Exercise 155 — The Divisions of the Subject
After you have selected your subject, decide into what divisions it naturally falls. If it is of the proper length, it probably will divide itself into two or three divisions. Each of these will constitute one-half or one-third of your composition, and within each division illustrations, reasons, and explanatory details will appear. Arrange the divisions in the order in which they naturally come, according to their relative time of happening or according to their relative importance, reserving the most important for the last.
Sometimes this sort of division is difficult to make, because a subject can frequently be treated from different points of view, the point of view deciding the divisions. Sometimes you will find that you have made a number of small divisions, in each of which you can say only one or two sentences. This will at once suggest that you have not found the main parts of the subject, but have made unimportant divisions. Again, it may seem that you cannot divide your subject into satisfactory parts. In that case, you probably do not know enough about it. Think about it again, and, if you find that you really cannot divide it, choose another.
Choose one of the following subjects. Is the title definite and clear? If it is not, change it so that it will be. For example, Photography (5) is not a definite title. No one could attempt to explain the entire subject of photography in a few minutes. A better title for a theme would be one of the following: How to Develop a Negative; How to Intensify [or reduce] a Negative; Our Camera Club; The Photography Exhibit at the Art Museum; Kinematography; Flash Light Pictures without Smoke or Odor; The Conditions Necessary for a Good Snap Shot Picture; The Advantages of Using a Developing Machine; How My Camera Helped Pay for My Vacation. Can you suggest still others?
After having selected your title, decide into what divisions the subject naturally falls. For example, let us take (2) below. A Ball Game is not a definite title. Instead, let us choose Last Saturday’s Football Game. As stated above, a subject may be treated from different points of view, the point of view deciding the divisions. Thus, in treating Last Saturday’s Football Game, we may divide:
a
Last Saturday’s Football Game
| I. | The first quarter. |
| II. | The second quarter. |
| III. | The third quarter. |
| IV. | The fourth quarter. |
b
Last Saturday’s Football Game
| I. | The excitement for a week before the game. |
| II. | The tension during the struggle. |
| III. | The celebration after the game. |
c
The Two Decisive Plays in Saturday’s Game
| I. | The long forward pass. |
| II. | The end run to the five-yard line. |
Still other divisions may be made if we consider the subject from the point of view of the teams or the players themselves. Can you suggest any such divisions?
In the same way choose one of the subjects given below. Change it, if necessary. Then write out the topic of each division in as few words as possible.
1. An important electrical device.
2. A ball game.
3. Getting dinner.
4. The aeroplane.
5. Photography.
6. How styles change.
7. The back-to-the-farm movement.
8. Why oriental rugs are expensive.
9. Wireless telegraphy.
10. The business course in this school.
Exercise 156—The Outline
If your theme consists of more than one division, before you begin to speak or write you should prepare a definite working plan or outline. It should include enough to suggest the first sentence of each division and the more important details within each. The outline will help you in speaking or writing to arrange the topics so that they will follow one another clearly. If you have an outline, there will be much less danger of including details which do not belong to the subject and of omitting details which should appear.
In the following very simple outlines notice the use of indentation:
1
The Problem of Keeping our Cities Clean
I. The cleaning of streets.
(a) In summer.
(1) The cost of sprinkling.
(b) In winter.
(1) The cost of removing snow.
II. The cleaning of alleys.
(a) The disposal of garbage.
III. The smoke nuisance.
(a) Smoke consumers.
(b) Smoke inspection.
2
Public Gymnasiums
I. Definition of a public gymnasium.
(a) Location.
(b) Equipment.
(c) Management.
II. Benefits to the public.
(a) Keeps children off the streets.
(1) Congested districts.
(b) Develops them physically.
(c) Affords them pleasure.
(1) Outdoor and indoor games.
(2) Bathing at beaches connected with gymnasiums.
One more suggestion is in place here. In writing an outline, be careful that you express similar subdivisions of a topic by similar grammatical elements. For example, in the first outline above, (a) under I is a phrase; (b) under I should be a similar phrase. It would be incorrectly worded Winter or What the winter problem is. What is the advantage of such similarity?
Using the divisions you made for one of the subjects under Exercise 155, develop an outline for a theme.
Exercise 157
Choose one of the following subjects; restrict it or expand it, if necessary; select a proper title; write an outline; and then write or deliver your composition, following your outline closely. Notice that the shorter your title the more it includes, and therefore the longer your composition must be to deal adequately with the subject.
1. Giving talks before a class develops self-reliance.
2. Most inventors would not have succeeded without perseverance.
3. The more training a man has, the better chance he has to succeed.
4. Most rich men learned to save early.
5. The value of courtesy in a retail business.
6. The dangers of football.
7. The various methods of heating a house.
8. The sporting page often sells the newspaper.
9. Educational features of the modern newspaper.
10. Our national game.
11. Baseball is a better game than football.
12. The use of machinery has lowered the cost of manufactured articles.
13. How to prevent taking colds.
14. Athletic contests develop courage.
15. Qualities essential to good salesmanship.
16. Our debate with ——.
17. The qualities of a good street car advertisement.
18. A good cartoon.
19. Learning to swim.
20. The trials of washing day.
21. Birds as money savers.
22. Birds as destroyers.
23. Open air as a cure for tuberculosis.
24. Making a raft.
25. Every one should open a savings account.
26. Laziness.
27. Tennis is better than baseball.
28. Our respiratory system.
29. The bad effects of ridicule.
30. The good effects of ridicule.
Exercise 158
Recall one of the books that you have read recently. Name two subjects that it suggests to you and that you can talk about. Write a careful outline for each of them, and be prepared to speak on one.
Exercise 159
Name a subject taken from one of your studies, history for example. Let it be definite enough so that you can tell all the details that you know about it in a speech lasting two or three minutes. Use examples and illustrations to make the subject interesting and clear. Prepare an outline.
Exercise 160
Reproduce an article that you have read in a current magazine. Be careful that you make the material your own before attempting to retell it. Do not under any circumstances try to memorize the article. Understand fully what it says, make an outline of the facts that you wish to reproduce, and then give them as if they were your own ideas. At the beginning of your speech tell the name and date of the magazine from which you are taking the facts.
Exercise 161
As has been said, most of us get our ideas of what is taking place in the world from the articles that we read in current newspapers and magazines. We cannot always form our opinion from what one newspaper on one day says of a particular event. We must read what it says on successive days and, if possible, consult other newspapers on the same subject, for it is well known that not all newspapers are non-partisan. If one in the city is known to be so, that is the paper to read for the material for this exercise. Then, if we can read what one of the magazines says on the same subject, our knowledge will probably be more definite and more nearly true.
Let the class be divided into different sections, representing different kinds of news; for example, national, local, foreign, and business news. Under national news, you can perhaps find articles on national politics, legislative measures being discussed at Washington, rumors of war, immigration; under local news, anything pertaining to the city or the state in which you live; under foreign news, anything of interest to any of the other countries of the world; under business news, the prices of food products, strikes, panics, and their effect on business conditions. These are but suggestions. Such topics change so rapidly that nothing more definite can here be given.
When you have been assigned to one of these divisions, prepare a talk on a topic that you understand thoroughly. Begin your talk with a clear statement of your subject, as explained in Exercise 140; amplify it by details or illustrations; and end with a sentence of conclusion, forecasting the future of your topic or restating what you have proved.
Exercise 162
For a week follow the same current event as recorded in the newspaper, taking notes as you read. Then choose from all your material only those facts that belong strictly to one topic. Write an outline, setting forth the facts in logical order. Deliver the speech, following your outline closely.
Exercise 163
Let the class choose four or six members one week in advance, who are to prepare a debate on a topic of current interest. Let the other members of the class act as judges or volunteer on either side, as the instructor may see fit. Such debates should occur as often as possible.
Exercise 164
About once a month devote a day to the production of a class paper. Let the class choose a name. During the first year let the items be developed into paragraphs. Longer compositions should be reserved for the second year.
Suggestions for Articles for the Paper
1. A column of interesting business items clipped from leading papers.
2. An important news item that would make a good “story.”
3. Original editorials on one or more of the following:
a. Needs or improvements in city, school, or home.
b. Recent city news.
c. Business news.
d. State news.
e. National news.
f. Foreign news.
4. Personal experiences, amusing incidents, or anecdotes, preferably of the business world.
5. For sale advertisements, or “want ads” that the class would understand.
Exercise 165
Criticise the following outlines. Each topic is supposed to represent a division in thought.
1
The Wheat Harvest
1. A group of reapers.
2. Their costumes.
3. The field.
4. Starting the harvest.
5. Carting the sheaves to the barn.
6. The stacks.
7. The field after the harvest.
2
The Tongue
1. What it is.
2. It is a good thing.
3. It instructs.
4. Evils done by the tongue.
5. Especially slander.
6. Conclusion.
3
The Newspaper Strike
1. The cause.
(a) Strikers want higher wages.
(b) Poverty of the families of the strikers.
(c) Police have to protect newsboys against strikers.
2. Disadvantages.
(a) Newspapers are losing business.
(b) Newsboys sympathize with strikers.
3. Riots.
(a) Newsboys hurt and newspapers burned.
(b) Police cannot watch all sections of city.
4. Conclusion.