CHAPTER XIII.

THE EXPOSITORY PARAGRAPH

185. Coherence in the Expository Paragraph. In our study of the descriptive paragraph, we laid stress upon the two great principles of unity and emphasis. In our work on the expository paragraph we shall add to these another fundamental law of composition, that of coherence or the arranging of sentences in a paragraph so as to indicate their logical relation. In exposition this relating of one sentence to another is more of a problem than in narration and description. As statement is related to statement by coördinate conjunctions in the compound sentence, and by subordinate conjunctions in the complex sentence, so the sentences which make up an expository paragraph, though independent in form, must in thought stand to each other in either the coördinate or subordinate relation.

186. Unity and Emphasis in the Expository Paragraph. The law which our descriptive models should have impressed upon us in regard to the first, the last, and the intervening sentences in a paragraph, applies also to this new type of paragraph; that is, the first sentence should express a general truth or make a statement about either a class of objects, an abstract idea, or a general process, the sentences following should explain this statement, and the last sentence should summarize or give the reader a sense of completeness.

187. Types of the Expository Paragraph. From the point of view of coherence there are four types of the expository paragraph, represented by the models and diagrams in sections 188-194:

In Type I. (§ 188) the leading thoughts are coördinate. This type corresponds to the compound sentence.

In Type II. (§ 190) each of the leading thoughts is subordinate to the one immediately preceding. This type corresponds to the complex sentence.

In Type III. (§ 192) some of the leading thoughts are in coördinate and others in subordinate relation. This type corresponds to the compound-complex sentence. In Type IV. (§ 194) the paragraph consists of a single

sentence.

The student will find in his reading that there are other types of the expository paragraph besides the four enumerated here. We shall, however, confine our study to these simple forms because they are most easily understood and used.

The following sections provide examples of each of these types.

188. Type I.-COÖRDINATION IN THE PARAGRAPH. In the first type of the expository paragraph which we shall study, the main thoughts used to amplify the fundamental idea stand to each other in coördinate relation. Each is directly related to the first sentence, but not to the others. The following extract belongs to this type:

Men often remind me of pears in their way of coming to maturity. Some are ripe at twenty, like human Jargonelles, and must be made the most of, for their day is soon over. Some come into their perfect condition late, like the autumn kinds, and they last better

than the summer fruit. And some that, like the WinterNelis, have been hard and uninviting until all the rest have had their season, get their glow and perfume long after the frost and snow have done their worst with the orchards. Beware of rash criticisms, the rough and astringent fruit you condemn may be an autumn or a winter pear, and that which you picked up beneath the same bough in August may have been only its wormeaten windfalls.

-OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES,

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table.

SUGGESTIONS.-Prove that this paragraph obeys the laws of unity and emphasis (§ 99). Prove also that it makes generous use of parallel construction (Chapter X.).

189. Sentence Relation in Type I. The following diagram shows the sentence relation in the paragraph we call Type I. :

The line marked I stands for the first sentence and expresses the fundamental idea of the paragraph. What is the idea?

The figure marked 2 stands for the second sentence, which is directly subordinate to the thought of the first. Prove this statement.

The figure marked 3 stands for the third sentence, which is directly subordinate to the thought of the first and not immediately connected with the second sentence. Prove this statement.

The figure marked 4 stands for the fourth sentence, which is directly subordinate to the thought of the first and not connected with the second or the third sentence. Prove this statement.

The figure marked 5 stands for the last sentence, which summarizes the thought of the whole and returns to the first sentence. Prove this statement.

Exercises

I. Write an expository paragraph according to Type I., taking for your subject the causes of the American Revolution. Of course the number of sentences should not be limited to five as in the model. The coördinate relation will remain the same no matter what the number of sentences may be.

II. Write a paragraph upon the benefits derived from out-of-door sports. Follow the first type as before.

190. Type II. SUBORDINATION IN THE PARAGRAPH. In the type of paragraph represented by the following quotation each sentence is directly subordinate to the one immediately preceding, but only indirectly to the first sentence:

Still, we do not think that the blame of Burns' failure lies chiefly with the world. The world, it seems to us, treated him with more rather than with less kindness than it usually shows to such men. It has ever, we fear, shown but small favor to its teachers; hunger and nakedness, perils and revilings, the prison, the cross, the poison chalice have, in most times and countries, been the market price it has offered for Wisdom, the welcome with which it has greeted those who have come to enlighten and purify it. Homer and Socrates, and the Christian apostles, belong to old days; but the world's martyrology was not completed with these. Roger Bacon and Galileo languish in priestly dungeons; Tasso pines in the cell of a madhouse, and Camoëns dies begging on the streets of Lisbon. So neglected, so "persecuted" they the prophets, not in Judea only, but in all places where men have been. We reckon that every poet of Burns' order is, or should be, a prophet and teacher to his age; that he has no right to expect great kindness from it, but rather is bound to do it great kindness; that Burns, in particular, experienced fully the

usual proportion of the world's goodness; and that the blame of his failure, as we have said, lies not chiefly with the world. THOMAS CARLYLE, Essay on Burns.

SUGGESTIONS Prove that the first sentence states the fundamental idea, the last sentence summarizes, and the others develop the thought of the first sentence. Point out the minor devices used in this paragraph.

191. Sentence Relation in Type II. The following is a diagram of the second type of the expository paragraph :

2

3

+

I

5

7

EXPLANATION OF THE DIAGRAM

The line marked I stands for the first sentence, which expresses the leading thought. What is the thought?

The figure marked 2 stands for the second sentence, which is subordinate in thought directly to the first. Prove this by showing what expression in the first sentence is developed by the second.

The figure marked 3 stands for the third sentence, which is subordinate in thought directly to the second. Show what expression in the second sentence is developed by the third.

The figure marked 4 stands for the fourth sentence, which is