One who reads this selection carefully will notice in it the following characteristic features: (1) The writer seems to take it for granted that he understands the subject under discussion better than his readers do, and hence that he is prepared to enlighten them upon it. He does not say this anywhere; perhaps we should not like him to say it; but his way of putting things seems (without offence) to imply it. (2) His chief concern appears to be that those for whom he writes shall understand precisely what the subject means. One can imagine him saying to the reader, "Now I want this idea to be just as clear to you as it is to me. This is the way in which I myself look at it. See if you can't look at it in the same way. If you do, I am sure you cannot fail to understand it." (3) The subject in which the writer is interested is a general idea, not a particular thing. He speaks indeed of particular things, as the weight, the scales, and the pound of sugar; but it is evident that he is using them only as illustrations. His main interest is not in these objects, but in what they mean- in the law or principle that they exemplify. Other objects, provided that they brought out clearly the same meaning of the general idea theoretical exactness," would answer his purpose quite as well. This specimen is a typical example of exposition, the kind of discourse in which the writer's aim is to make others see the meaning of some idea as clearly as he himself sees it. Its subject-matter is general ideas, laws, or principles, not (as in description and narration) particular things. Its indispensable quality is clearness. No one, of course, should attempt to write an explanation of any subject unless his ideas upon it are entirely clear. What a writer does not himself understand he is not likely to make intelligible to others. 99. Assignments on the Nature of Exposition. A. Select from the list below the subject that you know the most about, and come to the class prepared to speak on it. First the thing is to be described very briefly; next its principle or law is to be explained as fully as necessary for clearness. 1. Describe a lump of coal; then explain how it came to be what it is. tion. 2. Describe yeast; then explain the principle of its action. 5. Describe a freshet; then explain the causes of freshets. 6. Describe voting; then explain the meaning and significance of voting. 7. Describe a strike; then explain what strikes signify. 8. Describe a mission Sunday School; then explain its signifi cance. 9. Describe a Boy Scout; then explain the Boy Scout Movement. 10. Describe a department store; then explain the principle of its organization. B. What idea is made clearer by each of the following paragraphs? 1. One of the best equipped observers of American life, and one of the shrewdest, also,-Professor Giddings, faces the future fearlessly. He holds that in the coming years a mixture of elements not Anglo-Teuton "will soften the emotional nature" and "quicken the poetic and artistic nature" of the American people; it will make us "gentler in our thoughts and feelings because of the Alpine strain" (and this includes the Slav). We shall find ourselves “with a higher power to enjoy the beautiful things of life because of the Celtic and the Latin blood." And as if this prophecy of emotional benefit was not heartening enough, Professor Giddings holds up to us the high hope of an intellectual benefit, probably through the commingling of bloods. "We shall become more clearly and more fearlessly rational,in a word more scientific." -BRANDER MATTHEWS, The American of the Future, in Century, 74: 474. 2. In mechanics it is part of the engineer's profession to consider carefully the amount of physical weight and pressure which various substances will bear - how many pounds a given girder will sustain; how much an upright. It is upon this science and its carefully figured mathematical details that the safety and well-being of the housed community so largely depend. Sometimes, to be sure, even the most carefully estimated plans are spoiled by some unforeseen and unforeseeable weakness in the structural material, and it gives way at a pressure or strain apparently none too great for its endurance. But these occasional obsessions of inanimate nature do not discourage the engineer, or make him abandon his interminable mathematics. In spite of them, or on account of them, he continues his studies so that he may better succeed in placing on the materials which he uses no grievous burden and may not subject them to a stress or strain forbidden by natural law. Collapses of buildings are less frequent, and community life becomes safer as this expert knowledge, founded on study and experience, grows broader and surer. -ALGER, Moral Overstrain, in Atlantic, 93: 496. 3. Who would ever think, to look at a dull fragment of steel, that such a piece of metal had an internal history! But if the same inert, apparently insensible, piece of metal be polished and suitably prepared for examination under the miscroscope, its internal organism is more clearly and surely shown than the interior skeleton of a man when pierced by the X-ray. -BOYNTON: Anatomy of the Steel Rail, Harper's, 112: 585. Need of Exposition. 100. When we consider how vague and confused are the ideas of the majority of persons upon the important questions of life, such as questions of politics, economics, morals, and art, and also how necessary it is for the conduct of the world's business that their ideas upon these subjects should be clear, we can easily understand why there has sprung up a distinct class of writing which has for its object the explanation of things hard to understand. It may be doubted whether any other kind of discourse is so directly useful as this kind. Without it we might know and communicate to others the particulars of our experience; but the meaning of these particulars, the general principles that underlie them, could not be definitely set forth. It is chiefly by means of exposition that the teacher instructs his class, the scientist proclaims his discoveries, the inventor makes known his inventions. That one age is able to surpass the foregoing in knowledge is due, in large part, to the fact that by means of exposition we pass on the results of study and investigation from one generation to the next. It is not only in these great matters that exposition is necessary. It is equally true in the small matters of daily life and experience that a clear understanding of what is appropriate, and why it is appropriate, and how it is to be done, avoids thousands of blunders, embarassments, and petty annoyances. The ability to explain the principle involved in the smaller conventionalities of life, and in the common operations that go on in business and in every household, is a daily necessity for somebody. 101. Assignments on the Need of Exposition. A. Explain orally to the class that one of the following about which you are best informed:: 1. How to turn off the water in case the house is in danger of being flooded. 2. What use should be made of the kitchen sink and what use should not be made of it. 3. How to read a water-meter or a gas-meter. 4. How to regulate a hot-air furnace. 5. What to do in case of a severe burn, and the reason. 6. How to tell an oak tree from an elm. 7. What to do and what not to do in making a camp-firewith reasons. 8. How to proceed in trying to sell a magazine subscription. 9. How to organize a literary club, with reasons for your recommendations. 10. How to breathe, how to swim, how to sit properly, how to stand properly. 11. How to get a history lesson. 12. How to write a news item. 13. How to decorate a library. |