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METHOD II.—To change a declarative to an interrogative

sentence.

The natural, or primary, use of interrogation is to ask a question; but when declarative sentences are expressed in the interrogative form, no answer is expected; the interrogative form is used merely to make the statement more emphatic and convincing than the declarative form could make it.

When using interrogation as a means of emphasis, we should observe two things:

(1) A negative interrogation affirms. Thus, "Do we not bear the image of our Maker?" is but a forcible way of saying, "We bear the image of our Maker."

(2) An affirmative interrogation denies. Thus: "Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?" Here the effect is to deny or to give a negative answer to the question.

EXERCISE XXXI.

DIRECTION. — Vary the structure of the following sentences by substituting the interrogative form for the declarative, and the declarative for the interrogative. Note the gain or loss in emphasis.

1. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?

2. Life is not so dear, nor peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery.

3. We shall not gather strength by irresolution and inaction.

4. Life can never be too short, which brings nothing but disgrace and oppression.

5. What fairer prospects of success could be presented?

6. Despair is followed by courage.

7. Where there is injury, will there not be resentment?

8. When a king is lost in a wood, what is he more than other men?

9. Evil so reacts upon good, as not only to retard its motion, but to change its nature.

10. If we repent of our good actions, what is left for our faults and follies?

II. You can not expect to do justice when you will not hear the accused.

12. Your troops and your ships have made a vain and insulting parade in their streets and in their harbors.

13. You can not expect to be well informed when you listen only to partisans.

14. Men do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles.

15. It is lawful for me to do what I will with my own.

16. Nothing remains, then, but for us to stand foremost in the breach, to repair it, or perish in it.

17. Can you put the dearest interest of society at risk, without guilt and without remorse?

18. A man can not contrive to be hereafter in England on a day that is past.

METHOD III.—To change a declarative to an exclamatory

sentence.

By this change, a plain or simple fact is expressed with emotion. Care should be taken, therefore, to use the exclamatory form only where strong feeling or great earnestness is to be expressed.

In exclamative sentences the verb is frequently omitted; as, “What a terrible crime!" This is equivalent to, “What a terrible crime this is!" To express this idea in the declarative form we would say, "This is a terrible crime.”

EXERCISE XXXII.

DIRECTION.- Vary the structure of the following sentences by changing the declarative to the exclamatory form:

1. She is fruitful in resources and comprehensive in her views. 2. A silence came with the snow.

3. A wilderness of floral beauty was hidden upon the tropic islands. 4. The chime of the Sabbath bells is sweet.

5. The hot tears fall.

6. This bleak old house will look lonely next year.

7. It is hard to follow, with lips that quiver, that moving speck on the far-off side.

8. Vast motives press upon us for lofty efforts.

9. That a nation could be thus deluded is wonderful.

10. The music of those evening bells, those evening bells, tells many a tale.

II. It is a bitter thing to look into happiness through another man's

eyes.

12. This hour of calm is sweet and soothing.

13. Man is a wonderful piece of work; noble in reason, infinite in faculties; in form and moving, express and admirable; in action, like an angel; in apprehension, like a god.

14. The poor country is almost afraid to know itself.

15. I wish that a man might know the end of this day's business. 16. Mischiet is swift to enter into the thoughts of desperate men. 17. It is too true; that speech doth give my conscience a smart lash. 18. A noble mind is here o'erthrown.

19. He hath accumulated piles of wealth to his own portion.

20. Ye eagerly follow my disgrace, as if it fed ye.

21. The poor man that hangs on princes' favors is wretched.

METHOD IV. To use "there" as an introductory word, or "it" as the anticipative subject.

The beginning of the sentence is the usual place for the subject; now, to use the introductory "there" or the anticipative subject "it" removes the real subject from the beginning, and thus emphasizes it.

The idiom "it is" introducing a sentence or a clause, is one of great value; yet it is a frequent source of ambiguity. Whenever doubt arises from its use, substitute for the impersonal verb, the corresponding noun; as, “It is asserted," "the assertion is made"; "It will be explained,” "the explanation will be given.”

EXERCISE XXXIII.

DIRECTION.— Vary the following expressions by using the anticipative subject "There" or "It":

1. To twist iron anchors and braid cannons is as easy as to braid straw.

2. That paint costs nothing is a Dutch proverb.

3. None were so brave as he.

4. Some men are full of affection for themselves.

5. We crossed the Alleghanies just about daybreak.
6. Several of us are in the secret.

7. Much may be said in favor of our project.

8. For men to deceive is wrong.

9. To avoid harshness in such a case is not necessary.

10. That we only believe as deep as we live is curious.

II. For a man to rest in ignorance of the structure of his own body is a shame.

12. That the little mill can never resist this mighty rush of waters is plain enough.

13. What you ought to deny already exists.

14. To learn caution by the misfortunes of others is a good thing. 15. Anger seldom deprived him of power over himself.

16. He appeared to understand me well enough.

17. Judgment had better be deferred.

18. Probably the ship will sail to-morrow.

19. Hope soothes us under misfortune.

20. A poor exile of Erin came to the beach.

21. Faith, hope, and charity are three noble virtues.

22. Moral principles slumber in the souls of the most depraved. 23. Many able minds are considering this matter.

METHOD V. To substitute the direct form of discourse for the indirect.

The direct form of speech gives the words of the speaker exactly as uttered by himself; the indirect form gives them as reported by another. In the direct form, the words of

the statement must be inclosed in quotation marks; in the indirect, the marks are not used.

In substituting the indirect form of speech for the direct, the principal variations are:

(1) The first and second persons are changed to the third. (2) The present tense is changed to its corresponding past. (3) The near demonstrative this is changed to the more remote that.

EXERCISE XXXIV.

DIRECTION. In the following passages, vary the structure by substituting the direct form for the indirect, and the indirect for the direct:

1. Patrick Henry said that the war was inevitable, and that he was willing it should come. Then he repeated that he wished it to come. 2. The Senate, he observed, must have heard with pleasure, that Cæsar condemned the conspiracy.

3. When the Emperor signaled that he had no further charge to make, Augustus said, “Next time, when you give ear to information against honest men, take care that your informants are honest men themselves."

4. He told us that he had been thirty years employing his thoughts for the improvement of mankind.

5. "I beseech you, O Athenians," said Themistocles, "to betake yourselves to your ships; for I perceive that there is no longer any hope."

6. Bion, seeing a person who was tearing the hair of his head for sorrow, said, "Does this man think that baldness is a remedy for grief?"

7. Down the long street he walked, as one who said that a town which boasted inhabitants like him could have no lack of good society. 8. A drunkard once reeled up to Whitefield with the remark, “Mr. Whitefield, I am one of your converts." "I think it very likely," was the reply; "for I am sure you are none of God's."

9. The Samnites told the Romans that there should be no peace in Italy till the forests were rooted up in which the Roman wolves had made themselves a covert.

Rhet.-10.

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