theme it deals with, and both documents are handed in together. By this means several ends are generally attained. The student, aware of the test to which his work will be exposed, is apt practically to apply, in his own writing, the rhetorical matter contained in the chapter under consideration; he thus learns, half insensibly, to consider the subject not as an abstract one, but rather as a body of practical advice concerning artistic conduct. In categorically criticising the theme of somebody else, he is compelled at once intelligently to master the theory of the chapter under consideration, and to display his knowledge of it in an orderly way. And if he criticises well-which proves the case rather oftener than one would expect he greatly lightens the task of the instructor who has finally to criticise the theme in question. Between the second theme and the third, I direct the class similarly to master the chapter on Sentences, their knowledge of which is similarly tested by the following plan: SENTENCES: 1. Grammatical Purity: Solecism. 2. Kinds of Sentences: a. Long or short. etc. 3. Principles of Composition: a. Unity. b. Mass. 4. Denotation and Connotation. c. Coherence. With the next theme, their knowledge of the chapter on Paragraphs is similarly tested thus: PARAGRAPHS: I. Summarize the theme you criticise, paragraph by paragraph. With the next theme, their knowledge of the chapter on Whole Compositions is tested thus: WHOLE COMPOSITION: I. Summarize, paragraph by para II. graph. 1. Principles of Composition. 2. Denotation and Connotation. Having thus accustomed students to analyzing the Elements of Style, I proceed in the following three themes similarly to call their attention to the Qualities of Style. After studying the chapter on Clearness, they are directed to analyze one another's themes by the following plan: In similar manner I test their knowledge of the two remaining chapters the chapters on Force and on Elegance. For the rest of the year, they are regularly required every fortnight to make a complete analysis of one another's themes. The complete scheme of criticism is as follows: I. ELEMENTS OF STYLE. 1. Words. 2. Sentences. 3. Paragraphs. 4. Whole Composition. II. QUALITIES OF STYLE. 2. Force. 3. Elegance. III. GENERAL REMARKS. In every case, each student is generally expected to make some comment under each head. Repeated use of this scheme certainly fixes the book in their minds to a rather surprising degree. I may add that I have for years been accustomed, in reading themes, to make a hasty categorical analysis of every theme I read. The pages of my note-book are divided thus: When one has sixty or seventy themes to read every week, each single analysis must of course be hasty. If several separate analyses, however, made at considerable intervals, and necessarily in various moods and under various conditions, prove to have much in common, they result in a valid basis for generalizations about the style of the individual they conThe experience of more than ten years confirms my belief that this method of keeping pupils in hand is efficient. cern. HARVARD COLLEGE, May, 1894. BARRETT WENDELL. CONTENTS. Style is the expression of thought and feeling in written words. All style must impress us, more or less, in three ways, intellectually, emotionally, and æsthetically; in other words, it must possess or lack Clearness, Force, and Elegance. But all style consists solely of arbitrary signs letters which common consent makes symbolic of arbitrary sounds words which common consent in turn makes symbolic of the immaterial reality - thought and emotion - which forms our conscious life. In choosing words, we must be governed wholly by this common consent, which we call Good Use. In composing words, we find three distinct stages of composition, groups of words, which we call Sentences; groups of sentences, which we call Paragraphs; and larger groups, which we call Whole Compositions. In making any of these compositions, we may to advantage observe three general principles. The first, the principle of Unity, concerns the substance of a composition: every composition should group itself about one central idea. The second, the principle of Mass, concerns the external form of a composition: the chief parts of every composition should be so placed as readily to catch the eye. The third, the principle of Coherence, con- cerns the internal arrangement of a composition: the relation of each part of a composition to its neighbors should be unmistakable. In composing sentences, the operation of these principles is greatly limited by good use, in the form of grammar. In composing paragraphs and whole composi- tions, good use hampers us less and less. And all style may be re- garded as the result of a constant conflict between good use and the prin- Words are the names by which good use has agreed that we shall describe ideas. In our choice of words we may never stray beyond the limits of good use. In judging whether a given word be admissible, we may best ask ourselves whether it is a Barbarism — a word not in the language or an Im- propriety, - a word used in a sense not sanctioned by good use. If neither, we may accept it. Within the limits of good use we may produce widely various effects by using, for different purposes, different kinds of words and different numbers. In considering these effects, we should keep in mind three facts: first, that the agreement of good use is not precise, but ap- proximate; secondly, that every word we use does not exhaust its power by identifying the single idea to which good use has attached it; but, thirdly, that at the same time it inevitably suggests a number of other ideas. In choosing words, then, we must always consider two things, their denotation, what they name; and their connotation, what A sentence is a series of words so composed as to make complete sense. In judging whether a given sentence be grammatical, — authorized by good use, -we may best inquire, first, whether it makes good sense, and if not, whether idiom sanctions it; if neither, we may best avoid it as a Sole- cism. Within the limits of good use we may compose various kinds of sen- tences. To all these kinds we may apply the principles of Unity, Mass, and Coherence, principles to which good use apparently is tending to conform. And by varying our kinds of sentences, and applying to all kinds the broadly simple principles of composition, we may indefinitely vary our A paragraph is to a sentence what a sentence is to a word. The prin- |