A group of sentences related and held together by a common thought we call
a +Paragraph+. How is the paragraph indicated to the eye? What help is it
to the reader to have a composition paragraphed? What, to the writer to
know that he must write in paragraphs?
+The Style of the Author+.--This selection is mainly +Narrative+. The
matter is somewhat tame, and the expression is commonplace. The words are
ordinary, and they stand in their usual place. Figures of speech are not
used. Yet the piece has a charm. The thoughts are homely; the expression is
in perfect keeping; the style is clear, simple, direct, and natural. The
closing sentence is slightly humorous. Benjamin Franklin trudging along the
street, hugging a great roll of bread under each arm, and eating a third
roll, must have been a laughable sight.
Have you ever known boys and girls in writing school compositions, or
reporters in writing for the newspapers, to use large words for small
ideas, and long, high-sounding phrases and sentences for plain, simple
thoughts? Have you ever seen what could be neatly said in three or four
lines "padded out" to fill a page of composition paper or a column in a
newspaper?
When Franklin said. "My pockets were stuffed out with shirts and
stockings," he said a homely thing in a homely way; that is, he fitted the
language to the thought.
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