Practical English Composition: Book II.: For the Second Year of the High School — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Practical English Composition: Book II.: For the Second Year of the High School
John Stuart Mill · en
Mr. Birrell's lecture was full of good phrases. For instance:
1. We have the spectacle of Burke in his old age, like another
Laocoön, writhing and wrestling with the French Revolution.
2. Lubricating religious differences with the sweet oil of the
domestic affections.
3. Quaint old landladies wonder maternally why he never gets drunk,
and generally mistake him for an author until he pays his bill.
4. I love him for letting me warm my hands at it (his wrath at
Gerard Hamilton) after a lapse of a hundred and twenty years.
5. His letters to Arthur Young on the subject of carrots still
tremble with emotion.
6. This is magnificent, but it is not farming.
V. Queries
1. What part of the task of reporting a speech is easy? Why?
2. Wherein lies its difficulty?
3. What are the three essentials of a good report?
4. What is the commonest fault in reporting speeches?
5. What arrangement of material is suggested?
6. How many main ideas should a speech contain?
7. Name and describe the six parts of a speech.
8. Are any of them ever omitted? When, how, and by whom?
9. Discuss the value of argument in a lecture.
10. Who was Demosthenes?
11. When did the battle of Lexington occur?
12. Discuss the etymology of "Parliament."
13. Explain the subject of each paragraph in Model I.
14. Divide Paragraph 3, Model I, into the six parts of a complete
speech.
15. What are the important places in a sentence? Did the writer of
these models recognize this fact?
16. Find a metaphor in Model I. An alliteration. An antithesis.
17. Point out the Four W's, and discuss the sentence structure.
18. What is the subject of each paragraph in Model II?
19. Write a note of fifty words on Augustine Birrell.
20. Explain the nature and location of Ireland, Wales, Chester,
Durham, Dublin, Edinburgh, London.
21. Who were David Garrick and Dr. Johnson?
22. Why did Burke stand no higher with his contemporaries?
23. Explain the nature of Burke's importance to the world to-day.
24. Have the British adopted his principles in the management of
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa?
25. Explain the figure of speech in each quotation in the last
paragraph of Model II.
26. Find in Paragraph 2 of Model II a metaphor and an antithesis.
27. How many of the six parts of a speech can you find in Lincoln's
Gettysburg speech?
VI. Composition
Hear and report a speech. If this appears to be undesirable or
impossible, the teacher may read one to the class. The following are
suggested:
1. Macaulay's _Speech on Education_.
2. One of the lectures in Thackeray's _English Humorists_ or
_Four Georges_.
3. Phillips's _Toussaint L'Ouverture_.
4. Webster's _Bunker Hill Speeches_.
5. Lincoln's _Peoria Speech_ against Douglas.
6. One of Birrell's _Obiter Dicta Lectures_.
Others equally good will probably suggest themselves.