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ELEMENTS

OF

COMPOSITION AND RHETORIC

WITH

COPIOUS EXERCISES IN BOTH CRITICISM AND
CONSTRUCTION

BY

VIRGINIA WADDY

Teacher of Rhetoric in the Richmond High School, Richmond, Va.

NEW-YORK : CINCINNATI : CHICAGO

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1888, by

VIRGINIA WADDY,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress.

WADDY'S RHET.

Printed at
The Eclectic Press
Cincinnati, U. S. A.

PREFACE.

THE object aimed at in the preparation of this work has been to furnish a practical treatise on Composition and Rhetoric, one sufficiently elementary for the lower grades of the high school, and at the same time comprehensive enough to give a fair knowledge of the principles and graces of Rhetoric.

While the discussion of simple, complex, and compound sentences is the province of Grammar, -a subject usually completed before that of Rhetoric is begun, it has been deemed advisable to include these topics, for the pupil seldom possesses the maturity of mind to comprehend thoroughly the laws of Grammar, even when he undertakes to master the elements of Rhetoric; moreover, his attention has been directed almost exclusively to analytical processes, to the neglect of synthetical; hence, he may be skillful in discovering the relations of words in sentences formed by others, and be but a bungler in giving expression to his own ideas. For a like reason, also, the subject of Concord, which perhaps belongs still more strictly to Grammar, is included; not all of the syntactical arrangements are noticed, only those wherein the grammatical principle receives a special signification from the rhetorical point of view.

The Reproductions furnish material for practice upon the principles under discussion. As a means of securing ease of expression, they are of great value; the material for the discourse being furnished, the pupil is thus enabled to concentrate his attention upon the form. A more advanced step towards original writing is found in the Developments. These give play to the imagination, and supply the details of a connected story; they also furnish an excellent test of style, because they give no

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