sack capable only of sucking up sap and laying eggs. The young males, however, lose their sucking beak and can no longer take food, but they gain a pair of wings and an additional pair of eyes. They fly about and fertilize the sacklike females, which then molt again and secrete the thin wax scale over them.

Throughout the animal kingdom loss of the need of movement is followed by the loss of the power to move and of all structures related to it.

--Jordon and Kellogg: _Animal Life_.

Has the principle of unity been observed in the above selection; that is, of the many things that might be told about a sea squirt, a barnacle, or a scale bug, have the authors selected only those which serve to ill.u.s.trate degeneration through quiescence?

Instead of one generalization supported by a series of facts to each of which a paragraph is given, we may have several subordinate generalizations relating to the subject of the theme. Each of these subordinate generalizations may become the topic statement of a paragraph which is further developed by giving specific instances or by some other method of paragraph development. Such an order, that is, generalization followed by the facts which ill.u.s.trate it, is coherent; but care must be taken to give each fact under the generalization to which it is most closely related. On the other hand, our theme may be made coherent by giving the facts first, and then the generalization that they establish.

+Theme XLIX.+--_Write a theme of three or more paragraphs ill.u.s.trating or proving some general statement by means of facts or specific instances._

Suggested subjects:-- 1. Young persons should not drink coffee.

2. Reasons for the curfew bell.

3. Girls wear their hair in a variety of ways.

4. There are several kinds of boys in this school.

5. Civilization increases as the facilities for transportation increase.

6. Trolley roads are of great benefit to the country.

7. Presence of mind often averts danger.

+92. Development of a Composition by Stating Cause and Effect.+--The statement of the causes of an event or condition may be used as a fifth method of development. The principle, however, is not different from that applied to the development of a paragraph by stating cause and effect (Section 49). If several causes contribute to the same effect, each may be given a separate paragraph, or several minor ones may be combined in one paragraph. For the sake of unity we must include each fact, principle, or statement in the paragraph to which it really belongs. The coherent order is usually that which proceeds from causes to effects rather than that which traces events backward from effects to causes.

+Theme L.+--_Write a theme of three or more paragraphs, stating causes and effects._

Suggested subjects:-- 1. Why hospitals are necessary.

2. Why cigarette smoking is dangerous.

3. Why girls should take music lessons.

4. The effect of climate upon health.

5. The effect of rainfall upon the productivity and industries of a country.

6. The effect of mountains, lakes, or rivers upon exploration and travel.

7. What connection is there between occupation and height above the sea level, and why?

8. Why our city is located where it is.

9. Why I came late to school.

+93. Combination of Methods of Development.+--Frequently the presentation of our thought is made most effective by using some combination of the methods of development discussed in this chapter. Time and place are often interwoven, comparisons and contrasts flash into mind, general statements need specific ill.u.s.tration, or results demand immediate explanation--all in the same theme. Sometimes the order of coherence will be in doubt, for cause and effect demand a different order of statement from that which would be given were we to follow either time-order or position in s.p.a.ce.

In such cases we must choose whether it is most important to tell first _why_ or _when_ or _where_. The only rule that can be suggested is to do that which will make our meaning most clear, because it is for the sake of the clear presentation of our thought that we seek unity, coherence, and emphasis.

+Theme LI.+--_Write a theme of several paragraphs. Use any method of development or any combination of methods._

(Choose your own subject. After the theme is written make a list of all the questions you should ask yourself about it. Correct the theme with reference to each point in your list of questions.)

SUMMARY

1. General principles of composition.

_a._ Unity.

_b._ Coherence.

_c._ Emphasis.

(1) By position.