FORCE. SPECIAL FORCE. 98. Special Force, by which is meant the force that is used with special syllables or words, may be abrupt or smooth, loud or soft. The kinds and degrees of force are considered in §§ 106-108. As a rule, a. Special Force should be used in the utterance of all words that are emphasized by pauses or inflections, or that stand at the end of a sentence. (§§ 32, 35, 43, 140-145.) b. Be particularly careful to give Special Force to Adjectives emphasized by the pause that are essential to the sense of the nouns that they qualify; e. g. Its foundations, great | truths, far more lasting than mere granite; its pillars, great | rights, far more beautiful than mere | porphyry; its roof, great | hopes, swelling higher than any dome of bronze and gold. c. It is well to form a habit of giving more force to the last word of a sentence, because (a) otherwise one is apt to let his force subside on it, and utter it indistinctly; (b) this last word is usually important to the sense; its forcible utterance (c) conveys a suggestion of reserved power, by causing the audience to recognize that the speaker's breath is not exhausted, and (d) is almost essential if one is to start the last inflection of the sentence on a key suggesting that another sentence is to follow (§ 75). STRESS. 99. Stress is determined by the way in which force is applied to emphatic syllables. Practice the different kinds of stress, according to the directions in § 15. a. Do not confound the method of stress with the degree of it. All kinds of stress may be given with a soft, as well as a loud, tone. b. To use more force with an utterance necessitates using more time with it; therefore, words emphasized by stress usually take longer time for their utterance than the words surrounding them take, c. Mental Energy indicated by force (§ 32) may be exerted on account of a subjective or an objective motive; in other words, because a man desires chiefly to express an idea on his own account, or to impress this on others. In the former case, the sound bursts forth abruptly, as if the man were conscious of nothing but his own organs to prevent the accomplishment of his object; in the latter the sound is pushed forth gradually, as if the man were conscious of outside opposition, and of the necessity of pressing his point. These two methods, and different combinations of them, give us the following different kinds of stress: 100. Initial (or Radical) Stress >, usually necessitating explosive breathing (§ 8) or utterance (§ 10), is given. when a syllable bursts forth abruptly, with its loudest sound at the beginning of the utterance, which gradually becomes more and more faint. It is used whenever one's main wish is to express himself so as to be distinctly understood. In its mildest form it serves to render articulation clear and utterance precise; when stronger, it indicates bold and earnest assurance, positiveness and dictation; when strongest, vehemence that sounds an alarm or gives way to demonstrative indignation. Of course the same passage may be read with different kinds of stress, according to one's conception of it. No. 6 below may be rendered with quick, vehement initial, or slow, determined terminal stress. Pure, moderately high, fast. 1. Give way! Zoùnds! I'm wild-màd! You teach mé! Pooh! I have been in London before, and know it requires no teaching to be a modern fine géntleman. Why, it all lies in a nutshell: sport a cúrricle-walk Bónd street-play the dándy-síng and dance well-go to the ópera-put on your wig-pull off your óvercoat, and there's a man of the first fashion in town for you. D'ye think I don't know what's going? Idem. 2. Why, yesterday, I asked a lad of fifteen which he preferred, algebra or geometry; and he told me-oh, horrible! he told me he had never studied them! Never studied geometry! never studied algebra! and fifteen years old! The dark ages are returning. Idem. moderately fast, medium pitch. 3. Life is short at the best; why not make it cheerful? Do you know that longevity is promoted by a tranquil, happy habit of thought and temper? Do you know that cheerfulness, like mercy, is twice blessed; blessing "him that gives and him that takes?" 5. We will be revènged: revenge; about-seek-burn, fire-kill-slày! Let not a traitor lìve! Guttural and aspirated orotund, medium pitch, explosive force. 6. You speak like a boy,—like a boy who thinks the old gnarled oak can be twisted as easily as the sâpling. Can I forget that I have been branded as an outlaw, stigmatized as a trăitor, a price set on my head as if I had been a wolf, my family treated as the dam and cubs of the hill-fox, whom all may torment, vilify, degrade and insult; the very năme which came to me from a long and noble line of martial ancestors denounced as if it were a spell to conjure up the devil with? See, also, § 217 and §§ 211, 214, 217, 219. a. Without initial stress, gentleness becomes an inarticulate and timid drawl, and vehemence mere brawling bombast. With too frequent use of it, one's delivery becomes characterized by an appearance of self-assertion, assurance or preciseness. b. In order to prevent one form of what is termed a tone, initial stress should be given to the last word of a sentence ending with a downward inflection not particularly emphatic, and therefore not requiring some other kind of stress (see § ́87: a); e. g. on the word you in the following: There's a man of the first fashion in town for you! 101. Terminal (Final or Vanishing) Stress <, which may be used with both expulsive and explosive breathing (§ 8) or utterance (§ 10), is given when a syllable begins softly and gradually increases in force till it ends with its loudest sound, or an explosion. It is used whenever one's main wish is to impress his thoughts on others. It gives utterance, in its weakest form, to the whine or complaint of mere peevishness demanding consideration; when stronger, to a pushing earnestness, persistency or determination; in its strongest form, to a desire to cause others to feel one's own astonishment, scorn or horror. Pure medium pitch. 1. Nice clothes I get, too, traipsing through weather like this! My gown and bonnet will be spoiled. Needn't I wear 'em thén? Indeed, Mr. Caudle, I shall wear 'em. Nô, sir! I'm not going out a dowdy to please you or anybody else. Grâcious knows! it isn't ôften that I step over the threshold. Slightly aspirated orotund. 2. I did send to you For certain sums of gôld, which you denîed me; By heaven! I had rather coin my heart, And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring To you for gold to pay my lègions, Which you denied me: was that done like Cassius? Orotund. 3. Idem. Blaze, with your serried columns! I will not bend the knee! 4. Sír, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by âny force which our enemy can send against us. Idem. 5. I am astonished, shocked, to hear such principles confèssed, to hear them avowed in this House, or even in this country; principles equally unconstitútional, inhúman, and unchristian! Strongly aspirated orotund and guttural. 6. Turning out The Roman from his birthright; and for what? Vipers that creep where mân disdains to climb; See, also, §§ 211-219. a. Without terminal stress, there can be no representation of childish weakness or obstinacy, or of manly strength or resolution; used too exclusively, or excessively, it causes delivery to be characterized by an appearance of willfulness, depriving it of the qualities of persuasion that appeal to the sympathies. 102. Median Stress <>, used generally with effusive but sometimes with expulsive breathing (§ 8) or utterance (§ 10), is given when a syllable is loudest in the middle of its utterance and begins and ends softly. It is used whenever one's desire to impress a thought on others is matched by a desire to express it on his own account. That which begins, therefore, to be a Terminal Stress < does not end with a loud sound or explosion, but gradually subsides as it dies away in the form appropriate for Initial Stress >. For this reason the Terminal Stress used in most oratory passes into Median Stress in passages characterized by strong feeling in view of the eloquence of the thought (see §§ 215, 219); and the latter stress is especially appropriate in uttering the language of poetry and devotion (see §§ 92-95). In its effusive form it may indicate either exaltation or dejection in consideration of the beautiful, sublime or pathetic; in its stronger, mainly expulsive form, admiration, adoration, enthusiasm, self-confident command, commendation or disapprobation. Pure medium pitch. 1. Listen closer. When you have done With woods and cornfields and grazing herds, A lady, the loveliest ever the sun Looked down upon, you must paint for me; Oh, if I only could make you sêe |