The Century Vocabulary Builder by Garland Greever;Joseph M. (Joseph Morris) Bachelor
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page 16 of 412 (03%)
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utterance. Make a list of offhand, homely, or picturesque expressions you
have heard him employ, and ask yourself what it is in these expressions that has made them linger in your memory. With them in mind, and with your knowledge of the man's methods of imparting his ideas vividly, try to make your version of the editorial more forceful still. 4. Study Appendix 2 (Causes for the American Spirit of Liberty) as an example of stately and elaborate, yet energetic, discourse. The speech from which this extract is taken was delivered in Parliament in a vain effort to stay England from driving her colonies to revolt. Some of Burke's turns of phrase are extremely bold and original, as "The religion most prevalent in our northern colonies is a refinement on the principle of resistance; it is the dissidence of dissent and the Protestantism of the Protestant religion." Moreover, with all his fulness of diction, Burke could cleave to the heart of an idea in a few words, as "Freedom is to them [the southern slave-holders] not only an enjoyment, but a kind of rank and privilege." Find other examples of bold or concise and illuminating utterance. 5. Read Appendix 3 (Parable of the Sower). It has no special audacities of phrase, but escapes tameness in various ways--largely through its simple earnestness. 6. Make a list of the descriptive phrases in Appendix 4 (The Seven Ages of Man) through which Shakespeare gives life and distinctness to his pictures. 7. Study Appendix 5 (The Castaway) as a piece of homely, effective narrative. (Defoe wrote for the man in the street. He was a literary jack-of-all-trades whom dignified authors of his day would not |
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