5. How Are Good Paragraphs Constructed?

Let's see how far you have progressed. You now know how to:

§ select a topic that suits you

§ narrow it down in terms of the required words

§ try to take an original, unusual approach

§ plan an appropriate number of paragraphs

§ prepare idea headings for the middle paragraphs

§ list specific details under the headings

If you have mastered these techniques, you have hurdled the first big obstacle—knowing what to do before you begin to write. But, important as they are, these are only the pre­liminary steps. The final judgment of your work will be based upon how well you write the composition. This means we must now turn to the how's of the writing job itself.

I. PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE

Any discussion of writing improvement must begin with the paragraph because anybody who can learn to write a good paragraph can be taught to write well. Let these words sink in for a moment. They represent the most significant statement that can be made about the writing process and their basic truth is recognized by every authority in this field. There is no question about it. The paragraph is the key to all writing. It is the prime material with which you build compositions and, when the occasion demands it, longer essays, chapters, whole books. That's why it is essential that we take a long, close look at how good paragraphs are con­structed.

In a recent television production of W. Somerset Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence appeared this remarkably clear definition of a sentence: "words put together in a definite order to give meaning to man's thoughts." You accept this as valid because you are accustomed by now to thinking of a sentence as being a single unit of expression, making sense independently when it stands alone and collectively when it appears with other sentences. To get the proper perspective of a paragraph you must look upon it, too, as a single unit. Instead of words it contains sentences which are put together to give meaning to man's ideas rather than single thoughts. There you have the core of the relationship between sentences and paragraphs. One expresses a single thought, the other a main idea toward which a number of thoughts point. Both, however, have basically the same construction.

Observe this:

 Snow fell

Despite its bareness and simplicity, this sentence states a fact, expresses a thought, makes sense. It contains a subject (what is being talked about) and a verb (that which helps us say something about the subject). If we wanted to enrich the meaning of this sentence and give it a more finished ap­pearance, we might add some modifiers, thus:

The heavy snow fell steadily.

Although we have given a little more substance to the sentence, it is still a single thought, and it has its limitations as such. It cannot be stretched out indefinitely and therefore cannot by itself express in adequate detail what a writer has in mind when he wants to expand a thought. Other sentences must be added so that the thought blossoms into an idea, well-developed and broadened in scope—something like this:

The heavy snow fell steadily. Rooftops soon were cov­ered with the blanket-like whiteness that gives a clean, fresh look to a city. Trees began to sag beneath the weight of the clinging snow and reached long arms to the ground. Pavements and roadways became fused into one broad expanse and drifts began to pile up in door­ways. Cars moved slowly, struggling in the slippery going as their spinning tires whined piercingly. Pedestrians, their faces hidden behind upturned collars, plodded along, dragging their feet as if they were wading through surf. Lights appeared in the gathering darkness. Still the snow fell—undisturbed, relentless, enveloping.

Now we have a paragraph. What has happened to the original sentence? It has become the indicator of the main idea (topic sentence), toward which all the other sentences point. Whereas a subject, a verb, and a few modifiers were enough to express the thought of the sentence, the paragraph requires a whole sentence to suggest the topic and a series of sentences to develop it. Note, however, that the basic pattern of these two units of expression is still maintained:

Sentence = Paragraph

What are we talking = Subject = Topic Sentence about?

What are we saying = Verb = Related Sentences about it?

What are the finishing = Modifiers = Concluding Sentence touches?

You can see why we say that when you write a good para­graph you do not just tack one sentence onto another, but you start with a thought and then expand it into an idea. To put it another way, we can return to our discussion of the outline. The idea heading becomes the topic sentence and the details become the related or supporting sentences. In fact, it should be possible theoretically to expand any sentence into a paragraph. We'll do that with some very ordinary sentences to drive home the point that it should be possible to reduce every well-constructed paragraph to a single core sentence.

Sentence

I'm going home. Paragraph

I'm going home. I've been working hard lately and I'm very tired. Besides, it's getting late and it will be an hour before í get home. You won't mind, I'm sure. The party can go on without me. Say "good-by" to the others for me.

Sentence

Did you call me yesterday? Paragraph

Did you call me yesterday? I was taking a shower when I heard the phone ring. Although I dashed out as quickly as I could, I didn't make it. Then I remembered that you had told me you would be in touch with me. Was it you?

Sentence

That was quite a crash/ Paragraph

That was quite a crash! I'll never know what makes people drive like maniacs on wet pavement. They see pictures about accidents, read grisly accounts of them m newspapers, but don't seem to understand that it can happen to them, too. I suppose they're convinced when they wind up like this.

There you are. It's really quite simple when you get the idea. Experiment with this concept until you can actually feel the unity that should exist in every paragraph. Take commonplace expressions like "I will not," "Don't talk to me," and "What time is it?" and try adding four or five sentences, enough to prove that you can expand a thought into an idea. After you have finished, check each paragraph to make sure it has a clearly defined topic sentence and re­lated ones as well. We'll have more to say about the con­cluding sentence later, so that it is not being listed as an absolute requirement at the moment.

Now let's examine the basic elements of a paragraph, one by one, in order to help you learn the most effective ways of forming each.

A. The Topic Sentence

1. Position: You would expect the key sentence of a para­graph, toward which all others point, to appear at the very beginning, and it usually does. However, many writers place it elsewhere occasionally to give variety to their work or to create a particular effect in the paragraph. The latter reason for shifting the position of the topic sentence occurs most frequently when the writer is attempting to build up toward a climax. He may want to save the punch for the end, in­crease the suspense, and so may place the topic sentence last. At other times it may come in the middle of the para­graph if the purpose is to lead up to and away from it to create a feeling of balance. Here are some examples taken from student compositions. The topic sentence has been printed in boldface in each case.

a. Beginning

(This was the second paragraph of a composition on "Po­litical Indifference in the United States.")

The American is exposed to windy assurances that there is nothing to worry about and is con­vinced of just that, it seems to be typical of twentieth century man that if he makes himself believe something it will come true. He is sure that problems arising in Europe, Asia, and Latin America are no concern of ours. He is so certain of the security of our position in the world picture that he withdraws into a little cocoon to play with all the toys our industry has made it possible tor him to possess. His automobiles, refrigerators, or lawn mowers become more important to him than intercon­tinental missiles or H-bombs. Leave everything to the State Department, says he.

b. Middle

(This was the third paragraph of a composition on "My Kid Sister.")

She is good. She is good to her family, better to her friends, and best to herself. She is shrewd. She is shrewd with her teachers, shrewder with her friends, and shrewd­est with me. Oh, she has many admirable character­istics. She is bright and alert. She is bright and alert with younger children, she is brighter and more alert with guests, and she is brightest and most alert with boys. Yes, she is like a human violin, responding sensitively to the touch of circumstance.

c. End

(This was the third paragraph of a composition on "Thoughts on a Rainy Day.")

Now the dark shapes are no longer friendly, but omi­nous and frightening. They mingle furiously with one another until we can't distinguish between them. It is impossible to tell which of the surging shadows has been cast by the brooding clouds and which by the open umbrellas clutched tightly by hurrying passersby. We be­come confused and troubled as are the ghosts we are cre­ating. Their blackness whispers evilly of disaster, tears, and death. We are depressed.

2. Types: In addition to shifting its position from time to time, you can also vary your handling of the topic sentence by changing its form or impact. The great majority of your topic sentences will, of course, be rather direct suggestions or summaries of the contents of the paragraph. But, remember­ing that you must constantly work to catch the reader's in­terest, you will want to try the novel approach as often as you can. These are some types that have been used successfully by other students.

a. Change the pace with a very brief, compact sentence. Look back at the paragraph above that ends with "We are depressed." A three or four word sentence in a descriptive paragraph can be very effective, especially if it is thrown into a collection of longer sentences. It also goes well in a narra­tive paragraph when you wish to indicate a sudden turn of events.

b. Ask a question sometimes. If your material is personal and you wish to give it a conversational tone, a question will draw the reader into the discussion. It can be used with equally good effect when you are expressing an opinion or when you are attempting to inject humor into a factual para­graph. For example, in the following, taken from a composi­tion on "Our Forty-ninth State," observe how the question helps set the mood:

What do you suppose is the scarcest item in Alaska? Women/ Men who run from the States to escape them find that the shortage is a serious problem. They can't find enough of the ladies to avoid. For the young woman back home, the opportunities in this land, devoid of ruf­fled curtains and home-baked apple pie, are readily imag­inable. The ratio of males to females up thar' is approxi­mately 25 to 1. Surely any bright, husbandless girl can­not fail to see the desperate situation behind such a sta­tistic and the limitless horizon beyond it.

c. Launch a surprise attack! This is a sure attention-getter. An unexpected bit of information or an unorthodox approach, even if it shocks the reader, appeals to his curiosity irre­sistibly. I recall one student, delivering an oral composition on cheating, who started one of his paragraphs with this sen­tence: "We are nothing but a pack of thieves!" Moreover, I am sure you will agree that this arresting device added to the interest of the following paragraph taken from a composition on "Bringing Up Mother":

I hate mothers. When you're little, they fondle and caress you. They feed you and watch over you to make sure you don't break your silly, little neck. They make you reel wanted. Then you get older and you start push­ing them away. They want to share their experiences with you, but you know better. You battle them right down the line. One day you grow up. Suddenly, you dis­cover how right they've been. I hate anybody who makes me feel ashamed and guilty.

Other types of unusual topic sentences will occur to you as you continue to make a conscious effort to pep up your paragraphs from beginning to end. Perhaps you will want to use a quotation to start things off, if it fits. Remember now, if it fits! Nothing is worse than ramming a familiar line or two into a paragraph despite its complete irrelevancy to the topic at hand. However, if it is apt, a quotation can give style to almost any type of material. Then again, you may want to try the poetic touch on occasion, something like the line Al­fred Noyes used to begin one of his stanzas in "The Highway­man":

"Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night!"

Imitating sound and motion, particularly in a narrative, fires the imagination. Or you may decide to use a bit of dialogue to get your main idea started or a series of interjections, as one student did in a composition on "Problems of a Senior":

"Marks! Marks! Marks! They dance before my eyes!"

The main thing is to mix up your attack, as the football phrase goes, and you will gain an important aid in sustaining interest in your writing. Let your topic sentence fulfill its dual purpose: suggest the contents of the paragraph, create a desire in the reader to go on.

B. The Related Sentences

These sentences represent the core of the paragraph. They point toward the topic sentence and develop the main idea. They are formed from the details that you have inserted un­der the idea headings in your outline. And this is the clue to making related sentences effective. Details!

The heart of your paragraph must be specific. It must take its cue from the topic sentence and feel both limited by it and obligated to it. Let's make this point a little clearer. Sup­pose you started a paragraph with this topic sentence:

A walk in the rain is not for me.

You would be expected to limit your material to a walk in the rain, not just any walk at any time. Moreover, you would be obligated to offer reasons why such a walk is not for you. It's a kind of proof that your suggested main idea is in fact what it pretends to be. It is also a means of preventing ram­bling, disconnected thinking.

Let's try it again. Your topic sentence is:

Building a television set horn a kit is easier than you think.

You would be limited to television sets (not boats, radios, or cabinets) and obligated to present the various steps in such a way as to prove that the job is easy.

Again, you open with:

Work camps may be one of the answers to juvenile delinquency.

In this paragraph you could talk only about work camps and you would be expected to offer evidence that they have worked in the past or are being tried successfully at the time you are writing about them.

If your related sentences fail to stay within the limits set by the topic sentence and fulfill their obligation to it, you disappoint your reader. He feels cheated, may become con­fused, and reacts by losing interest in what you have written. Don't let this happen in your compositions.

Put in enough details to make every paragraph do what you want it to do. Details lead to interest. Details increase understanding. Details make your ideas acceptable, your opinions worth while, your explanations clear, your stories enjoyable, your descriptions picturesque, and your total writ­ing effort superior.

Now, what we call details come in many disguises, and it doesn't matter much what their names are so long as you use them. Whether they are referred to as facts or statistics (to support an argument), examples or illustrations (to clarify an explanation), their primary function is, as we have stressed, to develop the topic sentence specifically. We are going to examine some of the more commonly used detail patterns. In your next composition, try out one or two of the suggestions that are new to you. Keep on testing all of them and you will soon get the feel of when it is appropriate to use a particular pattern in a paragraph. The examples have been taken from student compositions accepted for publication in the school literary magazine.

1. Narrative Sequence: When you tell a story in one of your paragraphs, the best way to present the details is chrono­logically, that is, in the order of time. Tell what happened first, second, and so on. When possible, try to group the de­tails around some central point of focus so that the paragraph has unity. Get everything in—how you felt, what the back­ground looked like, who was there. Here's how Tom Kelly did it in one of the paragraphs he wrote in which he pre­tended he was the inventor of the automobile:

I saw his hand drop. My foot touched the accelerator. The machine began to vibrate and the last mechanic jumped aside. With a tremendous shudder, we moved forward, slowly at first, but faster and faster and faster. I glanced at the speedometer, blinked, and had to look again, it was incredible, impossible, but after a quick check of the instruments í knew that the speedometer was right. I was sure that my machine was a success. I had proven that man could go as fast as he had dreamed. I was traveling at 20 miles an hour. The automobile was now a reality, and I was the first to drive it.

Did you notice the topic sentence at the end? Do you see how even in a narrative paragraph, it helps to tie things to­gether? Did you observe how the details, given bit by bit, increased the suspense and sustained the interest?

2. Dialogue: Another effective way of presenting details in a story is to let the characters talk and record their conver­sation. It makes the material sound alive and gives it a novel touch. Here's a paragraph taken from Harold Haicken's piece on a visit with his uncle who had just lost his wife:

As we passed the second cornfield on Old Man Bry-er's place, he turned to me:

"Remember how ya aunt use ta make apple pie?"

“Yeh, I remember, Unk·”

"She made 'em good, éh?"

"Yeh, Unk"

"There's a deer, Pete! Ta ya left! Go ahead, you take it"

"I see it!" I fired twice.

"Ya missed. But I think the car jerked. Take the wheel. I'll get 'im." He fired, once.

"Nice shot, Unk·"

"Thanks, hut ya woulda got 'im ií the car hadn't a jerked. Now I gotta skin it thin. Ya Aunt Lil use ta do that. I never had ta do it alone."

Did you see how well the dialogue carried the story, drew a sympathetic picture of the uncle, and subtly indicated the boy's reticence in the face of his uncle's grief? Did you notice how the subject of the aunt is introduced early and how the middle of the dialogue, even though it seems to concern it­self with hunting, is basically pointing toward further de­velopment of the central idea, regret over the passing of a loved one? You realize, of course, that in dialogue you are permitted liberties with the language because you want to re­port faithfully how the characters talked so that their true identity is maintained.

3. Sense Impressions: When you write a descriptive para­graph in one of your compositions, your details must be pre­sented in such a way that they create a picture in the mind of the reader. This means that you must try to stimulate as many of his senses as possible—sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch. A paragraph taken from Ellen Rudnick's story of a Hungarian child is a good example of this technique:

Wide awake now, she remembered that she was alone. The child turned from the window and faced the staring cupboards. She found a piece of bread—the crust was hard—and, flicking off a caraway seed, she slowly munched it. As she aimlessly strolled about, her foot caught in the playthings which had occupied her before. Her little gill's body tumbled over and fell flatly to the floor. The piece of bread bounded out of her hands and new into a dark corner to sit near a wizened pair of red shoes. Slowly she raised herself and stared at the scraped knee. Only the sound of a rolling spool of thread was heard. She watched small drops of blood ooze out of the scratched area, and suddenly she began to sob—lonely, heart-rending moans that rose horn the very depths of the thin little chest. The cries shuddered through the misty-cold air and shook from wall to wall. She sobbed for gentle arms about her; for the sweetness and warmth of a mother.

Did you notice how the first and last sentences act as a framework for the central idea of the paragraph? Did you sense the appeal to your sight, sense of touch, your hearing, even taste (the crust of bread)? The faintly suggested smell in "misty-cold air"? Do you realize that these colorful de­tails are, for the most part, presented in words that are very simple? Do you agree that you don't have to have a big vo­cabulary to describe a scene effectively?

4.         Comparison or Contrast: If you were trying to explain what snow is to someone who had never seen it, you would have difficulty describing it directly. But if you talked about tiny pieces of cotton floating in the air, or suggested the feel of crushed ice, or mentioned the way down and feathers would settle on the floor of a room if a pillow were to burst open, you would have a better chance of making yourself clear. In a similar way, if you wanted to give a picture of the peace and quiet of a country road, you could sharpen the impression by indicating how different it is from a busy, traffic-choked main street. In one instance, comparison, you would be using what is familiar to your reader to develop an idea that was less familiar. In the other, contrast, you would be presenting an opposite concept so that your basic idea would stand out more vividly. In a piece on "You Can Have It," Eddie Martin developed one of the topic sentences we mentioned earlier into an effective body paragraph by using a
combination of the comparison and contrast techniques:

A walk in the rain is not for me. I can't imagine why anyone would prefer soggy shoes, wet socks, and clammy clothing to a big, soft arm chair, a crackling fire, and a puzzling Perry Mason thriller. Who wouldn't hade a spattered nose and tightly closed lips for a mouth munching contentedly on peanuts and chocolate bars? I'm not a duck, I don't believe jackets are water repel­lent, and I'd rather take a shower without my clothes on. Sloshing about in puddles is for traffic cops and night watchmen. I like to do my walking when I can wiggle my bare toes in a thick, plushy carpet.

Did you see how effective this device is for argumentative as well as descriptive and narrative paragraphs? Were you aware of the author's use of the comparison and contrast de­tails in a balanced way so that each set heightened the effect of the other? Again, did you notice how the pictures are cre­ated by colorful, but simple, words?

5.         Evidence or Proof: Whenever you write on a subject that calls for an opinion, explanation, or evaluation, you cannot expect your reader to accept what you say unless you support your statements with concrete evidence or proof. Generalities are all right at the beginning or end of para­graphs, but they become meaningful only when the material in between is specific. Get into the habit of cross-examining yourself. Don't leave doubts in the mind of your reader. Make the point. Then prove it.

Use statistics if you are dealing with numbers or quanti­ties. Unless you are prepared to tell exactly how much or how many, you should not start a paragraph with a sentence like "Youthful crime is increasing" or "People are beginning to move back to the cities." If you haven't the facts at hand, look them up.

Use quotations if you want to add someone else's opinion to bolster your own. For instance, rather than make vague references to what some of your friends think about blind dates, quote them directly. Another person's actual words, es­pecially if he is an authority, can often be much more con­vincing than your own.

Use examples or illustrations to clinch a point. It is the kind of repetition that is appreciated by a reader. It resolves his doubts and clarifies his own thinking on the ideas you have presented. Wouldn't you find it annoying if many of the suggestions made in this book were not illustrated by sample paragraphs and compositions? Think back to that paragraph written by a student about her younger sister who was "good to her family, better to her friends, and best to herself." Don't you agree that these statements could have been improved with a few examples of the behavior of the child?

Use references if you have a point of view that is shared by prominent people or authors. Give their names and sum­marize what they believe, and your own attitudes will com­mand more respect. Suppose you are in favor of letting eighteen-year-olds vote. Perhaps a popular local citizen, a po­litical figure, or a well known magazine writer agrees with you. Use this evidence; it is excellent support for your arguments. In short, back up what you have to say on a subject by relating it to the information you accumulate through reading, listening, and observing.

Here is a composition written on "American Schools, Wake Up!" Whether you agree with the conclusions or not, you will have to admit that an effort has been made to employ the factual approach so that each point seems to be sup­ported by evidence or proof:

Are the Russians doing a better job in their schools than we are? Are they surpassing us in space research because their graduates have superior backgrounds and training? it would seem so, judging from some of the latest reports on the subject.

Some Americans are certainly not happy about the situation. A former principal of a science high school re­cently spoke about our "losing a greater battle than Pearl Harbor" in this educational race. An admiral criti­cized the softness of our courses of study before a nation­wide audience. An M.Í.T. professor had a college en­trance examination used by the Russians translated into English and then gave it to some of his students. All freshmen failed, a few sophomores passed, and only jun­iors or better could handle the test satisfactorily. These are rather ominous straws in the wind.

According to a survey reported in "The New York Times" the Russian high school graduate is better edu­cated in academic subjects at the end of his ten years of schooling than is his American counterpart at the end of twelve. A boy fresh out of a Moscow secondary school has taken courses in physics and biology for five years, chemistry for four years, astronomy for one year, and mathematics for ten years. This, of course, includes ele­mentary training as well. In the United States, fewer than one third of the high school graduates have taken a year of chemistry, only one fourth have taken physics, and about one seventh have had advanced mathematics. In the Soviet Union algebra and geometry begin in the sixth grade, here in the ninth; trigonometry and calculus start there in the ninth and tenth grades, here sometimes not until college; there natural science begins in the fourth grade, here usually in the ninth. They start earlier and get more.

Russian students are marked on a point system. If one has attained an average of five, the highest? and permits his work to drop to a four, he must climb back up again. Otherwise he may find himself in the "Labor Reserve." This is a school where one learns how to work in the mines, transportation, or other menial occupations. Amer­ican students can repeat if they fail and don't get thrown out of school if their averages drop. Our psychologists tell us it is bad to punish a child for getting a poor grade.

What are we going to do? Are we just going to stand by while Russia becomes the number one nation and we fall into second place? We must act now to improve our schools or well wake up some morning to find Ivan in control of the world.

Did you notice that the entire composition, in addition to following the factual approach, was also a running compari­son? Isn't it difficult to shrug off statistics, quotations, and references? Are you studying the topic sentences and notic­ing how they set up the paragraphs?

6. Emotional Reactions: You recall that you were advised to write about yourself as often as you can, to personalize. When you use material from your own experiences, you are you own best authority. You were there! At such times, cold facts are not nearly as important as the glimpses you permit the reader into your inner self. In a story or a description, the final note of realism is introduced when you tell how you felt about the experience. Don't be afraid to let go. Your per­fectly natural feelings of self-consciousness have no place in writing that pretends to be alive and interesting. You soon lose interest in a person who doesn't let you get to know him, and a composition that is just a matter-of-fact summary of a personal episode also fails to challenge attention.

Observe how Francine Brecher's frankness about her emo­tions made the following paragraph, taken from her account of a lost pet, so appealing to the sympathies of the reader:

I ran to the cottage and into my bedroom. I wept un­controllably and spoke to my dog as though she were hu­man. I made a move to take the puppy from her, only to be stopped by an angry paw and gnashing teeth. By this time, my mother had entered the room and, very strategically, we removed the little dead puppy. I lost myself completely in my grief. I snatched the puppy and, quite foolishly, proceeded to administer artificial respira­tion. With gentleness and understanding, my mother took the creature from me. We placed it into a potato sack and walked to the corn field.

Would you be ashamed to be so open about your emo­tions? Wasn't that touch about the artificial respiration worth a thousand words on how the grief-stricken girl felt?

This survey of detail patterns does more than tell you how to develop the middle of a paragraph. It re-emphasizes the big points we have made so far:

The best way to develop the topic sentence is to use details.

The best way to make sure you will use enough details is to get into the habit of preparing an outline.

These are your guarantees of good paragraph structure ALL THE WAY THROUGH!

C. The Concluding Sentence

You have been told several times now that somewhere in a paragraph there ought to be what, for the sake of a label, we call a topic sentence, which suggests the contents and toward which all the related sentences point. This structural design might be considered the minimum essential of a good paragraph. Your use of a concluding sentence, however, need not be quite as consistent.

There will be paragraphs for which you will find it im­possible or undesirable to use a concluding sentence. For ex­ample, when the topic sentence comes last, as in several pre­vious sample paragraphs, you will simply not have room to write anything else. Or, in a narrative piece, you may not want to interrupt the suspense or the flow of action by stop­ping to summarize what has been said. This is particularly true when the paragraphs are rather short and a concluding sentence would really be an intrusion, as in the following:

Arise! . . . Arise! . . . The cry of the people sounds weaker. . . . The guard's voice is hollow in the morning air. Standing up, I brush the bits of straw from my clothes.

The door creaks; it isn't opened often. The guard is not singing now. He leads the way past doors closed tight. Does he really know the way . . . does anyone?

The wagon roils over the roughly paved street. How many cobble stones are there in the Boulevard? The walls are of faces now. The people wait.

I am lifted from the wagon and down to the street. I cannot count the steps up to the platform. There are too many.

Did you notice that only in the first of the paragraphs quoted did a concluding sentence seem natural and useful?

Don't get the impression that a concluding sentence is rarely used. When you can fit one in to good advantage, and this is most of the time, you should. It ties the thoughts to­gether, like a string around a package. It adds a finishing touch, like icing on a cake. It is a signal to the reader that you have completed your discussion of a main idea. What is perhaps most important, it prepares the way for the next paragraph.

Here are some of the more popular types of concluding sentences used by writers. In each of the sample paragraphs, the concluding sentence will be printed in boldface type.

1. Standard: The usual way a paragraph is brought to a successful close is by, in effect, a restatement of the topic sentence. It summarizes the main idea, thus fulfilling the pri­mary purpose of a concluding sentence. Observe:

The anticipation yesterday was her greatest thrill. As she rushed to the beauty parlor for her wash, set, and manicure, she was sure that no one had ever known greater pleasure. She remembered reaching home, gulp­ing her milk and cookies, dressing quickly. Sure enough, just as she was applying the finishing touches, the door­bell rang. She rushed downstairs and gaily tossed her glance at the mirror on the first landing. Everything was perfect! She knew then that never again would she have such a feeling of anticipation and exhilara­tion, for this was a day like no other in the life of a girl who had just turned sixteen.

Do you see how the last sentence both summarizes the central idea of the paragraph and enlarges upon the topic sentence? Of course, the paragraph could have ended with "Everything was perfect!" But it wasn't how the girl looked that was the main point. It was how she felt that needed emphasizing, and the concluding sentence did just that.

2. Short Sentence: You have doubtless realized by now that the unusually short sentence is a handy device to have around. It can be used effectively, as a change, anywhere in the paragraph. As a concluding sentence, its three or four words can help to bring the main idea into sharp focus:

(This was taken from a piece on an attempt at horseback riding. Prior to this moment, the writer had been trying to calm the beast by talking to it.)

People are still wondering how it happened. Some sus­pect that the horse was used to the long years of lazing around the stable and wanted to get back to his wife and children. Others maintain that he could put up no longer with my rhetoric. Whatever the reason, it still remains that the horse turned his nose in the direction of his home, and in this direction he bolted post haste. He stopped me in mid-sentence. The world raced past me, a fantastic fairyland of greens and browns and wind and sun. í said a small prayer into the horse's left ear (which was not as difficult as it sounds for I was sitting on his neck at this time) and the beast must have been a thoughtful old darling because he stopped, short. I did not.

Did you see how dramatically the few words at the end complete the picture? Did you notice, too, how the suspense introduced by the topic sentence is maintained to the last sentence and how the abruptness of the horse's action is matched by the size of the sentence. A longer one here would have spoiled the effect, wouldn't it?

3. Foreshadowing: Sometimes you may find it desirable to end one paragraph by referring partly to what has preceded and partly to what is ahead:

It had begun on a cold, misty night not too long ago. The soldier had Jain trembling in his bed of earth, whis­pering a prayer, hoping it would penetrate the murky clouds above him. He had prayed that what they had said was not true. There would be no trouble tonight. There would be no bursting of shells, no enemy advance, no fighting . . . no dying. He was alone and afraid. It was hard for him to pull a warm thought out of the cold night ak. The hours had passed slowly, painfully. No break in the sky had appeared; no light had shone upon the world.

And then there was light; the light of shells exploding in the distance, the light of shells exploding every­where. ...

Did you notice how the first part of the concluding sen­tence went back to the topic sentence, and how the second part went forward to the beginning of the next paragraph? Do you understand why it is called foreshadowing—casting its shadow before it, as does this concluding sentence, to sug­gest what is to follow?

There are other forms concluding sentences can take. Al­most any kind of sentence you can think of can be worked in at the end of a paragraph. A question can be striking at times, as you may have noticed in the piece beginning with "Arise! . . . Arise! . . ." An explosive expression like "Well!" or "Really!" has merit on occasion, especially when it sum­marizes how you feel about what you have said in the para­graph. A quotation can effectively point up the main idea, if you believe that some authoritative source is needed to sup­port your conclusion.

Use whatever seems to fit the contents of the paragraph. As with all other aspects of writing, the main thing is to try to be original. And if a concluding sentence doesn't appear to be desirable at the end of a paragraph, don't force one in. Leave it out when it interferes. Put it in when it helps.

At this point you should stop reading ahead and go back over the entire section on how a good paragraph is con­structed. Get the over-all view of how the basic unity and coherence of a paragraph are derived from the topic sen­tence, the related sentences, and the concluding sentence. Get this clear in your mind so that you will be ready for the special kinds of paragraphs we will now discuss—those that begin and those that end compositions of three or more para­graphs.

Bearing in mind what you have learned about the struc­ture of a single paragraph, you can now turn your attention to a larger piece of writing which involves a series of para­graphs. In what way will the basic design of the longer com­position differ from that of the short one? Actually, only in length. You still need a beginning, middle, and end.

Do you remember what we said about the paragraph's be­ing a blown up sentence: the subject of one becoming the topic sentence of the other, the verb becoming the related sentences, and the modifiers becoming the concluding sen­tence? Well, the longer composition merely carries this idea one step further. Now the picture looks like this:

Paragraph = Longer Composition

Topic sentence= Beginning (Introductory) Paragraph

Related Sentences = Middle (Body) Paragraphs Concluding Sentence = Ending (Concluding) Paragraph

Just as the main job of the topic sentence is to create inter­est and suggest the contents of the paragraph, so the purpose of the beginning paragraph is to get the composition off to an interesting start and to give the reader some idea of what the rest of the paragraphs will talk about. Similarly, the mid­dle paragraphs point toward the introduction, and the con­cluding paragraph ties all the ideas together. Everything else, except for the length, is the same, too. There are different ways of beginning and ending compositions, at least as many as there are for varying the form of the topic and concluding sentences. And this is what we are going to examine in the next phase of our study of composition techniques.

One point you must not overlook. We will not give sep­arate attention to middle paragraphs. We already have done that. Every word you read about the structure of a paragraph was meant to teach you how to write a good middle para­graph. It is only the beginning and ending paragraphs that have certain qualities of their own that need further discus­sion.

II. BEGINNING PARAGRAPHS

Everyone knows how important a first impression is, whether in a job interview, a talk with a college dean of ad­missions, or an introduction to a guest at a social gathering. It is somewhat of a trial period for two people who have the opportunity to size each other up and decide how well they are going to get along. The initial few minutes of such a meeting sometimes determines what the entire future rela­tionship will be.

In the beginning of a composition, you are meeting your reader for the first time. If you have prepared an outline for the middle of the composition, you already have planned the main ideas that will develop the topic. Your immediate concern, therefore, is not with what you are going to say but with how to get it started. You want to make such a good first impression that the reader will become interested im­mediately and will be anxious to continue with what you have written. To accomplish this purpose, you must make every effort to launch your material in the most attractive way you can.

'First, let's consider what you should not do! One certain way to create prompt boredom is to start with something like "I am going to write about . . ." You insult the reader's intelligence if you try to lead him by the nose into your sub­ject. Let him figure the thing out for himself. Don't warn him that you are going to be tiresome.

Another undesirable method of beginning a composition is to write a single sentence that baldly announces the topic, such as "There are several reasons why I enjoy fishing." Is there even one reason why a reader should be interested in an approach that is uninspired, much too abrupt, and about as exciting as a page in a telephone directory? Such a sen­tence might conceivably do for a single paragraph, but not for a composition of some length.

There's something else you should avoid doing. Don't "come in out of left field." Don't waste time and space by leading up to your subject through a jungle of irrelevancies. Introductions are supposed to get you started, not to lay down a smoke screen. For instance, this is bad:

When our forefathers landed on Plymouth Rock, they offered a prayer of thanks that they had come to a land where freedom was theirs for the asking. They pledged themselves to respect the rights and beliefs of others. Down through the ages, this has been the guiding prin­ciple of our great country, if this is so, why aren't teen­agers given more freedom by their parents?

What has Plymouth Rock got to do with the rights of teenagers? Be interesting, get to the point, and don't take a trip around the moon before you do!

Good beginning paragraphs are not accidental, nor do they depend upon "gimmicks" or trick devices for their effective­ness. They are thoughtfully prepared by successful writers and deliberately designed so that they fit the tone of the rest of the paragraphs. If your composition is going to be written in a light, humorous, very informal vein, you must keep your introduction in the same mood; if you are planning to pre­sent serious arguments, you must begin in such a way that the reader will take you seriously from the very first word. All this means that it is impossible to suggest any one way to begin all compositions. So much depends upon your topic, the nature of the contents, and your approach. How­ever, the problem of getting off to a good start can be solved more easily if you become familiar with certain types of opening paragraphs that appear frequently in superior writ­ing efforts, by both students and professionals. In this way you can provide yourself with a choice and avoid beginning every composition in the same old manner, as so very often happens.

A. Narrative

It is here that students should most decidedly follow the lead of professional writers. Recently I compared the open­ing paragraphs of several hundred student compositions with those found in about 100 articles in the "Reader's Di­gest." Among the latter, 40-60% of the authors used a brief bit of narration to catch the reader's interest. And this type of opening was not confined to articles that told a story in the middle paragraphs. On the contrary, most of them did not, as evidenced by such titles as "Driver Had Been Drinking," "Why Doctors Hesitate to Prescribe Antibiotics," "What To­morrow's Army Will Look Like," and "Is Your Child's School Safe From Fire?"

Among the students, the figures were quite different. Those who wrote narrative compositions based upon incidents or per­sonal adventures very often began their stories in the opening paragraph. However, fewer than 10% of the students who de­veloped their topics through argumentation, explanation, criti­cism, or description thought of using the opening device that is most popular with the professionals. Perhaps, like most other students, you believe that only when you are telling a story from beginning to end should you use a narrative opening. As evidenced by the survey just mentioned, this assump­tion is not supported by the facts.

"All right," you say, "I think it's a good idea. But where do I get all the stories? And what about a topic, for instance, like 'Creating International Understanding'?"

That's easy. You have been told several times that the most fruitful source of material is what has happened to you. Re­gardless of the subject, you can generally come up with a personal experience that can be tied in with the topic if you think along narrative lines. You want to write about interna­tional understanding? Fine. Haven't you ever had a disagree­ment with a friend as the result of a misunderstanding and then patched up your differences? If you have, tell about it briefly and in the middle paragraphs apply the illustrated point on a broader scale to nations abroad. Is the topic con­cerned with accident prevention? Wasn't there a time when you got hurt because of carelessness? Tell about it. If you bend your mind to it, you will discover that there are very few topics for which you cannot recall a personal episode to help you get started.

Suppose you can't think of one of your own experiences. Look elsewhere. Your parents, relatives, friends—things have happened to them that you know about. You read stories in newspapers, books, magazines. Borrow from these second hand sources, if you must, but make a conscious effort to use the narrative beginning more often.

It is usually sure fire, provided you are careful. Don't be like some after dinner speakers. They know the value of prefacing their remarks with an amusing anecdote to get the audience warmed up to the major contents of their talks. But often what they hope will be funny falls flat, or, what is worse, it has nothing whatever to do with the subject to be discussed. Make sure the story you use to begin a composi­tion is suitable, is pertinent to the main ideas you plan to develop. Secondly, make sure you give enough detail, but don't drag it out. Remember, your introduction should be but a small fraction of the total length of the composition.

With these cautions in mind, study the examples that fol­low. Observe how effectively the narrative opening paragraph creates interest. Try to guess where the writers got their stories. Get into the habit of considering this kind of opening for almost any topic and you will have a valuable writing tool at your disposal. The first two examples were written by stu­dents, the last two by professionals.

Sample #1 Topic:

 The Result

(This student was attempting to show how ridiculous some television commercials are. This particular one involved a diagram intended to prove that one aspirin tablet gets into the blood stream faster than another.)

The tension was easily apparent. The silence which prevailed in the large room was broken only infrequently by orders to the cameramen as to their fixed positions. An oval circle of cameras and microphones surrounded the long table, and overhead in the balconies all eyes stared intently at the awe-inspiring figure on the table. His features were partly hidden by the long thin wires attached to his body. Recordings would instantly be made of the reaction of the glands, nerves, tissues, and muscles which would yield the indisputable answer. He had been carefully chosen for the experiment, and indeed it had been necessary if the experiment was to be a suc­cessful one.

Where do you suppose the student got this story from? He made it up, of course! You can do the same thing occa­sionally. It just takes a little imagination. Do you see how effectively the use of a false setting of scientific accuracy exposes the silly practices of some advertisers?

Sample #2

Topic: Just a Card

(Here is a perfectly delightful composition on the effects of a certain mark on the feelings of a hurt student as he gazes at his report card.)

He just sat there, motionless, too stunned to speak. His head ached, and wild, improbable thoughts ran through his brain. How could she have done this to him?

Notice how brief, how simple is this narrative opening. Yet how effective!

Sample #3

Topic: Driver Had Been Drinking

(Here's how a professional uses a brief narrative opening to start an article on the need for strengthening law enforce­ment agencies to combat drunken driving.)

Last November a Detroit driver wiped out seven lives. Befuddled by liquor, he was driving the wrong way on a four-lane divided superhighway in Ohio when he plowed head-on at high speed into another car.

Sample #4

Topic: What Tomorrow's Army Will Look Like

(In this magazine article, the writer breaks down his narra­tive opening into two paragraphs, a completely acceptable procedure if the story lends itself to it. The title makes clear what the middle paragraphs discussed.)

The two GI’s hid in a grove of trees at the edge of a clearing deep in enemy territory. Hours earlier they had destroyed a particularly troublesome missile-launching site. Now they were anxious to reach their own territory, but certain they could never make it on foot, for fast-moving enemy patrols were hunting them.

One man stood watch; the other spoke softly into a walkie-talkie-type transmitter. Soon a big cargo-carrying airplane burst low over the clearing and paradropped a cylindrical canister about the size of two oil drums. Rush­ing to it, the GI's pulled out a piece of floppy, rubbery material and quickly spread it on the ground.

So that you won't be consumed by curiosity, the floppy material turns out to be an inflatable airplane. Do you see how this beginning can lead effortlessly into the major dis­cussion of the latest equipment used by our armed forces?

B. Direct

Continuing with the results of the survey mentioned be­fore, we find that over 80% of the students preferred to go directly to the heart of their topics in the opening paragraphs. Fewer than 30% of the professional writers used the direct opening, probably because they were more experienced in devising interesting beginnings, they wanted to avoid a stand­ard approach, and they were consciously trying to exercise their imaginations. This fact would seem to indicate that until you master the techniques of creating unusual beginning paragraphs you should regard the direct opening as your "bread and butter" device, the one you can depend upon to get you off to a good start when you can't think of a more inspiring one. When young writers who have barely begun to develop personal styles discover that they cannot fly at a par­ticular moment, they should have sense enough at least to walk.

The direct opening has much to recommend it on other grounds. It enables the writer to make full use of the outline. It immediately tells the reader what to expect and thus di­rects his thinking for him. It is relatively easy to construct. Let's see how it is done. We'll use one of the outlines we talked about in the previous chapter.

Topic: Modern Medical Miracles

Salk Vaccine                Heart Surgery
polio threat                    TV demonstration
injection series  cutting through layers
reduction of victims       sewing tissues
fourth shot                     sewing layers back

With the outline before you, the entire beginning para­graph can be worked out quickly. In the first sentence you suggest the topic as a whole. In the next few sentences you suggest what each of the middle paragraphs will cover. Then you compose a sentence to lead into the body of the compo­sition, and you are done! It's as easy as that.

A word of caution. Notice that the beginning paragraph is intended to suggest what follows. Let's emphasize that. You suggest; you do not discuss the main ideas that will be de­veloped in the middle paragraphs. Otherwise you will be wasting your verbal ammunition and will have little left later on when you will really want to concentrate your fire.

Based on the outline above, here is an example of a be­ginning paragraph using the direct approach:

Considering what they have accomplished in recent years, it is little wonder that many of our medical men are being referred to as workers of miracles, in their dedi­cated battle against disease, they have been advancing on several fronts. Among their most exciting victories have been the development of a vaccine against polio attacks and newly perfected methods of performing heart surgery. Thousands of people owe their lives to these valiant soldiers whose weapons are test tubes and guinea pigs, scalpels and sutures.

Do you see how the topic is indirectly restated in the first sentence? Do you remember what was said about the topic sentence, that it limits and obligates the writer? Need you be told that the same principle is observed in a beginning para­graph, that it suggests the main ideas to be discussed and fixes the responsibility of the writer to fulfill his promise in the middle paragraphs? What would have been wrong if the paragraph had been written this way:

By reading about Dr. Jonas Salk and watching some television programs, I have become familiar with some modern medical miracles. I now know how a series of in­jections can make many people immune to attacks of polio. At first three were required, and lately a fourth has been suggested. Also, it is very interesting to watch doc­tors perform heart operations on television. The way they cut through the layers of flesh is hard to take at first, but when you get used to it you find it fascinating.

Yes, what is wrong most of all is that this opening para­graph tells; it should only suggest!

It is possible to introduce variety even in the rather standard opening we have been describing. You may want to insert a few questions to achieve a change of sentence form, as is done in this beginning paragraph based upon another of the outlines presented before:

Topic: Part Time Jobs

My Job                         Why I Like It
tailor shop                     extra money
preparing tickets           saving for college
bicycle deliveries           outdoors, meeting people
collections, tips sense of responsibility

Recently, when I found I had some extra time on my hands, I went out and got myself a part time job. I can truthfully say I'm glad I did. What's it like? Why do I enjoy it? Let me tell you.

Again, did you observe how the first sentence presented the general topic? Did you sense the conversational tone the writer was able to adopt by use of his questions? Do you see how the middle paragraphs are suggested, but not talked about?

Compositions

Or you may want to vary the sentence length to avoid the ordinary, as is done in the next outline-opening paragraph example:

Topic: A Memorable Football Game

The Crowd and I          The Key Play
Our spirit                      Score
Banners, food               Tense moment
Keeping warm The end run
Cheers                         Tearing down goalposts

I shall never forget the football game we played against Blakeville two years ago. The stands were full of crazy rooters. One of our players did the impossible. í almost fainted!

Do you see how the series of staccato sentences is designed to infect the reader with the enthusiasm and excitement of the writer? Once more, did you observe the general topic expressed in the first sentence, the suggestion of the middle paragraphs in the next few sentences, and the last sentence preparing for the body of the composition?

Here are a few more typical direct-opening paragraphs, the first two by students and the last two by professionals. Observe how, with only minor variations, they follow rather closely the pattern of construction recommended for this type of beginning paragraph.

Sample #1

Topic: Threats to World Peace

Beginning Paragraph:

An intelligent observer of the world as it is today no­tices many dark shadows hovering over it. These ominous shapes vary in size and intensity. They represent politi­cal, social, and religious issues which are threatening to envelop us. Some cover various sectors of the globe, while one monstrous figure totally encompasses the earth.

Sample #2

Topic: A New World of Electricity—The Solar Cell

Beginning Paragraph:

The world today is confronted with many acute short­ages, possibly the most serious being that of raw mate­rials. Since, tor the most part, it is raw materials that run our great electric generators, human ingenuity must pro­vide some way for future generations to produce much needed electric power without dependence upon organic fuels. Scientists may have found the answer in something we see every day—the sun. As a substitute for man-made power, it has tremendous possibilities.

Sample #3

Topic: Why Do Good People Suffer?

Beginning Paragraph:

We are ever baffled by the injustice of the moral world. "Why?" is the most timeless and universal of all questions, as old as the first tear and as recent as the latest newscast. We can see a reason for scoundrels dying young, but why the untimely death of saints? We can justify a gangster's being stricken with disease, but why little children? We can accept adversity in the life of an infidel, but why in the life of the faithful? The Bible gives us answers to these questions.

Sample #4

Topic: Fresh Water From the Sea

Introductory Paragraph:

Since the first desperate human being dying of thirst stumbled to the sea, gulped mouthfuls of salt water and chokingly spat it out, mankind has dreamed of making salt water fresh. Not only the thirsty but millions of people such as those in the Middle East, where the sea actually washes up on the desert, have longed for a day when sea water could be used to irrigate the dry land. That day is coming.

C. Detailed

Even though facts, statistics, quotations, or other means of concrete support are most effective when used to develop middle paragraphs, they can often help you build up an interesting beginning paragraph, too. In using details this way to start a composition, you lend an air of authority to your main ideas and establish respect in the reader's mind for your opinions and conclusions. Be careful, however, to bear in mind that in the introduction you must only suggest, not tell. Don't squander important material at the beginning and then find that you have to repeat yourself later on. Here are four examples of the successful use of this technique:

Sample #1 (student)

Topic: The Baby Sitter

Opening Paragraph:

From experience, I have learned that a good baby sitter must be armed with the following weapons: one pair of iron shins; one good pair of lungs (for screaming for help), one and only one sweet face (for the benefit of paying parents), and one pair of strong fists (for you know whom). She must also keep on hand one hammer with a flat head (for a flat head); one tourniquet, large enough to go around a young neck; and one straitjacket. If the night goes along as expected, some one may have to take her home in the latter piece of equipment.

Sample #2 (student)

Title: West of Broadway

Beginning Paragraph;

Wednesday is a special day. it is a day when in autumn chilled leaves on sidewalks make joyful, crackling sounds; a day when in winter the pristine snow is quickly turned to a lush of ugliness; a day when spring brings joys of love. It is an important day to those who come to lose themselves in the excitement of the theatre. It is the day of the matinee, the reduced price, the smell of Schrafft's and Helena Rubinstein. The time is two-thirty-five. Except for a few tardy patrons, the street after its casual excitement is calm.

Sample #3 (professional)

Title: This Problem of Narcotic Addiction—Lets

Face It Sensibly

Beginning Paragraph:

Approximately 50,000 people in the United States today are narcotic addicts. They commit over one fourth of the nation's crimes. They infect thousands of others every year with this dread disease. Half of them are under 25. All of them suffer the tortures of the damned.

Sample #4 (professional)

Title: The Private Life of the Cricket

Beginning Paragraph:

One of the world's humblest voices has for centuries been prized in many lands. It is the cricket's—a chirp of contentment in the rusty summer grasses. Fiddler, ven­triloquist, acrobat, fighter and optimist (even when chill autumn nights warn of his end), the cricket long ago jumped into the affections of mankind. "I love it for the many times I have heard it, and the many thoughts its harmless music has given me," says Dickens for us all in The Cricket on the Hearth.

D. Descriptive

Sometimes by providing a colorful background, you can make your ideas stand out more clearly. Of course, many narrative pieces begin with a description of the setting. But the same device can be used even when the middle para­graphs do not tell a story. What you do is create a picture in the mind of your reader so that he can more easily follow your reasoning within the framework of the background you have supplied.

Let's say you are planning to write about the elimination of a slum district or an eyesore on the school campus. Why not start by describing it in detail and then presenting your arguments and suggestions? Observe how it was done in the following four examples:

Sample #1 (student) Topic: Hurricane

Beginning Paragraph:

The ocean was still. Over the depths came a soft breeze, nudging the calm waters. The breeze was a quiet thing as it traveled along, picking up more and more of its fellows, growing into a torrential wind shouldering along a mass of angry waves.

Sample #2 (student) Topic: God's World

Beginning Paragraph:

You look up at the sky. The black clouds have blown out the sun's golden rays. The soft warm wind has be­come cold and fierce. Trees that gently swayed in the faint breeze now unwillingly how their heads to a mighty unseen master. The wind is howling out its anger.

Sample #3 (professional)

Topic: How to Get More Out of Life*

Beginning Paragraph:

Take a look at the members of a certain American family draped in front of the television set on a typicalevening. Their bodies sag and often bulge. They nibble away at TV snacks. They are tired and tense—the certain harvest of a supeistimulated, underexeicised day.

"Reprinted by special permission from Sports Illustrated.

Sample #4 (professional) Topic: Vulture Country*

Beginning Paragraph:

There axe three essential qualities for vulture country: a rich supply of unburied corpses, high mountains, a strong sun. Spain has the first of these, for in this sparsely populated and stony land it is not customary, or necessary, to bury dead animals; where there are vul­tures such burial would be a waste of labor. Spain has mountains, too, and the summer sun is hot throughout the country. But it is hottest in the south, in Andalusia, and there the vultures hang in hordes in the roofless sky.

E. Conversational

Suppose your beginning paragraph suggests that you are going to write about several people. You have an excellent opportunity here to supply a real human interest touch. Have your chief characters talk! Dramatize your opening by using dialogue, as was done in these two examples:

Sample #1 (student) Topic: The Expert

Beginning Paragraph:

It does not take a long time to become an expert. In fact it came quite naturally to me. I didn't even think I had any talent whatsoever until my mother approached me one day and said,

"Wouldn't you like to help me with the dishes?" Since she had a heavy frying pan in her hand at the time, I didn't think she was merely asking a question.

"Why, of course," said I. That was when I becamean expert. I became an expert in getting out of doing the dishes.

"Reprinted by special permission from The Atlantic Monthly.

Sample #2 (professional)

Topic: Watch Your Conversation—Children are Listening*

Beginning Paragraph:

"What is the most neglected problem in family life today?"

"The way parents talk to their children and to each other in front of their children," says Dr. James H. S. Bossard, director of the William T. Carter Child Help­ing Foundation and professor of sociology at the Univer­sity of Pennsylvania.

F. Unexpected

Occasionally it may be possible for you to use a technique that was suggested as effective for topic sentences—the ele­ment of surprise because the direction of your ideas takes a sudden turn contrary to the expectations of the reader. What you do here is save the twist until the very end of the be­ginning paragraph, with the first few sentences proceeding in what seems to be a perfectly normal fashion. Here are two good examples:

Sample #1 (student) Topic: On Doing Homework

Beginning Paragraph:

How often I sit Indian-style on my bed, doing home­work. I don't believe there is anything I hate more. But I really shouldn't take such an attitude. Where would ï be without it? I would be out having a good time, that's where!

"Reprinted by permission of The American Weekly.

Sample #2 (student) Topic: Blind Date Blues

Beginning Paragraph:

Fellows, are you tried of playing cards with the boys each Saturday night? Are such things as billiards in the pool hall, dice in the school yard, mugging in the alleys, fighting in the streets your only relaxation over the weekend? If so, boys, keep it up; you're doing fine.

Did you experience a mild shock at the contents of the last paragraph example? But did you want to read on? There, neatly summarized, you have the whole point of a good opening paragraph. Naturally, you wouldn't want to be guilty of bad taste just to start off in a sensational way. But the writer above is obviously joking and so can be a little more flexible about his material. The point is that he suc­ceeded in attracting your interest, and that's why he surely can consider his composition well begun, particularly since he adhered to the other basic principles of good opening paragraphs:

suggested contents

brevity (50—75 words, usually)

the personal touch (when possible)

Basically, what you should strive for consciously in your first paragraph is for the reader to think to himself: "I'm going to enjoy reading this."

III. ENDING PARAGRAPHS

Now we come to the other end of the composition. As­suming it is of average length, you have written three or four paragraphs and wish to bring matters to a close. You wouldn't want to announce your intentions by using a phrase like "In conclusion . . ." or "To sum up . . ." This would be too mechanical, too dull. You would want to sustain the interest of your reader to the very last word. You would have to be just as careful, therefore, to compose an effective end­ing paragraph as you were in developing the beginning and middle paragraphs.

First, you must end in such a way that the reader feels there is nothing more to be said. He shouldn't come abruptly to a blank space at the bottom of a page and wonder whether you had time enough to write everything you should have or you just ran out of words and ideas. The effect should be very much like that of a musical composition on an audience at a concert. If, after a final wave of his baton, the conductor must turn to bow before the applause begins, then it is very likely that the piece that was played, even if unfamiliar, had a weak, undefined, and unsatisfying ending. However, when a brilliant surge of music brings the score to an emphatic close, no listener has to be told that it is time to express his appreciation. He knows it's over!

Before discussing how to write good closing paragraphs, it is important at this point to advise you against using cer­tain devices that unfortunately find favor with some students:

Don't expect a single sentence to do the job of a para­graph. Although occasionally this can be done effectively at the beginning or end of a composition, it is difficult enough for professionals and certainly not to be recommended for developing young writers. How flat and pointless it sounds when at the end you come to something like "That was quite an experience," "I guess some day the problem will be solved," or "What would you do?"

Don't repeat yourself. Don't belabor the same points you covered in the middle paragraphs. The writer of the fol­lowing closing paragraphs had been describing how wonder­ful a relative of hers had been and how she could not understand why this aunt had died so prematurely. Despite the imaginative language and the literary references, the paragraph almost destroys the whole effect of the previous material because, through repetition, the emotions are being thrust upon you:

I often wonder why so good, so very good a woman had to suffer so very much. Perhaps, as Foe says of his Annabel Lee, the angels in heaven envied us for having and knowing such a woman as she. But I suppose I shall never really know why she died at so young an age and why she had to endure so much suffering. Yet I do know the world was better off for having such a woman on it. She did not know multitudes and her goodness was felt by only a few. Nevertheless, those who were so for­tunate as to know such a woman can sincerely say:

"She was a woman nobly planned,

To warm, to comfort, and command."

Don't become coy or wishy-washy. You can't escape your responsibility for writing a decent closing paragraph by in­jecting a plaintive note that has nothing to do with what came before or by hoping for the best when a clear conclu­sion or suggestion is called for. Imagine how frustrated a reader feels when he comes across endings like these:

Now as I think of each of my relatives and my rela­tionship to each, I wonder what they think about me. Don't you?

The Supreme Court at the present time has been making very important decisions concerning segregation and many other issues. It is my firm hope that with the enormous power invested in it, the Supreme Court will solve successfully many of the problems facing our nation today.

Don't go off into a new direction. If your middle para­graphs have been properly developed, the main ideas in them need to be focused. Starting a new train of thought at the end throws everything into a state of confusion, as happened in the following paragraph after a discussion of the desirability of Alaska as our forty-ninth state:

Now that Congress has passed the bill and Alaska is our forty-ninth state, we can look back on Seward's purchase and thank him for making it. We have gained more than mineral wealth, water power, and other re­sources. Alaska is a strategic point in the defense of the whole western hemisphere.

Don't be irritating or smart-alecky. It is unreasonable of a writer to build up to a climax and then let his reader down, as did the writer who set a scene in a dismal room with five people seated around a table, apparently intending to intro­duce some action, but winding up with:

A man wearing a striped shirt bolted into the room and opened the window with a grand crash. With all the excitement of an opening symphony, the sounds of the wailing sirens staggered through the room. The front door of the apartment, left carelessly open, slammed shut with the force of a mighty wind entering the window. The man with the striped shirt bid good-bye to the seated suckers and, gingerly removing his gas mask, stepped through the open window, wondering ... (as you are now).

(This kind of neither-rhyme-nor-reason ending is nice a poor practical joke and most annoying.)

Don't become so lofty in your language and images that you leave both your reader and possibly yourself wondering what you are talking about. What follows is quite beautiful, but the secret of its meaning lies buried in the mind of the writer:

Then my thoughts, unhappy and plagued, are gone for a time as I am taken with watching a little bird which has decided to build his home in a tree not very far from where I sit. Again there is sunlight above and on the surface of my brook, but I do not revel now; I do not turn to dreams. There is time to dream later. I leave my little plot of happiness.

(This after the writer has been discussing how some of the world's ills disturb her dreamy contemplation of a forest stream.)

To achieve an ending that is straightforward and well-proportioned, without being mechanical, dull, or contrived, you must have clear in your mind what you want to accom­plish and then take pains to bring about the desired effect-By considering the topic you have selected and the approach you have chosen to handle it, you can readily determine what the general form of your concluding paragraph should be. For instance, if your composition is based upon a personal experience and you have used the narrative style throughout, imitate some of the techniques of our great short story writers. Save a few surprises for the last paragraph or dramati­cally tie together any loose ends of the story still remaining. If you have been arguing in behalf of a cause, suggest a course of action to the reader. If yours has been a piece that explained a process or system, indicate the final steps to be followed or crystallize the results obtained. If you have been mainly concerned with describing a person or scene, put the finishing touches to the portrait you have drawn. Let your final sentences take a definite shape and your reader won't ever be left hanging mentally or emotionally.

Now let's look at some examples of the recommended techniques for writing good ending paragraphs. For each one there will be two illustrations, the first by a student, the second by a professional. The material preceding the final paragraph will be summarized so that you will know what the writer was trying to finish.

A. Narrative

Sample #1 (surprise) Title: The Punk

Summary: This tells the story of a young hoodlum who has joined his gang in an evening's fun of slashing tires. On his return home, he finds his father stricken with a heart at­tack. The doctor seems to take an interminable time in ar­riving. Then the concluding paragraph:

The doctor looked at him sadly. "Is that what you think, son? I'm sorry that you do. It's just that some punks slit my tires on Thirty-fifth Street, and í was de­layed getting here. I didn't kill your father, son. They did."

Sample #2 (tied together)

Title: Terrible-Tempered Mr. Mink

Summary: This was a series of incidents, all designed to show how ferocious, despite his small size, is that fur-bearing creature that supplies us with pelts for expensive coats. The last paragraph here brought the situation up to date:

Domestication has not altered the mink's attitude toward man. Even after many generations of captivity they remain the same savage beasts they are in the wild. Without so much as giving the food a glance a ranch mink will gladly bite the hand that feeds it.

B. Suggestive

Sample #1

Title: Political Indifference

Summary: After decrying the fact that the average citizen does not keep himself properly informed about local, na­tional, and world affairs, the writer goes on to cite the dan­gers to freedom of this continued indifference. His conclusion suggests a line of action:

What this country needs is some preventive medicine. There should be more public information releases by the government on the state of the union. Debates between opposite parties should be held on television, during the evening hours, so that adults could watch and be in­formed. People should be encouraged to write to their congressmen and keep themselves in touch with what is going on in Washington, If these and other similar measures were followed, I believe the shameful title of this essay would find its way only into the pages of the history books.

Sample #2

Title: Warning—Watch Out for These Five Stock-Market Come-ons

Summary: This article described five swindles that unwary dabblers in the stock market can succumb to unless they are careful. Each item had its own conclusion, and the one that was used to end the statement on "Telephone and Door-to-Door Salesmen" was an excellent example of a short but effective ending paragraph that suggests a course of action:

Don't buy securities from unknown salesmen who ring your phone or doorbell. Don't even talk to them.

C. Focused

Sample #1

Title: My Dream House

Summary: The writer described a rather huge place that she hoped one day to have, replete with all the latest gadgets. Then, in her last paragraph, she drove home the basis upon which her dream had been built:

Altogether I expect my home to have twenty-two rooms, no more, no less. If you start to count you will find that I plan to have sixteen bedrooms. This will be a necessity for I also shall have seventeen children, all girls, who will be well-trained in the art of maintaining a home of this size.

Sample #2

 Title: Jim Thompson and the Busy Weavers of Bangkok

Summary: An American adventurer finds himself in Bang­kok after the Japanese surrender, and he is so fascinated by the people that he decides to forsake his former career as an architect. He becomes interested in the silk weavers of Thai­land and organizes them into a company that in a few years exports enough of the material to earn great profits and an uplifted economy. His native partners are happy in the lovely house Thompson builds for himself among them, and the central point of the article is narrowed down to this:

Their enthusiasm was a fitting tribute to him Thomp­son and the simple, man-to-man decency with which he sat down with a strange people and worked out a partner­ship which has made them prosperous by their own efforts, it is an example of "foreign aid" at its best.

D. Miscellaneous

There are other types of concluding paragraphs which do not appear as frequently as the ones illustrated above. How­ever, each is quite effective when it can be worked into the development of the topic. You will notice in the samples that it isn't even necessary to summarize the contents of the middle paragraphs. The topic and the last paragraph are so well matched that the central ideas are suggested by the conclusion.

1. Prediction: After establishing your point of view, you end by telling what you expect in the future. This carries the reader a step beyond what you have said in the middle paragraphs and actually sharpens your main ideas.

Sample #1 Title: Park in Winter

Ending Paragraph:

I may see the park today and forget it. Months from now, when the trees' arms are full, and the earth has re-grown its hair, and the flowers smell of sweet nature, and birds hum silly tunes, and people have awakened this sleeping thing—I will recall the park in winter.

Sample #2

Title: Verdict Guilty—Now What?*

Ending Paragraph:

As more states adopt diagnostic centers directed toward getting the prisoners out of jail and back to work, the taboo on prisons, like that on mental hospitals, will be­gin to diminish. Once it was a lifelong disgrace to have been in either. Lunatics, as they were cruelly called, were feared and avoided. Today only the ignorant retain this phobia. The time will come when offenders, much as we disapprove of their offenses, will no longer he unemploy­able untouchables.

2. Contrast or Comparison: Whenever you write about something that happened to you a long time ago, you can al­ways end your composition by briefly comparing or con­trasting the past with the present.

Sample #1

Topic: Memories of Home

(written by a Hungarian refugee)

Ending Paragraph:

Eight months ago, when I arrived in America,I again found my blue sky. it is brighter, bluer, clearer than over my country. I hope, I wish, that some day the sky over my country will be bright, too.

Sample #2

Topic: Las Vegas: The Underworld's Secret Jackpot

Ending Paragraph:

The state of Nevada derives some eight million dollars yearly in taxes from legalized gambling—and another ten million from sales taxes gleaned largely from the tourists who come to be shorn in the casinos. This sum pays more than half of Nevada's expenses-and permits its 270,000 citizens to avoid personal and corporate income taxes and inheritance taxes. But the rest of the country is paying a high price for this free ride for the rela­tive handful of citizens in our second least populous state.

3. Questions: You would not expect questions to be a good way to bring a discussion to a close, but, if used sparingly, they can be helpful in summarizing your emotions or look­ing into the future.

Sample #1

Topic: The Sound of Silence

(after an atomic explosion)

Ending Paragraph:

Must I forever wander through this strange, new world of silence, looking, listening? Would there ever be a door open, an arm outstretched, a mouth to make a noise í had to hear?

No one knows; there is no one to know. There is nothing to hear but the great, foggy-grey sound of silence.

 (A two paragraph conclusion is rather unusual, but it is likely to be necessary when questions are used.)

Sample #2

Topic: Magnetic Tape: The Mind's New Tool

Ending Paragraph:

And so the process of discovery goes on. Man's mind has a wonderful new tool. But like radio and TV, like paper and pen and print, tape can never be better than the mind that uses it. What are we going to say on tape, explore on tape, show on tape? There is the challenge. What is on our minds?

4. Quotation or Dialogue: A statement by an authority or a conversation can be a refreshing change in your efforts to think of novel ways of summarizing your main ideas. Again, as was pointed out with beginning paragraphs, make sure the quoted material is pertinent and does the job of ending your composition properly.

Sample #1

Topic: Is Your Child's School Safe from Fire?

Ending Paragraph:

Says R. C. Malmquist, president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs: "Approved automatic fire-de­tection systems should be mandatory in all schools." Donald S. Charles, immediate past president of that or­ganization, adds: "I know of nothing that will pay a greater dividend on so small an investment."

The potential disaster inherent in n school fires a day, the wanton waste of 30 million dollars' worth of school properties annually, should alone convince us that no investment is too great if it will make schools structurally fire safe.

Sample #2 Topic: Alone

Ending Paragraph:

He looked at me sort of hurt, yet understanding.

"Sure you don't want to stay?"

"I'm sorry, í can't."

He walked out to the car with me. We shook hands and I took on. As I looked back, I saw him standing there, alone, waving after me.

This completes our survey of how good paragraphs are constructed. By referring to this chapter frequently and try­ing out the various techniques in your compositions, you will soon find that your written work will rapidly improve. It must if you are persistent and consistent in your efforts. You now know what to do. You know how to produce superior work by proceeding in a series of orderly steps from the choice of topic to the ending paragraph.

There are two general guides you must keep uppermost in your mind:

§ You cannot depend upon chance or even inspiration to produce a good piece of writing. It must be thought about, it must be planned almost word for word, and it must be controlled by the writer.

§ You must organize every paragraph within itself as well as develop it for its contribution to the topic. An opening paragraph, for instance, does what its name implies for the total composition, but in its own structure, it should have a beginning, middle, and end.

Now let's try some exercises to see how well you have learned the structural elements of the three types of para­graphs that must appear in every composition—indeed, in every piece of writing. Don't do them all in one sitting. Take them section by section and review the principle involved as you work with the exercise. (You will find the answers at the end of the chapter.)

I. In each of the following paragraphs, the topic sentence that appeared originally has been omitted. From the three choices offered for each example, select the one that you think was probably the original topic sentence.

A.         The earth is yawning before its long winter's nap.
The winds of dawn have gathered to greet the day. Their symphony has awakened me. Before long I step out to meet the morning. I walk with the tall slender trees as my guide. As though they were my dreams, I tread softly on the crimson leaves. As I gaze above, only God's delicately made lace interwoven with pale blue sky can be seen
.
The original topic sentence for this paragraph was:

1. It is October.
2. Spring has come at last.
3. How still it is at night.

B.         The white twin beds, the matching dresser and the pink accessories all were a young, wonderful part of it. She looked across to the white, plush chair where were draped the remnants of a wonderful evening. There were numerous hilly petticoats, two shoes which lay askew on the floor in front of the chair, and a fragile, frothy lace gown tossed haphazardly over all. The sweet sixteen corsage was still pinned to the bodice.

The original topic sentence for this paragraph was:

1. The room looked a mess.
2. She lay awake, thinking.
3. She gazed about her lovely, feminine room.

C.        Can that possibly be your reflection on the glass door? You hold the name of the match under your chin. What has really happened to you in these last quick years? You used to be so beautiful. The light of your match fades and dies in a kind of symbolism. The glow of your youth and beauty has disappeared just so. But there the difference ends; you can always light another match.

The original topic sentence for this paragraph was:

1. It is a hot and sultry day.
2. You stop in a hallway to light a cigarette.
3. You walk briskly through the heavy traffic.

II. In each of the following paragraphs, the sentences have been numbered. Select the one that you think is best suited to be the topic sentence:

A.         (1) Cool breezes pushed their way through the open fields and through once populated cities and towns, but there was no one to feel and enjoy them. (2) Buildings still stood, but there were no people to enter or leave them. (3) Cars and trucks were still in the streets but there were no people to drive them. (4) Humanity had done away with itself; all life had ceased.

B.         (1) The two men entered a trim little room. (2) A little beyond was the museum. (3) The old man threw open the door and Peter stepped in, looked around, and stared in amazement. (4) He had been expecting the usual things: some stuffed birds, old coins, etc. (5) But this room was piled with the most broken, haphazard collection of junk he had ever seen. (6) Not one item in this muddle showed even a sign of being a decent antique. (7) The old man watched Peter.

C.        (1) By this time, you must understand, the jungle is hot. (2) The tropical sun has risen from the horizon and is overhead. (3) if it happened to rain the night before, we are in an even worse fix—because then we must rub liquid soap on our clothes and skin. (4) When the jungle bushes and grass are wet from rain, or even from very heavy dew, they are full of leeches. (5) These little worms attack every man who passes by, bury their heads in his skin, and hang on for dear life. (6) The odor and taste of soap is the only thing that will keep them at a distance, and so, whenever we go into the wet jungle, we wash ourselves with plenty of liquid soap and leave it smeared over our skin and clothes.

III. In each of the following paragraphs, the original con­cluding sentence has been omitted. Select the most likely one from the three choices offered.

A.         The raindrops seemed to have one aim, to cleanse the earth. They washed away the guilt of the sickly dog the sorrow of the innocent rabbit. The drops fell with the gracefulness of love, the determination of a stubborn child. As they fell, they washed away the sins of man.

The original concluding sentence for this paragraph was:

1. It was a miserable day.
2. Rarely had there been so much rain during the month of August.
3. They left for him a clean, new slate, to clutter once again with his profound mistakes.

B.         The traffic survey shows where how much road should be built. But the way the road should go must be decided by the designer. His job is to draw a line through the aerial picture that will require the least valuable land, the least amount of earth moving, the fewest drainage ditches and culverts, be the shortest distance, do the minimum damage to the value of the neighboring area, and provide the greatest service.

The original concluding sentence for this paragraph was:

1. Road-building is hard work.
2. One thing must be juggled against another.
3. Roads are laid down quickly these days.

C.        Every student must pass a critical examination in English at the end of each semester during all three years. Standards of grading are inexorable. Failure to punctuate correctly, for example, may cause the student to fail the course. "Do you mean that one little old comma left out will flunk me?" one student asked incredulously. And I heard the teacher reply, "One little old cotter pin left out of your hot rod could make the difference between life and death."

The original concluding sentence for this paragraph was:

1. Youngsters learn thereby that a part of education is the mastery of infinite detail.
2. It is a very difficult course.
3. The rules in this school are too strict.

IV. In each of the following exercises, the sentences that appeared in the original paragraph have been scrambled and numbered. Decide what the proper order should be and then insert in the space next to each number the proper letter, using a to indicate the first sentence, b the second, and so on, as in this example:

o 1. She answered it with a curt "Hello."
 e 2 .It was Rhonda.
 e 3. It was on the evening of her second week at home.
 d 4. The sound of the voice that greeted her seemed to  reach out with almost physical power, tearing  through her.
 b 5. The phone rang.

A.         1. She was very understanding, but it didn't happen again.
2. I brought them here with me and shall keep them in my heart forever.
_  3. The first section stayed in the same room, the second went to another.
_  4. No, I won't ever forget those warm and wonderful memories.
_  5. All of us, in a delightful mood, stood giggling and choking with laughter as our teacher searched for us, up and down the stairways!
_  6. On one April Fool's Day, I remember, fifteen girls, instead of reporting to our room, hid in a corner of the hall.

B. 1. I look in the mirror and see the beginnings of a beard.
 2. Man makes elaborate plans for the future because he realizes that all too soon it will be the present.
 3. Being drawn back into reality, I think of the future.
 4. When I look back on the past seventeen years of my life, it seems like one day with many events crowded into it.
 5. I plan for the day when it will be the present.
 6. Only a minute ago I was learning long division; I thought high school was a hallowed place never to be attained.

C. 1. No one knew what could be expected from it; but it was my own idea and my own invention, and I had to test it.
 2. A warm beam of light had fallen upon my face.
 3. My mind was bursting almost to collapse under the intense strain.
 4. It was a bright sunny day when I awoke.
 5. This morning might be my last; this was the thought that constantly went through my mind, for today was the day that I was to test the new machine.

V. Each of the following beginning paragraphs has been de­veloped by one of the techniques listed below. In the space provided at the bottom of the paragraph, write the name of the technique used:

Narrative
Direct
Detailed
Descriptive
Unexpected

A. in an idle moment the other day, I sat down to figure out just how much time I've spent talking on our "Today" show since it went on the air in 1952. The astonishing answer was—roughly 1700 hours! At an average speaking rate, that comes to more than 12 million words—enough to fill more than 120 full-length books!

B. Burglary, like all other professions, can be mastered only through continual practice, it is my hope that this article will be of use not only to those wishing to enter this field, but to practicing burglars (temporarily enjoy­ing the hospitality of the state) who want to improve their techniques.

C. The night air calls to you horn the broken pane of glass in the window. You walk over and stare out into the chill of December. Your ears tell you that the night is screaming for you to come. The hall closet door opens; you grab your coat and walk out into the loneliness of the night The biting wind stabs through you. You start to walk and the echo of your footsteps makes a dis­ordered pattern like the years of your life.

D. What do parents (a species which is considered outdated by the younger generation) think about teen­agers going steady? Well, I hear about it plenty . . . from my dad.

E. In the sanctity and serenity of surrounding hem­lock he rests. To the West, in the valley, the river where he swam in his youth goes to sea. Upon the hill is the house, the beginning of his journey and the end. Tower­ing elms look tenderly upon the edifice. The lawn green flows over the earth. The oak with limbs heavy with age, where as a child he rested, shelters the soft sadness with its broad leaves. And the sky, a heavenly roof, rains its peace on this place, the place where a man found rest from the stress of a devoted life.

VI. Each of the following middle paragraphs has been de­veloped by one of the techniques listed below. In the space provided at the bottom of the paragraph, write the name of the technique used.

Narrative
Sense Impression
Comparison or Contrast
Evidence or Proof
Emotional Reaction

A. She ran out of water and drank canned fruit juices rather than take time on to go to the spring. She played her beloved guitar, sang until her voice almost failed, pounded her head, burned her hand with a cigarette— anything to stay awake and alert. A married couple in the next district were taken off their tower in hysterics 20 minutes before the mountaintop burst into names. Janny switched her radio to their frequency and so it was she who picked up the frantic call from the nine-man crew trapped below the abandoned tower.

B. Some Indians do have legitimate grievances against the U.S. government, and the Indian Claims Commis­sion is an excellent place to settle them. The Potawatomi tribe showed, for example, that in 1862 the government took tribal land for a railroad right-of-way—without ade­quate payment. The Commission has seen to it that present-day descendants received fair compensation with interest for 94 years—a total of $359,460. Andrew Jackson was so eager to protect the Union by a buffer area against the Spaniards in Florida that in 1814 he forced the Creeks to surrender 25 million acres without payment. The Commission has held the United States liable. In some other cases the United States has been proved negligent in handling Indian affairs held in trust. The Commission is correcting these mistakes.

C. In the darkness, a man crept cautiously, his eyes piercing the dense forest like a knife. The cry of a wild animal made him start. He became frightened and started to run. He stumbled. He turned around and stared into the darkness, trying to see something where there was nothing. He was lost. Somehow, during the attack, he had been separated from the rest of his com­pany.

D. Hadn't she realized how much this whole thing meant to him? From the time he first had seen her, he had been completely hers, devotedly doing her bidding, always at her beck. Why, only the other day she had smiled at him so tenderly, so proudly, and he had felt so confident that everything would be all right.

E. An outstanding example of the power of enthu­siasm to bring out new capabilities was demonstrated by the old Boston Braves, in Boston the team had been drawing small crowds, had weak support and did very poorly their last season in that city. Then they were transferred to Milwaukee, where the enthusiasm of the citizens for their new team was unbounded: they crowded the ball park, 30,000 for each game, took the Braves to their hearts, believed they would win. One could sit in the stands and actually reel optimism, confidence, and faith flowing from the spectators to the players. The same team that finished in seventh place one year pushed almost to the top of the league the next year, and last year won the World Series. They were the same men as before, but they were now experiencing and drawing upon a new power that released hitherto unrealized abilities.*

VII. Each of the following ending paragraphs has been de­veloped by one of the techniques listed below. In the space provided at the bottom of the paragraph, write the name of the technique used.

Narrative
Suggestive
Focused
Prediction
Comparison or Contrast

*From the book Stay Alive All Your Life, by Norman Vincent Peale, Copy­right, ©, 1957, by Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

A. Last but not least, the good guest knows when to leave a party. Keep an eye on the clock (it's an unwise hostess who doesn't have one in view) and go when it tells you to go. Tell your hostess how much you have enjoyed her party—and be gone.*

B. The lean and gangling horseman, garbed in black,
passed quickly out or sight. He did not look back. Alone
and brooding in the forest clearing was a small tomb­
stone, with the epitaph that said simply:

 Born 1016           Died

Beloved by All

Ann Rutledge

C. Sandys lacks his father-in-law's oratorical skill, but otherwise there are many similarities—the delight in working all night, the youthful rebelliousness, the utter certainty of the expert amateur, in the end, sheer competence and fierce determination may make him the Queen's first minister. If this should happen, few people, and certainly not Duncan Sandys, would be surprised.

D. The stakes are high for all of us. But if we are successful, if the railroads are stripped down and made muscular, as I am confident they can be, they will per­form their mass-transportation function more cheaply and more efficiently than has ever been known before, I see an industry that will be continuing to pay—not spend—tax dollars. Finally, I see an industry growing in volume, increasing its employment and growing in the service that it renders to the public. †

E. The swift flowing stream of time cannot be slowed, but it can be put to better use. People who are poor in the gift of time can ill afford to waste any of it. We should try, to quote Longfellow, ". . . departing leave behind us footprints on the sands of time."

*From How to Do It, by Elsa Maxwell, copyright, ©, 1957, by Elsa Max­well; published by Little Brown & Company.

†Ben W. Heineman, Chairman, Chicago and North Western Railway Com­pany.

VIII. In the following selections, the original paragraphs have been deliberately fused into one. Decide where each paragraph break should have occurred. Underline the word that should have started each new paragraph.

A. I can never forget the day I went swimming during the month of March. The sky was blue, but the tem­perature was a snappy 25 degrees. I am not in the habit of doing this but was tricked into it. Some friends had said I would not have the nerve to go swimming at that time of the year. Not wanting to be called a coward, I had ac­cepted their dare. My friends and I piled into a car and drove to Coney Island after lunch. We arrived at the beach at about two o'clock in the afternoon. Five min­utes later I had stripped down to my swimming attire, which consisted of an outfit worn by Navy frogmen. I ran into the water and remained in the pounding surf Jess time than it took me to dress. The ocean, I might add, was a bit cool, but I didn't mind it. My outfit was insulated for just this type of weather. After I came out of the water, I quickly ran into my car which was parked nearby and changed into some warm clothing. That evening I began to feel a little cold coming on. I called my doctor and told him the story. He prescribed some special pills that cost a dollar each. I was to remain in bed and take one of these pills every hour on the hour for twenty-four hours. One hour I was to take a pink pill, another hour the green pills, changing the procedure every four hours. After taking enough pills to feel I was loaded with buckshot, I recovered without any harmful results. Here is a word of wisdom to anyone who is thinking of going swimming in the month of March. Don't! You may enjoy taking pills, however. I know í don't. I can't look one squarely in its round little face.

B. How many parents have stood before me, after I have sentenced their children to prison, and asked, "Judge, what did I do that was wrong? I sacrificed for him, gave him a good life, put him through school. . . ." It's not what they did; it's what they did notdo. They did not put Father in charge of the family. They did not teach their children discipline. A child must be dis­ciplined to do things he does not want to do, if it's in the best interests of the family, for that is how, realis­tically, the world will treat him when he gets older. The child does not want a do-as-you-please, "permissive" world. It makes him unhappy, contuses him. He wants the solid walls of rules and discipline around him, de­fining his world—giving him a large free area but telling him exactly how far he can go. in my boyhood I had that discipline, and I'm very glad I did. I was raised in a dismal slum on New York's lower East Side. My father ran a little dry goods store that barely made enough for us to live on. But he was the head of our house and I respected him. When I was 16 and he told me to be home at a certain hour, I got home. Many a teenager to­day roams until two or three in the morning, and con­siders his parent impertinent if he so much as asks whether he had a good time. A home where the father is not the recognized chief of the family is not much bet­ter on, to my way of thinking, than a home broken by divorce. Every time Mother overrules Father, under­mining his authority and standing in the child's eyes, she knocks a piece off the foundation on which the child stands.*

IX. Here are excerpts taken from student compositions. Each contains one or more serious paragraph errors. Read the selections carefully and then answer the questions based on them.

A. Tears, if they are idle tears, are terribly foolish. What a waste of time¡ Women are usually guilty of this habit. At the drop of a hat they burst into tears. Mother cries to get her own way. They are idle tears that say, "You do as I say or I will be hurt." So the tears now softly and quietly. It always works. I do as the tears ask.

My dog cries wetless tears. She cries when she is hungry or when she wants to be aired. Her tears are high-pitched and sweet. Their sound touches my sympa­thies. I am always quick to answer them. My aunt's tears are loud for all to hear. She cries for her husband. He is dead. She is alone. She wears her tears as she wears her dress of black.

•Reprinted from This Week Magazine, copyright, 1957, by the United Newspapers Magazine Corporation, with the permission of Mr. A. E. Hotchner.

What is the major error in the beginning paragraph? What did the writer fail to do in the middle paragraph?

B.         A dependable friend is not replaceable. He can always be counted upon when one is in or out of trouble. My buddy Dean is in this classification. Last summer when there was a serious illness in the family, Dean went out of his way to assist me in getting a ride to
the hospital. He always sympathizes with me when I feel bad, and often takes me out to give me a good time so that I can forget my troubles.

On the other hand, Dean is dependable in another way. I can look forward to enjoyment when he is around. it is easy to relax with Dean who seems to understand me even when I am angry. He can hold an intelligent conversation or laugh it up a little.

Why is the first paragraph markedly superior to the second?

C.        Yes, sometimes I find it amusing to sit in the subway and watch people's faces. Everyone's reveals a different character and I have learned a great deal from these people. Well, í am sorry; this is my stop. Good night.

Why is this ending paragraph spoiled?

D.        Of course, April weather isn't the best, nor are the flounders the biggest, but like a fool I go fishing just the same. Then May rolls in. The weather still isn't good, but the weakfish in Peconic Bay put the flounder to shame. Weakfish are the most fun when caught with a spinning outrig. Every good fisherman must have some
light tackle if he really wants to have fun. Even a one pound fish is fun with a light rod. By June, practically everything is in good shape, even the weather. My boat is kept on a trailer so that I can go from one bay to another, depending upon fishing conditions
.
What major principle of paragraph construction has been violated here?

E. The therapy consisted of arts and crafts. Realizing that the children were moody, we had to be able to change or adjust the evening's activities at a moment's notice.

I tried to be impartial, but being human I found one child that I liked better than the others. She was a beautiful and affectionate child.

By just a quick look, how can you tell that these paragraphs both suffer from the same defect?

X. Here are two complete compositions. In a single sentence for each paragraph, summarize its major strength or weakness.

A. The Trial

I had a curious dream the other night. My life on earth had ended and I was flying to heaven, escorted by a band of angels. I kept wondering whether or not I'd be accepted behind the big, golden door which was get­ting nearer and nearer. St. Peter was at the door and, after his old, tired eyes had located my name in the register, he shook his head and said,

"You'll have to stand trial. The Punctuation Society has accused you of a life full of crimes against them, of repeated abuses and complete disregard of the laws pro­tecting them."

And so it was that the case of Serge vs. the Punctua­tion Society was brought to court.

Judge Mark of Exclamation was presiding, and his cousin, Question Mark, was the prosecuting attorney. Question's opening remarks were very short, and soon the first witness was called. His name was Semi Colon. After curling up in the witness chair, he accused me of the odious crime of not knowing what two matched clauses were and not being respectful of his wife, Connie Junction. The next witness, Joe Bracket, violently pro­tested that I had overworked him, even though my life had been void of quotations where he was most at home. And on they came: H. Comma, B. Period, S. Dash— smiling at the jury, looking at me with hurt eyes, and showing signs of the duress I had inflicted upon them. Their testimony was very damaging.

My good attorney, E. Teacher, finally had his say. He had calmed me down by mumbling something about his reputation being involved and that no power on earth (!) would keep him from getting me into heaven. He produced several witnesses who spoke well of me and who offered extenuating circumstances. There was J. Complicated Rules, who did an especially fine job of throwing some good will toward me. A representative from the Anti-Homework Society scored heavily in my favor when he proved how loaded I always was—with work, that is.

The trial lasted three days and finally the jury with­drew to its chambers. E. Teacher had a confident look on his face; Question Mar