Practical English Composition Part 19

2. Explain the plan of some new house that you pa.s.s on your way to school.

3. Explain the structure of a new locomotive, railway car, street car, automobile, s.h.i.+p, or aeroplane.

4. Explain the plan of your schoolhouse.

5. The papers contain many descriptions of new houses. These are usually written with a fine disregard of the laws of composition. Find and rewrite one of them. Do the same with a description of a s.h.i.+p such as is common in periodicals.

II. Model I

The new suburban home of John Doe is located in a ten-acre tract on the northern side of the Seven-Mile Road, midway between Woodward Avenue and the Gratiot E. Turnpike. The material is reinforced concrete; the style, Colonial; the roof of green s.h.i.+ngles; the size, 48 feet by 36 feet.

From a front entrance porch a central hall 7 feet wide extends 29 feet to the rear of the house, terminating in a flight of stairs broken in the middle by a landing. Above this landing a circular window gives plenty of light and at the same time forms a decorative feature.

On the right, as one enters the hall, is a room 9 feet by 14 feet, which may be used as a den or a reception room. Back of this is a living-room, 14 feet by 20 feet, with a fireplace at the rear end, and a French door that leads to a side piazza.

This piazza, which is 20 feet by 7 feet, is covered and is equipped with sliding windows.

On the other side of the hall, in front, is the dining-room, 16 feet by 14 feet. This room has a fireplace, which faces the street, and a French door, which leads to a side porch 8 feet by 10. The latter is enclosed with gla.s.s and is used as a breakfast porch. Directly behind this porch is a small sewing-room, and, partly behind the sewing-room and partly behind the dining-room, is the kitchen, which is 12 feet square. In the northwest corner of the house, directly north of the sewing-room and west of the kitchen, are a small back porch and an entry large enough for a refrigerator. East of the kitchen, between it and the main hall, are a pa.s.sage and service stairways leading to the cellar and the upper floors. The kitchen is thus separated from the rest of the house, either way, by two doors, which prevents the odors of the cooking from escaping.

The walls of the first floor are finished in oiled and waxed gumwood. The floors are oak, except in the kitchen, where hard pine is used.

On the second floor the rear of the s.p.a.ce above the main hall is occupied by a pa.s.sage, the front by a bathroom. On the eastern side of this pa.s.sage, above the den, is a bedroom 16 feet by 14 feet, and back of this, above the living-room, a bedroom 14 feet by 11 feet. The latter has a fireplace in the north wall. On the western side of the pa.s.sage, in front, above the dining-room, is the owner's chamber, 16 feet by 14 feet. From its southeast corner a door leads to the bathroom already mentioned; on its southwest side is a porch, and in its northern wall are two closets and a fireplace. In its rear a pa.s.sage leads to a fourth chamber, 14 feet by 10 feet, which has an alcove, 9 feet by 8 feet. This alcove is directly above the sewing-room and the chamber is in the northwest corner of the house. Between it and the service stairway is a second bathroom.

On the third floor are three large chambers, an unfinished room for storage, and a servants' bath.

The cellar contains a laundry, a vegetable closet, coal-bins, and a hot-water heating-plant.

III. a.n.a.lytical Discussion

1. Note the framework: (a) "Four W's"--Par. 1.

(b) First Floor-- Par. 2. Main Hall.

Par. 3. Right Side.

Par. 4. Left Side.

Par. 5. Floors and Walls.

(c) Second Floor--Par. 6.

(d) Third Floor. Par. 7.

(e) Cellar--Par. 8.

2. _Words._ Define and explain the etymology of "suburban,"

"located," "reinforced," "concrete," "Colonial," "reception,"

"piazza," "porch," "refrigerator," "separated," "except,"

"servant," "closet," "effect."

3. _Sentences._ (a) Tell whether they are simple, complex, or compound. (b) Do any of them lack unity?

4. _Paragraphs._ (a) Can you find any violations of paragraph unity? (b) Observe that the following particulars are mentioned in Par. 1: location, material, shape, color, size. Is the same plan used in describing each room? In order to determine this, make a list of the items that are mentioned in explaining the construction of each.

5. _Transition._ Point out all of the transition words in the model.

6. _Figures of Speech._ Find a metaphor and an ant.i.thesis in the model.

IV. Model II

The _Arizona_ is the latest and greatest addition to the battle fleet of the United States.

Her displacement is 31,400 tons, her length over all 600 feet, her maximum breadth 97 feet, and her draft under normal conditions 28 feet, 10 inches. Parsons's turbines of 29,000 horse-power give her a speed of 21 knots. Her fuel supply is 2322 tons of oil. She carries a crew of 1000 men. Her cost was $16,000,000.

Her armament consists of twelve fourteen-inch and twenty-two five-inch guns, four three-pounders for the launches, two three-inch guns for salutes, and four twenty-two-inch torpedo tubes. The big guns are mounted in four turrets, two forward and two aft, each containing three guns. The turrets nearer to the middle of the s.h.i.+p are enough higher than the forward and aft turrets to permit their guns to be fired directly ahead and astern respectively. This arrangement permits the concentration of six guns forward, six aft, and twelve on either broadside.

This vessel is probably armored more heavily than any other wars.h.i.+p afloat. Her main belt is sixteen inches thick, while the _Iron Duke_, one of the latest British dreadnoughts, carries only twelve inches.

V. Notes and Queries

1. Observe the structure: Par. 1. General Description.

Par. 2. Statistics.

Par. 3. Offensive Power.

Par. 4. Defensive Arrangements.

2. Could the same structure be used for the description of a freight boat, a pa.s.senger steamer, a ferryboat, a schooner, a sloop, a brig, a brigantine, a tugboat, a launch, a locomotive, a railway carriage, an airs.h.i.+p, or an automobile?

3. What changes, if any, would you suggest?

4. Explain the terms "displacement," "draft," "normal," "knots,"

"pounds," "turrets."

5. Explain the metaphor in "belt." Is it a good one?

VI. Gathering Material

Do not get your material from reading; get it from observation. Don't steal it; earn it. Catch your fish; don't buy a string of dead ones at the fish-market, and then lie about the way you obtained them. Few of us can be original, but we can all be honest and industrious.

VII. Organization

Before you write, make a plan. It is as necessary in composition as in building. If the nature of your subject or the kind and quant.i.ty of your material render it desirable to deviate from the model, do not hesitate to do so. As a rule, however, it will be best to follow its plan rather closely. At all events, work from some plan. Don't get the idea that you can dash off a finished exposition in a few minutes.

VIII. Writing

Exposition above everything else should be clear. Say what you mean and mean what you say.

IX. Criticism

The written expositions of house plans may be tested by having the pupils exchange papers, and asking the recipients to draw the plans from the compositions.