You see, then, that we punctuate to make the meaning of a sentence clear. One rule which applies especially to the comma is: When in doubt Leave it out. Does this rule ever apply to the punctuation mark at the close of a sentence? 5. THE PARAGRAPH I Read the following paragraph: Robert Louis Stevenson was very fond of children and loved to do things to make them happy. One summer day, as he sat on a bench in a park in the city of Edinburgh where he lived, he noticed a little boy, ragged and barefoot, lying on the grass under a big tree. The boy had a thin, pinched little face, and looked as if he might be hungry. Mr. Stevenson rose and tiptoed across the grass, so that the boy might not hear him. He leaned over and slipped something into one of the lad's pockets. Then he went and sat down again. How many sentences are there in this paragraph? In what sentence do you find the main thought of the paragraph? Read the sentence you have selected. Do the other sentences add something to its meaning? If a paragraph is written properly, all the sentences will stick to the main point. Is this true of the paragraph given above? On the next page you will find three paragraphs. How many sentences has each paragraph? Is each paragraph about one thing? Do the sentences stick to the main point? Write a topic that could be used as a heading for each paragraph if it were to be printed in the paper. 1. We have a fine playground. There is room for everybody to play. There is a volley-ball court for the girls and a baseball diamond for the boys. The small children have a place especially provided for them where they are out of danger. We are delighted with our playground. 2. When mother was away visiting, it was planned that I should cook the Sunday dinner. The remaining members of the family pretended to be greatly worried. Father insisted that he would go to the hotel. My brother said that he had hopes of an invitation from a friend. However, both came promptly when dinner was called, and both gave hearty evidence that my dinner was a success. 3. I saw a fine parade yesterday. After we had waited about half an hour, we heard the band. Pretty soon a squad of policemen appeared, followed by the City Band. Then came various organizations-soldiers, fraternal bodies in uniform, bands, and, last of all, our High School Cadets. We watched it for an hour before all had passed. See that the You may now think of a paragraph of from three to ten sentences. Go to the front of the class when you are called on and give your paragraph. sentences in your paragraph are clear. sentences stick to the paragraph subject. Is each sentence clear? When you have finished, your classmates will tell you: Whether they easily understood everything you said. Whether your paragraph was all about one thing. Test your paragraph to see that all the sentences are about one thing; that they stick to the same point; that they are clear; that they make definite statements or that they ask definite questions. The following topics may suggest subjects for your paragraph: 1. Sent to the Principal's Office 2. Left on Third Base 3. Getting Through the Line 4. Throwing a Basket 5. A Close Shave in an Automobile 6. The Forgotten Duty 7. Feeding the Pigs 8. Putting Coal on the Fire 9. Mailing a Letter 10. Getting a Lesson Tomorrow you may bring to class the best example you can find of a good paragraph. You may select a paragraph from any of the books you are using or from any magazine or newspaper. Bring to the next meeting of the class the best paragraph that you can write on one of the topics in the preceding list. Read your paragraph over carefully and ask yourself the questions as suggested to test a good paragraph. Your classmates will criticize it as they did your spoken paragraph. Are you keeping your personal spelling list? How many new words have you learned? II THE PARAGRAPH OUTLINE Do you know the story of William Scott, private? He was a soldier boy from a Vermont farm. There had been a long march, and the night succeeding it he had stood on picket. The next day there had been another long march, and that night William Scott had volunteered to stand guard in the place of a sick comrade who had been drawn for the duty. It was too much for William Scott. He was too tired. He was found sleeping at his post. The inexorable rule of army discipline brought him before a courtmartial and, in spite of his plea that he had taken a comrade's place, he was condemned to be shot. He spent the night in a closely guarded tent, lonely, forlorn, and hopeless. He had tried hard to serve well, risking his life repeatedly for his country-and he was to die a culprit's death. In another tent a tall, gaunt man with bowed head and locked hands paced slowly back and forth, his soul weary of strife, his heart aching with the woes of war. It was Lincoln. The careworn president heard of the doomed boy and decided to go himself to see William Scott, private. After Lincoln had talked with the lad about his home and friends, and especially about his mother, he said, "You are not going to be shot tomorrow. I believe you when you tell me that you could not keep awake. I am going to send you back to your regiment. I want to know what you intend to pay for all this?" The grateful boy, so glad for life that he could hardly speak, promised to pay all he could. He had his pay, a small sum in the bank and they could mortgage the farm-yes, he would pay. The great man, Lincoln, made it clear that he asked bigger pay than money; that he demanded "duty as a soldier." Scott went back to his regiment and in a few months fell in battle. He had paid in full. The first sentence tells that you are going to read the story of William Scott. This is called the topic sentence. The topic of the paragraph might be The Story of William Scott. The outline for the paragraph would be as follows: 1. Who William Scott Was 2. The March and Picket Duty 3. The Second March 4. Taking a Sick Friend's Place 6. Condemned Make an outline for the third paragraph. Give a topic sentence for the other paragraphs. 6. REVIEWING PARAGRAPHS I 1. A few facts about the composition of the inside of the earth have been fairly accurately determined. The outer crust is about thirty-five miles deep. This crust changes from granite to a heavier, dark rock. This dark rock continues nine hundred sixty miles below the granite, then comes a layer of mixed rock and metal, about eight hundred seventy miles thick. The central core is a red hot, stiff sea of metal. The distance to the center of the earth is 3960 miles. 2. There is fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green islets and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping, and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city. Fog in the Essex marshes, fog on the Kentish heights. Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats. Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem and bowl of the afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper, down in his close cabin. -Charles Dickens, in Bleak House |