The Alphabet of Rhetoric: With a Chapter on Elocution; Intended as a Familiar Companion for All that Care to Speak and Write Correctly |
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Results 1-5 of 97
Page 1
... common form of expression " what kind of a bird is it " the a is superfluous . It is both correct and elegant to say instead " what kind of bird is it ? The sentence " On my way to the post - office I met a carpenter and joiner " is ...
... common form of expression " what kind of a bird is it " the a is superfluous . It is both correct and elegant to say instead " what kind of bird is it ? The sentence " On my way to the post - office I met a carpenter and joiner " is ...
Page 7
... common to speak of " sending a postal , " when a postal card is meant . Once when a conductor was asked why the train was detained at the top of the pass , he answered , “ To inspect the air . " The traveler wondered several minutes ...
... common to speak of " sending a postal , " when a postal card is meant . Once when a conductor was asked why the train was detained at the top of the pass , he answered , “ To inspect the air . " The traveler wondered several minutes ...
Page 10
... common habit of overusing certain adverbs , especially very and most . It is safe to as- sert that in half the instances where these words are used to intensify adjectives , the sentence would be more accurate as well as more elegant if ...
... common habit of overusing certain adverbs , especially very and most . It is safe to as- sert that in half the instances where these words are used to intensify adjectives , the sentence would be more accurate as well as more elegant if ...
Page 11
... common use in cases where no humor is intended and there is no cause for fear . It would better be avoided . Yet there is an exceedingly delicate rhetorical use of it , in which the speaker , about to mention something that should cause ...
... common use in cases where no humor is intended and there is no cause for fear . It would better be avoided . Yet there is an exceedingly delicate rhetorical use of it , in which the speaker , about to mention something that should cause ...
Page 19
... common to all . For in- stance , it should always be allowable to allude to anything in the Bible or in Shakespeare , assuming that every intelligent reader has some familiarity with them . Perhaps if we could have a commit- tee on the ...
... common to all . For in- stance , it should always be allowable to allude to anything in the Bible or in Shakespeare , assuming that every intelligent reader has some familiarity with them . Perhaps if we could have a commit- tee on the ...
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Common terms and phrases
adjective adverb alliteration allusion anapestic anastrophe apodosis appears audience beauty begins better Brutus Cæsar called Chapter character Childe Harold clause common conversation correct declaration EDMUND GOSSE effect elegant English erroneous error essay euphony example expression fact frequently give grammatical habit hand hath hearer History humor idea imagination imperfect tense instance John Julius Cæsar language lines Literature meaning metaphor mind musical necessary never noun novel omitted once orator original perfect perhaps persons phrase piece plural poem poet poetry preface preposition produce pronoun proper prose protasis public reader quotation reason reciter relative pronoun repeated repetition rhymes rhythm Richard Grant White Robert Browning rule sense sentence simile simply sion slang solecism sometimes speak speaker speech split infinitive stanza story style superfluous syllable taste tence tense term thing thought tion trochaic usually verb voice word writes written
Popular passages
Page 139 - And, sure, he is an honourable man. I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, But here I am to speak what I do know. You all did love him once, not without cause; What cause withholds you then to mourn for him ? O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason!
Page 126 - God save him ; No joyful tongue gave him his welcome home : But dust was thrown upon his sacred head ; Which, with such gentle sorrow he shook off, His face still combating with tears and smiles, The badges of his grief and patience, That had not God, for some strong purpose, steel'd The hearts of men, they must perforce have melted, And barbarism itself have pitied him.
Page 147 - Few and short were the prayers we said, And we spoke not a word of sorrow ; But we steadfastly gazed on the face that was dead, And we bitterly thought of the morrow.
Page 215 - Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers, and I linger on the shore, And the individual withers, and the world is more and more.
Page 133 - The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
Page 27 - Ye stars ! which are the poetry of heaven, If in your bright leaves we would read the fate Of men and empires, — 'tis to be forgiven, That in our aspirations to be great, Our destinies o'erleap their mortal state, And claim a kindred with you ; for ye are A beauty, and a mystery, and create G In us such love and reverence from afar, That fortune, fame, power, life, have named themselves a star.
Page 190 - YE who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and pursue with eagerness the phantoms of hope; who expect that age will perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the present day will be supplied by the morrow ; attend to the history of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia.
Page 218 - KNOW ye the land where the cypress and myrtle Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime? Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle, Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime ? Know ye the land of the cedar and vine, Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine...
Page 96 - By foreign hands thy dying eyes were closed, By foreign hands thy decent limbs composed, By foreign hands thy humble grave adorned, By strangers honoured and by strangers mourned...
Page 322 - They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced ; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept.