directed to improvement in clearness. The teacher will need to assist in
this correction, but the really valuable part is that which you do for
yourself. After you leave school you will need to decide for yourself what
is right and what is best, and it is essential that you now learn how to
make such decisions.

To aid you in acquiring a habit of self-correction, questions or
suggestions follow the directions for writing each theme. In Theme I you
are to express clearly to others something that is already clear to you.


+Theme I.+-_Write a short theme on one of the subjects that you have used
for an oral composition._

(After writing this theme, read it aloud to yourself. Does it read
smoothly? Have you told what actually happened? Have you told it so that
the hearers will understand you? Have you said what you meant to say?
Consider the introduction. Has the story a point?)


+9. The Conclusion.+--Since the point of a story marks the climax of
interest, it is evident that the conclusion must not be long delayed after
the point has been reached. If the story has been well told, the point
marks the natural conclusion, and a sentence or two will serve to bring
the story to a satisfactory end. If a suitable ending does not suggest
itself, it is better to omit the conclusion altogether than to construct a
forced or flowery one. Notice the conclusion of the incident of the Civil
War related on page 18.