SECTION 172.

EXPLANATION IN CONVERSATIONS.

Ordinary conversation, as we have seen (p. 211), consists in great part of explanations made in a few brief sentences. Here one has continual opportunity for valuable training.

Whenever you direct a stranger how to reach a particular point in your town or city, you have a good chance to use your skill in explanation. It is far from easy to state the various turns that the inquirer must make, so clearly and concisely that he shall understand your directions quickly and carry them easily in his head. A rough map, sketched on the back of an envelope, may be of assistance. Remember your own experiences in this respect.

In an oral explanation, try not to ramble and repeat yourself. Think a moment, and settle upon the most important points. Set these forth lucidly, and, if additional details are necessary, return to them later.

1. You propose a game of croquet to your cousin, who is visiting you. She has never played croquet. Imagine that you go to the croquet ground together and begin to play. Your cousin asks questions, in reply to which you explain the game. Report the conversation, with appropriate introduction and comment. Continue the explanatory narrative to the completion of the game.

2. Turn to one of the "Rollo Books" (or a similar work) and find a piece of explanation occurring in conversation. Bring the selection to the class for discussion.

3. Imagine a person who has never seen a railroad. Explain to him the general plan of construction.

SECTION 173.

ABSTRACTS OR SUMMARIES.

Not infrequently one is required to prepare an abstract or summary of a paper or of a passage from a book. At school, for instance, you must be able to make useful notes on your reading; in business your employer may ask you to collect and present to him the substance of a report or of a number of documents.

The first thing to do in such cases is to read the paper through. Unless you do this, you cannot understand the writer's purpose, and therefore you cannot judge what is important and decide what you may omit. Your comprehension of the main purpose of the writer will largely determine the value of your summary.

The important points should then be clearly stated and duly emphasized. If the abstract must be short, you may be able to preserve nothing except these points. If you have space, insert short quotations or striking examples from the original document. These will impart to your abstract something of the effect of the original and will thus make it a more adequate substitute. Be careful, however, that such quotations and examples do not obscure more important facts.

Care in paragraphing will stand you in good stead; for the indentations in the page will indicate at once to the eye the main divisions of the subject, and will therefore save words. So, again, you can put minor facts into the subordinate clauses and phrases of your sentences, and thus make your abstract fuller without lessening the emphasis on more important points.

A report of a lecture or address is of much the same nature as an abstract; except that here you must rely on your memory or on your notes for the facts that you mean to include. Always try to apprehend and make clear the main outlines of what you report: that is essential. Then fill in the report with illustrations which the lecturer used and with words or turns of phrase which are characteristic of him.

TO THE TEACHER. - Exercises in making abstracts or summaries should be useful in developing the pupils' discrimination and power to seize on the important point. If they keep notebooks in history or literature, their notes should be carefully watched: slovenly habits here may go far to defeat the purposes of their work in composition. If time allows, training should be given in taking notes from informal lectures, or from reading aloud. In some cases it may be practicable to let one pupil prepare and deliver an informal address and the others report it. The ability to take good notes is of the highest practical importance both to pupils who go to college and to those who engage in business.

SECTION 174.

EXPOSITION OF CHARACTER.

Description of the character of an individual often runs over into explanation of a type of character.

no clear line can be drawn between the two.

Sometimes

For example, you might describe Washington's character by explaining the highest type of the American gentleman and then pointing to him as the best example of the type; or you might explain what qualities an American gentleman should have by describing Washington as the best example.

In the main, the description of an individual makes free use of specific facts that, taken together, would apply to

no one else; and the explanation of a type consists of general assertions that must apply to all similar cases.

Newman's explanation of "The Gentleman" (pp. 35556) is a good example of the latter class. This might be called an extended definition.

Newman specifies a great many traits of character, all of which, however, come under the general statement at the beginning, "It is almost a definition of a gentleman to say that he is one who never inflicts pain." Without the minute specification of details, the explanation would be incomplete; without the single principle, these details would be scattering and inconclusive.

Such an explanation, then, needs both the general principle to give it point and unity, and an application of the principle to the many cases in which the character may manifest itself.

SECTION 175.

CONCLUSION.

We have seen that the essence of explanation is the orderly arrangement of the material; that an outline or plan is of the greatest assistance in perfecting this arrangement; that an introduction and a conclusion in definite terms are usually necessary; and that, as you pass from one step of the explanation to another, you should give notice of your progress.

In writing out the complete explanation, be careful of paragraphing and of sentence structure. Effective paragraphing is the surest and easiest way to indicate the divisions of a subject; and without a variety of sentences

it is impossible to express any except the simplest relations between facts or ideas. Be particular, too, in the selection of words, for carelessness or inaccuracy in this respect may seriously obscure your meaning.

Remember, too, the value of diagrams. In many cases you can give more help by a sketch map on a scrap of paper than by a page of description.

Finally, make your explanation interesting to the reader. This you can accomplish in two ways. In the first place, you may attach it to his own experience and to objects with which he is familiar. It always arouses our interest to discover unsuspected relations between things with which we are already well acquainted. With this in view, Sir John Lubbock shows how necessary a bumblebee is to a nettle flower (p. 204), and Professor Goss compares a locomotive with a stationary engine (p. 207).

In the second place, do not hesitate to put color and action into an explanation when you can do so without distracting the reader. The more you can stimulate his attention, the more easily he will follow you. Grey's "Australian Kangaroo Hunt" (p. 201) is all the better for being lively and picturesque, and the humor of Dr. Van Dyke's directions for making a smudge makes them easier to remember. Do not confine yourself to cold and abstract generalities. Illustrate and exemplify your general principles by applying them to specific facts or individual cases.

The explanation of an abstruse subject may require some study before it is fully comprehended; but the writer should not add to the difficulty and discourage the reader by a dull and lifeless style,