BY THE SAME AUTHOR. BYRON. Crown 8vo, 1s. 6d., Sewed, Is. [English Men of Letters. ATHENAEUM:-"Decidedly one of the most careful and valuable of the whole series. When a book is so good as Professor Nichol's, there is little to be said about it, except to recommend it as widely as may be." CARLYLE. Crown 8vo, Is. 6d., Sewed 1s. [English Men of Letters. A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. Bv JOHN NICHOL, M.A., LL.D., and W. S. M'CORMICK, M.A. Globe 8vo. [In preparation. ENGLISH COMPOSITION. 18mo, Cloth, Is. [Literature Primers. QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES ON ENGLISH COMPOSITION. BY PROF. NICHOL and W. S. M'CORMICK, M.A., PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, DUNDEE. 18mo, Cloth, Is. MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON. THE DEATH OF THEMISTOCLES, AND OTHER POEMS. Extra Foolscap 8vo, Cloth. 7s. 6d. TABLES OF EUROPEAN HISTORY, LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART, from A.D. 200 to 1888, and of AMERICAN HISTORY, LITERATURE, AND ART. New and greatly enlarged Edition, printed in five colours. Royal 8vo, Cloth 7s. 6d. TIMES:-"The tables are clear, and form an admirable companion to the student of history, or indeed to any one who desires to revise his recollection of facts." TABLES OF ANCIENT LITERATURE AND HISTORY, from B.C. 1500 to A.D. 200. 4to, Cloth, 4s. 6d. OBSERVER:-"They constitute a most successful attempt to give interest to the chronology of literature, by setting before the eye the relation between the literature and the practical life of mankind.' J. MACLEHOSE & SONS, GLASGOW. Literature Primers. Edited by J. R. GREEN. ENGLISH COMPOSITION. BY JOHN NICHOL, M.A. BALLIOL, OXON, LL.D., LATE PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE IN London: MACMILLAN AND CO., AND NEW YORK. 1893. [The right of translation and reproduction is reserved.] I. LITERARY Composition is putting words together in order to convey our thoughts to others. Good composition conveys our thoughts correctly, clearly, and pleasantly, so as to make them readily understood and easily remembered. To express ourselves well we must first have something to say. If we have not been able to come to any definite conclusion about a subject, we should be silent. We must next choose the right names for the things or actions of which we are going to speak. This is not always easy, for we are apt to talk loosely of quantities and qualities; to say there are "thousands" when there are only hundreds, to call an event "marvellous" when it is only unusual, or to refer to "ages" when there are only years. Lastly, we must arrange our words in the right way, so that they shall fit one another and combine to make good sense just as we must put bricks or stones together properly to make a building stand. All language is a construction; it is the building or binding of words. 2. The term Sentence is applied to every arrangement of words expressing a complete sense, that is, a thought, judgment, or decision. Every sentence involves a mental realization of two things and an assertion of some connection between 718 D Library |