become weary, bored, inattentive or absent. If the great Burke had only injected some bits of pleasantry into that monumental "Conciliation Speech" perhaps history might have taken a different course.

structure.

III. Variety of Sentence Structure

A somewhat less striking, but highly desirable, means of attractiveness is variety of sentence The student will recall numerous ways of variation, but I shall suggest some of the most serviceable. First as to the order of parts; the usual sequence is subject-predicate-object or attribute, for the sake of clearness. But an address which proceeds thus from beginning to end becomes monotonous, just as if one were to speak without vocal inflections. Fortunately an occasional change of order does not confuse the listener; and it assuredly contributes, along with other variations, to his pleasure in hearing a speech. It is well, then, to begin sometimes with a phrase, sometimes with an adverb and again, with an adjective, object, attribute, or dependent clause. Furthermore, it is desirable to vary the declarative form now and then by an interrogation or exclamation. A third possibility of change is in the length of the sentences. The very long sentence will be generally avoided by the speaker,

but an irregular mixture of moderate and short sentences will avoid choppiness of effect on the one hand, and on the other, unnecessary strain upon the attention of the audience. Ordinarily, sentences are what are known as loose, i. e., possible of logical termination at one or more points before the close. But these may be occasionally varied to advantage by a periodic sentence, which suspends the sense until the end. For example, "The work of the committee has stopped on account of lack of funds" (loose); and "On account of lack of funds, the work of the committee has stopped" (periodic). Another means of variation is the balanced structure such as, "Money has been called the root of all evil; but most people seek it as if it were the bulb of all happiness. The possessors of great wealth are said to be weighed down with responsibility; and yet there are few of us who wouldn't gladly assume such a burden." This kind of structure becomes artificial in effect if frequently used, but as an occasional device it is notably emphatic. A final suggestion for securing attractiveness through variety of structure is to use now and then a sentence characterized by words, phrases or clauses in a series of parallel construction. The greatest advantage is usually gained by arranging the members of the series with a view to increasing significance. The following passage from one of John M. Thurs

ton's speeches gives a very striking example of the cumulative force of a series.

"Force compelled the signature of unwilling royalty to the great Magna Charta; force put life into the Declaration of Independence, and made effective the Emancipation Proclamation; force beat with naked hands upon the iron gateway of the Bastille and made reprisal in one awful hour for centuries of kingly crime; force waved the flag of revolution over Bunker Hill, and marked the snows of Valley Forge with blood-stained feet; force held the broken line at Shiloh, climbed the flame-swept hill at Chattanooga, and stormed the clouds on Lookout Heights; force marched with Sherman to the sea, rode with Sheridan in the valley of the Shenandoah, and gave Grant victory at Appomattox; force saved the Union, kept the stars in the flag, made 'niggers' men."

F. SUMMARY

Style and diction, though primarily concerned with form rather than substance, are, nevertheless, significant with respect to both conviction and persuasion. In order to appeal to the minds and interests of an audience, a speech should be characterized by the fundamentals of a good style, unity, coherence, clearness, force, and by a fifth quality, attractiveness, which adds greatly to the effectiveness of address. Unity requires

that the development of a speech shall bear constantly upon the subject under consideration, and that the discussion of each component phase shall pertain exclusively to that phase. Coherence is the flowing, progressive quality which is secured by a logical sequence of thoughts, expressed with proper links making sentence and topical relationships explicit. Clearness, likewise, pertains to both thought and expression. It requires a sure grasp of the subject-matter, simplicity of diction, and conciseness and directness of construction. Force in a measure inheres in the qualities already mentioned, but it can be greatly increased in the following ways: (1) by placing in the opening and closing positions of sentences, sections, and the whole development, the most important words, sentences, and phases, respectively; (2) by using words which are simple, but at the same time adequate and precise: (3) by freely using illustrations and concrete cases in point; (4) by avoiding temptations to overelaborate minor factors, and by giving due proportion to important aspects. For acquiring attractiveness of style the following suggestions were offered: (1) the use of figures of speech, particularly the simile and metaphor; (2) wit and humor, including the humorous incident or anecdote, a bit of witty dialogue, a clever turn of phrase; (3) variety of sentence structure, secured

by changing the regular order of parts, and using such variations from the normal as interrogations, exclamations, short, periodic, balanced, and "series" sentences.

A knowledge of the factors which make for an effective style of speech composition constitutes an advantageous point of departure. If, however, the student is careless in his preparation and fails to speak deliberately, with the idea of cultivating a habitual and spontaneous observance of the principles advocated, his knowledge is of little practical value. Finally, it is to be noted that the principles must be joined into a composite whole, and fused by the personality and attitude of the individual speaker. These matters of personality and attitude are of such importance in relation to style as to call for detailed consideration in the following chapters.