Middletown transcript., 1898-02-26
DELAWARE COLLEGE PAPER.
BY i mrnBEn OF THE FACULTY.

BY A MEMBER OF THE FACULTY.
A paragraph is coherent when the indi
vidual sentences of it are so, when they are
put together in the right order of success
sion, and are connected by the proper con.
functions or other link-words. We say the
proper conjunctions or other link-words
because, although the grammars commonly
give only one part of speech the name con-
| junction, almost any part of speech may be
made to do conjunctiYe work in linking to-
gether the parts of a paragraph. 1t is true,
| indeed, that in some forms of writing CO.
herence is largely determined by the ar
| rangement of the sentences in logical and
necessary order. This is true in some de-
gree of argumentatiYe writing, where the
course of reasoning requires that for best
effect the sentence be arranged in some
thing like certain necessary sequence. 1t
is true in a greater degree of mathemati-
cal demonstration, wherein it is necessary
that each sentence have its proper place or
the chain of mathematical reasoning is brok
en- and disordered, the demonstration does
as do not demand an absolutely logical or
dering of sentences, however, coniunctive
words play an important part in bringing
about conference.
1t is precisely in the management of such
connestives that young writers are espec-
tally unskilled, and it is partly through
their lack of skill in this matter that what
they write seems rough, disiointed and Of
ten inconsequent. 1t may happen indeed,
and frequently does happen, that a young
writer not only omits or misplaces c3nnec-
tive words, but leaves out whole sentences
themselves essentially conjunctive and nee
essary to the readers easy comprehension
of what the writer would convey. Because
of this fact teachers must take care that
pupils understand the value not only
Of coniunctive words, but as we'll as of con-
junetive sentences.
All this will be made clearer, perhaps. by
two or three illustrative paragraphs. Here
is one from Sir Joshua Reynolds:
1.-THE value and rank of every art is in
proportion to the mental effort employed
in it, or the mental pleasure produced by it.
As this principal is observed or neglected
our profession become either liberal art or
mechanical trade In the hands of one man
it makes the highest pretentions, as it is ad-
dressed to the noblest faculties: in those of
another it is reduced to a mere matter of ar
rangement, and the painter has but the
humble province of furnishing our apart
ments with elegance"
The first conjunctive word that helps to
make this paragraph coherent in its parts
is the demonstrative pronoun this" the
second word in the second sentence: the
next is the pronoun sit" occurring three
times in the third sentence.
Here is part Of paragraph from Burke.
"First, the people Of the colonies are de-
cendants of Englishmen. England, sir, is
nation which still. hope, respects, and for
merly adored her freedom. The colonists
emigrated from you when this part of your
charac er was most predominant, and they
took this bias and direction the moment
they departed from your hands. They are;
therefore not only devoted to liberty, but
to liberty according to English ideas, and
on English principals. Abstract liberty
like other mere distractions, is not to be |
found. Liberty inheres in some sensible |
object; and every nation has formed to it |
self some favorite point, which by way of |
eminence becomes the criterion of their |
happiness.
The words that knit together the SEN
tences of this paragraph are the first word |
of the second sentence, England" which |
carries the mind back to English in the 1st |
you" and you" in the third |
which carry the mind back to
Sir in the second, the person addressed as
standing for the En-
glish nation; "they" the first word in the
fourth Sc rtence which refers to "Colonists"
in the third sentence; liberty" in the
fourth sentence, which carries the mind |
back to freedom In the third sentence, EN-
glish" in the fourth sentence, which relates
to kindred words in several preceding sen.
tencesi Liberty" again in the fifth sentence
which links the sentence to several that
have gone before.
1t is useful exercise to have pupil pick
out such connecting words in a paragraph
and to criticize the absence of many such
in their own compositions. This subject
will be further considered in the next of
these articles.