Topic ( page 359 ).
Questions.
1. From what is topic derived, and with what meaning? 2. How is question used in a similar sense, and why? 3. Is the general subject or theme properly known as the topic? To what is that name more appropriately given?
Examples.
My father... always took care to start some ingenious or useful —— of discourse, which might tend to improve the minds of his children.
One of the most important rules in a deliberative assembly is, that every speaker shall speak to the ——.
The —— of the Iliad is not the war of Troy, but the wrath of Achilles exhibited during and in connection with the war of Troy.