Practical English Composition: Book II by Edwin L. Miller (best books to read fiction .txt) 📕

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad
Made to his mistress’s eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard;
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
  With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II, Scene 7.
←Contents

 CHAPTER IV
REPORTING ACCIDENTS

“The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

I. Assignment

Report an accident which you have seen. The object of this exercise and those which are to follow is threefold:

Vocational—to begin to teach the art of reporting, and hence perhaps lay a foundation for students’ earning a living. Ethical—to show all the pupils how a report should be made and thus give them a standard by which to measure newspapers. Artistic—to teach all how to write modern English clearly, simply, and correctly. II. Model

This is a report of an accident on a city street, witnessed by a reporter, and telephoned to a colleague at the newspaper office.

With a crash that could be heard for blocks, a high-powered touring car, owned and driven by Mrs. William J. Sheldon, wife of the millionaire gum manufacturer, who lives at East Boulevard and Clifton Drive, collided late last night with a heavy milk wagon at Payne Avenue and East 30th St. Both Mrs. Sheldon and John Goldrick, 656 East 105th St., driver of the milk wagon, escaped injury, except for a few minor cuts and bruises.

Mrs. Sheldon was driving east on Payne Avenue on the way to the Pennsylvania Station at Euclid Avenue to meet her  husband, who was coming from New York. The street at Payne Avenue and East 30th St. had just been flushed; and, when Mrs. Sheldon endeavored to turn out toward the car tracks to avoid hitting Goldrick’s wagon, which was just turning into Payne Avenue, the car skidded and side-swiped the wagon.

One wheel of the machine and the mud guard were torn loose, while glass from the shattered wind-shield rained over Mrs. Sheldon as she strove desperately to twist the wheel. Goldrick was hurled from his seat, landing in the back of the wagon, which was piled high with cases of milk bottles. The horses were thrown from their feet by the shock.

Mrs. Sheldon and Goldrick were extricated from the wreckage and conveyed to the office of Dr. W. A. Masters, Payne Avenue and East 32d St., where their injuries were dressed. Later they were taken to their homes.

III. Suggested Time Schedule Monday —Dictation of Model and Study of Last Week’s Errors. Tuesday —Notes and Queries. Wednesday —Oral Composition—e.g., Telephoning. Thursday —Written Composition. Friday —Public Speaking. IV. Notes, Queries, and Exercises How many paragraphs are there in the report in Section II? What is the subject of each? The object? Point out the “Four W’s.” State why each capital and each mark of punctuation in the model is used. Tell whether each sentence is simple, complex, or compound. Find in the model an adverbial phrase, an adverb, a noun used adverbially, a noun in apposition, a clause modifying a verb, a participle modifying the subject of a verb, a non-restrictive clause, and a clause used as an adjective.  Point out four words or phrases that give color to the story. Write an appropriate heading for the model. V. Oral Composition

Prepare a report of some accident which you have yourself seen or which has been described to you by an eye-witness. Be sure to get into the report in the proper order the “Four W’s,” the cause, and the result. Note that a good story usually consists of three parts:

The Previous Situation. What Happened = The Climax. The Result = The Dénouement.

These are all in the model, but 2 is put first because it is most important. Observe the order of the model. Each member of the class will have a chance to make his report orally, and it will be subjected to the analysis of the class and teacher, who will blame or praise it according to its deserts. The reporter must defend himself, if attacked. Each pupil will therefore in turn play the rôle of a reporter, telephoning a story to headquarters while the class and teacher enact the part of the city editor.

VI. Written Composition

After the process outlined in Section IV of this chapter has shown the reporter how to go about the job, the report is to be written, proof-read by the teacher, corrected by the reporter, and rewritten until it is letter-perfect.

VII. Suggested Reading

Kipling’s 007 in The Day’s Work.

 VIII. Memorize