experience; we may recombine them into new forms by the imagination; and
we may receive them from others through the medium of language, either by
conversation or by reading.

Every day we add to our knowledge through our senses. We see and hear and
do, and thus, through experience, acquire ideas about things. By far the
greater part of expression has to do with ideas that have originated in
this way. The first chapter in this book is concerned with the expression
of ideas gained through experience.

We may, however, think about things that have not actually occurred. We
may allow our minds to picture a football game that we have not seen, or
to plan a story about a boy who never existed. Nearly every one takes
pleasure in such an exercise of the imagination. The second chapter has to
do with the expression of ideas of this kind.

We also add to our knowledge through the medium of language. Through
conversation and reading we learn what others think, and it is often of
value to restate these ideas. The expression of ideas so acquired is
treated in the third chapter.


+3. Advantages of Expressing Ideas Gained from Experience.+--Young people
sometimes find difficulty in writing because they "have nothing to say."
Such a reason will not hold in regard to ideas gained from experience.
Every one has a multitude of experiences every day, and wishes to tell
about some of them. Many of the things which happen to you or to your
friends, especially some which occur outside of the regular routine of
school work, are interesting and worth telling about. Thus experience
furnishes an abundance of material suitable for composition purposes, and