THE QUINTET OF QUERIES IN THEIR RELATION TO THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF COMPOSITION

Different Kinds of Composition. In our plan of "The Baseball Diamond" we were explaining something; in that of "The Runaway we were giving an account of an event, telling a story; in "A Rural Scene" we were picturing something. These three subjects, therefore, though somewhat similarly treated, are nevertheless very different in character. "The Baseball Diamond" is not an event, nor is " The Rural Scene." "The Runaway" has elements of both explanation and picturing in it, but they are subordinate to the happening or the action. The first is called Exposition (explanation); the second Narration (happening); the third Description (suggesting or picturing). Each of them has circumstances peculiar to itself which must be developed, preferably at the very outset. But there the point of separation begins. For each, different questions are to be asked and answered. Narration demands what happened; Exposition usually tells us the how or the why; Description how a thing looks or what it is like.

Their Relation to the Queries. In other words, the emphasis falls upon one question in, say, Narrative, upon another in Exposition. If a subject for Exposition demands that we give what it is, where it came from, how it is used, it at the same time demands that we dwell at greater length upon some of these than upon others. It may even demand the omission of certain of the queries in order that there may be due expansion of the important ones. If a subject for Narration demands

1. What happened?
2. When it happened?
3. Where it happened?

4. Why it happened?

5. How it happened?

it nevertheless makes us recognize that topic 5 is vastly more important than any of the rest. And in picturing an object we know that the what and the where and the how concern us more than the when and the why. Thus a due recognition of the questions most important for us to answer in a given subject will help immensely in the development of our composition. Ask yourself, "is it the what, the when, the where, the why, or the how that really counts in my subject?" and plan your work accordingly. And if some of these queries bring no answers that seem worth including in a composition, strike them from your list.

The Order of the Queries. In Exposition, where we are directly concerned with making a subject comprehensible, the natural order of development will usually be that suggested by our quintet of queries as originally stated — what, where, when, why, how. This is best because it is the natural order. We know that there is little use of explaining the why and the how, say of an explosion, until we have told the what, the where, and the when. In Description and Narrative the same order will nearly always be effective; although, of course, some of the questions may not need

answers.

We see, therefore, that after selecting our subject and properly narrowing it to a workable title, we must decide exactly to which type of composition it belongs, Exposition, Description, or Narration. Then we may apply our queries in their natural order, and decide as in practice we can readily do which bring the more important answers. Last of all, it will be easy to draw up our plan according to our results. It may be a plan in which answers to all the queries appear, although perhaps the how or the why takes up more

space than the rest. It may be a plan in which only the what and the where appear-the others having proved of no value in this particular subject. Apply the queries to your subject, and in each instance you will be able to decide for yourself.

The Queries and Unity, Coherence, and Emphasis. It is scarcely necessary to point out how much the use of the queries will help in Unity, Coherence, and Emphasis in writing and speaking. If the material of our composition is all gained in response to these questions, we shall be quite sure to "stick to the subject." If we follow the natural order of the queries, Coherence is almost guaranteed. And even if we change the usual order, as we may wish to do for some subjects, — putting, say, the why, or the where, first, we shall still have a perfectly definite development, and hence Coherence. And if for each subject we carefully consider which questions are most important to answer, we are sure to give Emphasis to the most important part of the work. Notice the result of the application of the queries upon the Unity, Coherence, and Emphasis of "The Runaway," as it is outlined on a previous page.

Division of Material. After selecting the major or emphatic points of our outline, we may make headings of them, as we have done in our first plan of "The Battle of Trenton and our third plan of "A Rural Scene," except that they should be put into sentence form. Or we may place them, as in the other outlines, under three main divisions I. Introduction, II. Discussion, and III. Conclusion. On whatever subject we may express ourselves we shall find that certain material relative to it is usually introductory, certain other material usually conclusive, but that the bulk of the material always needs to be discussed, fully and exhaustively. We may therefore use these three divisions for any subject upon

which we write, provided that it really needs an introduction and a conclusion. We must, however, use them consistently. If we use one, it is preferable to use the other two. Subdivision. These three divisions will give us the mair outline of our theme. Further subdivision will depend upon our subject. But in any case we must be especially careful to subordinate each minor point to the major point to which it belongs. If the Coherence is good, this will be automatic, but it is a great help to write out the scheme with some form of lettering that indicates what are main headings, what minor, and the place where every heading belongs. The figure below is a graphic representation of "The Runaway" on page 20. The complete square is the subject as a whole. The three sections marked I, II, and III represent the Introduction, Discussion, and Conclusion. The subdivisions of these sections, marked 1, 2, etc., represent the actual topics of the outline; the sub-sections a, b, c, are sub-topics; while a', b', c', are sub-sub-topics. Where I and 1, and III and 1 agree, the Introduction and Conclusion respectively have consisted of only one main topic each.

Now this subject, whose divisions this figure represents graphically, may also, and much more readily, be presented in a table, using the same subordination by letters and figures:

I.

1.

a.

a'.

b'.

c'.

b.

C.

II.

1.

a.

b.

2.

a.

b.

C.

d.

III.

1.

a.

b.

C.

Of course, the proportion of space to be given to each topic is indicated neither by figure nor table, for they can illustrate only division and subordination.

However, the tabulation, or numbering and lettering of our various grades of topics is of small consequence so long as we are careful to keep topics of the same grade on the same margin. Thus,