at once he heard a child exclaim with a shout, "Oh, there's a bee; let me catch him!" on which he rushed hastily back to (as he thought) the open air. But, alas! poor fellow, in another second he found that he had flung himself against a hard transparent wall! In other words, he had flown against the glass panes of the window, being quite unable, in his alarm and confusion, to distinguish the glass from the opening by which he had entered. This unexpected blow annoyed him much; and having wearied himself in vain attempts to find the entrance, he began to walk slowly and quietly up and down the wooden frame at the bottom of the panes, hoping to recover both his strength and composure.

- MRS. GATTY's Parables from Nature.

CHAPTER III

THE SENTENCE

The Simple Sentence. So far we have been busy with the selection, the division, and arrangement of our experiences or our information, in the attempt to get it ready to write or speak about. We have been working like the architect, who first considers the general nature of the house he is to build, then sketches the first rough plans for the building. But before the actual construction begins, he must perfect the details of his plan; and we must now do likewise. Our business is expression, and the plans we have made are to be used to express thoughts. A sentence expresses a thought; a paragraph expresses a larger thought; a composition a larger thought still. Let us take the sentence in this chapter. Mastery of the sentence, ability to pack a thought clearly and accurately into a sentence, brings power with it.

The Sentence Thought. Your mind and mine, as they touch upon experience, are constantly being flooded with ideas that insist upon expression. These ideas are mere perceptions of things or qualities in the world about us, or in ourselves. The sight of bread may flash the idea "food" into our mind; the memory of a good friend may give us the idea of honor or faithfulness." If we express these ideas as ideas, we voice them as "truth," "honesty," "dull pain," "hunger." hunger." But after early childhood we more usually think about them before we express them. That is, we relate one idea to another, and so form a thought. When we feel hunger, the idea of hunger comes to us and is related by our

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mind to another idea, pain. So we say "hunger is a dull pain." The idea of truth links itself to the idea of honesty, and we think honesty demands that we tell the truth." Thus a group of ideas, all related to one another, is called a Thought. When we give expression to this related group of ideas we use for our medium of expression a form called a Sentence. If the thought we have to express can be fully and completely expressed in this single sentence, we are dealing with a sentence thought. In other words, if all the ideas we have in mind about a certain object or person can be given adequate expression in a brief range, the result is a sentence thought. But sometimes we may have so many ideas about a thing as to require us to use many thought expressions in order to make our ideas clear. In this case our unit of expression becomes longer than a sentence, and in order to cover the thought we are obliged to make use of many sentences combined into a paragraph or a whole composition.

The Thought Process. This, then, is the sequence of our ordered thinking. We sense an object through our five senses; ideas flood our minds regarding it; these ideas merge into one another in order to form a thought; our expression of that thought is called a sentence. To illustrate: I see a moving vehicle which puts in my mind the idea "automobile." I notice that it is in "motion." I see further that there is a man in it. Putting these three ideas together, I have thoughts something like these:

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The man takes a ride.

The man guides the automobile.
The automobile moves, etc.

I find that my thoughts can be fully and adequately expressed by means of these simple forms. They need no more thinking about.

Further Development of the Sentence Thought. -- Suppose, now, that some one happens to apply the quintet of queries to my observation. Then I shall have to extend my ideas, my thought will expand accordingly, and the result will be a longer, fuller form of sentence:

Who is the man?
When does he ride?
Where does he ride?
Why does he ride?

How does he ride?

The man from the city.
In the morning.

In the park.

For the benefit of his health.
Leisurely.

We now see that my original observation has taken on several additions, which, in order to find proper expression, must be combined. But all of these additional ideas which have been brought out as a result of the questioning are centered around the main thought, "The man takes a ride." Since all the questions sprang from the original proposition and are therefore dependent upon it, so also are the answers dependent and subsidiary. Hence, combining all of these into a simple statement, I express myself somewhat as follows:

In the morning the man from the city rides leisurely in the park for the benefit of his health.

Definition of the Simple Sentence.

Here now we have

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five ideas in addition to the leading idea of the original sentence. But all of these five ideas are grouped about the central idea by means of single words or groups of words. There is therefore but one thought in the sentence The man takes a ride"; the remaining elements being but "explainers" or modifiers of this single thought. Such a form of expression we call a Simple Sentence. The word around which the attention centers - "man," in the example - - is

called the Subject. The word that attributes some action or performance to that subject is called the Predicate. Either or both of these may be compound, as "John and James run and play." A group of words (such as those used as modifiers in our sentence) which does not make complete sense, and does not contain a subject or a predicate, is called a Phrase. "In the morning," "of his health," are phrases, and might be used as parts of a Simple Sentence.

Caution. But note carefully that no group of words is a sentence unless it states a relationship between ideas, unless it states a complete thought. "San Francisco having the finest harbor in the state," is not a sentence, because the relationship of the ideas included is not clearly and completely stated. If the writer meant "San Francisco has the finest harbor in the state," then the change of ❝ having " to "has" would make the relationship clear. If he meant "San Francisco, having the finest harbor in the state, has the greatest commerce," then the addition of the verb "has" and its predicate would complete a relationship, and make complete sense. A sentence must always state definitely a relationship between ideas. It must give a thought, not just an idea. This little rule will help enormously, if well digested. Summary. If, now, you understand the nature of a sentence, the duty of the writer who would be clear and effective is plain enough. He must think clearly, that is, he must get the true relation between his ideas; he must express this relationship accurately, that is, he must say just what he means. "Tell the truth and the whole truth" is

all the guide one needs in writing simple sentences.

EXERCISES

I. Make complete statements orally of the following words and phrases by adding subject and predicate to each: