Part II — Composition: Oral and Written
Chapter X — Oral English
Exercise 135
Retell a story that you know or one that the instructor has read to you. See if you can tell the whole story in fairly long sentences without using a single and. You will be allowed to use three and’s. As soon as you say the third, you must take your seat. Let the class keep count.
The story may be an anecdote, a fable, or any other short incident that can easily be told in one or two minutes. You probably have read many such or have heard your father and your mother tell them. A joke that can be told in two or three sentences will not be long enough.
The excessive use of and spoils the telling of many stories. It is a mistake to think that the gap between the end of one sentence and the beginning of the next appears as great to the listener as it does to us as we are deliberating what to say next. To avoid the gap we bridge the two sentences with and. Its use in this way is hardly ever necessary if we think out a sentence to the end before we begin to speak it. When we have finished the thought, we should finish the sentence without trying to bind it artificially to the next one. The sentences will be bound together if the thought of one grows out of the thought of the preceding one.
If the unfolding of the idea does not seem sufficient to tie the parts, there are better expressions to use than and. There are short expressions like in this way, likewise, moreover, thus, therefore, besides, as might be expected, and too. Another way to avoid and is to change the form of the sentence: (1) better than the form, “I opened the window and saw,” is, “Opening the window, I saw;” (2) better than “I am going to the store and buy some sugar,” is, “I am going to the store to buy some sugar;” (3) better than “There was a boy and his name was John,” is, “There was a boy whose name was John;” (4) better than “I reached home and found that my cousin had arrived,” is, “When I reached home, I found that my cousin had arrived.” In place of and, therefore, we may use (1) participles, (2) infinitives, (3) relative pronouns, and (4) subordinate conjunctions.
Above all, avoid and everything, as in, “I washed the dishes and swept the floor and everything.” To try thus to complete an idea that is already complete shows childishness.
Exercise 136
Very likely in telling the story as suggested above you found yourself frequently using the word so to connect two sentences. Perhaps, too, you used why to begin sentences.
Now tell one of your own experiences, being careful not to use and, so, or why. Introduce as much conversation as possible. What, if any, is the advantage of telling a story in the first person? Why is it good to introduce conversation?
In your conversation make use of several of the following words:
| replied | whispered | spoke | inquired |
| answered | agreed | cried | explained |
| asked | exclaimed | shouted | remarked |
| questioned | repeated | continued | suggested |
| promised | maintained | objected | rejoined |
| interrupted | quoted | returned | added |
Exercise 137
Far too many boys and girls pay but little regard to the matter of choosing the word that will give the exact meaning that they wish to convey. In order to lend force to their words they have formed the habit of speaking in superlatives; like the girl who said, “We had a perfectly grand time, but I’m so beastly tired now that I’m nearly dead,” and yet she showed no evidence of suffering.
Isn’t it a pity that our beautiful English language should be so degraded in common usage that it loses all its force and meaning? Instead of convincing people that she really was tired, the girl quoted above made herself ridiculous by her exaggeration. Yet isn’t the quotation a fair example of the speech of many boys and girls? Surely everything about us is not either grand or beastly. The habit thus formed is difficult to break, but it must be broken if we wish to speak our language correctly.
Make a list of the slang phrases that you have acquired. For each one substitute a good English expression.
The reason we must watch our oral English closely is that it is in our conversation that our habits of speech are formed. The expressions we use then we unconsciously employ when we are writing or talking to the class. If we are accustomed to use considerable slang when we speak, we shall have difficulty in eliminating it from our writing or in finding a good word to express the idea for which we usually use slang. As a rule, slang and extravagant expressions of all kinds are used to serve such a variety of meanings that the use of them tends to limit the vocabulary to these expressions. Consider slang something undesirable and stop using it.
Exercise 138
Look up the words in each of the following groups. You will notice that there is a resemblance of meaning between all the words of each group, but that there is also a shade of difference in meaning that distinguishes each word from its companions. Discover that shade of difference. Use each word in a sentence.
1. Lovely, beautiful, pretty, handsome.
2. Awful, terrible, horrible, dreadful, fearful.
3. Nice, pleasant, delightful, dainty, fine, agreeable.
4. Grand, imposing, splendid, impressive.
5. Love, like, adore, admire, revere.
6. Smart, clever, bright, quick-witted.
7. Fierce, ferocious, wild.
8. Guess, think, suppose, imagine.
9. Hate, dislike, despise, abhor, detest.
10. Scholar, student, pupil.
Exercise 139
Carelessness in speaking frequently results in wordiness, since the speaker in an effort to be clear or forceful repeats the idea two or three times. Such speech is tiresome. In each of the following sentences there are too many words to express the idea. See how many you can omit and yet preserve the meaning. Sometimes the sentence needs revision.
1. I haven’t got any time.
2. Where does he live at?
3. Don’t stand up; there’s a chair.
4. The woman she had an accident.
5. You had ought to take more exercise.
6. I was just going to go.
7. I excuse you because you are a new beginner.
8. I can finish the work in three days’ time.
9. The offices are both alike in all respects.
10. He engaged the both of us.
11. We applied to Mr. Abbot, he being the manager.
12. My mind often reverts back to the time when I began in business.
13. That high building that is going up on Twelfth Street is going to be twenty stories high when it is finished.
14. From his appearance he looked to be in very poor circumstances.
15. He is afraid of the results that will ensue if he follows the course that he has planned.
16. The present state of affairs that is now confronting the public has become what it now is because the citizens are not public spirited.
17. The reason why I was not at work yesterday was because I was not feeling as well as I might.
18. I shall never forget the terrible sights that I saw the time that I witnessed the street car collision.
19. I have been debating in my mind whether I ought to accept the offer.
20. He was a mere little child when he first began to work in the mine.
21. Mix together both the butter and the sugar, and rub the two of them to a cream.
22. The two pieces of cloth are just exactly the same in every way.
23. You will find this chair equally as comfortable as the other.
24. He said that when he started in his business that he had almost no capital at all.
25. It was the office of Morgan & Son where I got my experience.
26. China is undergoing a vast change at the present time.
27. At about the age of fourteen years he left his home town.
28. They did it gladly and willingly.
29. He always shows great deference and respect when he speaks to those who are in authority.
30. He is the proprietor and owner of the News.
31. You can easily get the training that will make you a competent and efficient high-salaried trained man.
32. For sale, a large, commodious house, arranged with every convenience to make it comfortable.
33. We are making all the necessary improvements that are needed.
34. I went to high school to take up stenography.