Part 23 (1/2)

IV. a.n.a.lysis

Observe the framework. Paragraph 1 states the point to be proved.

Paragraphs 2-5 are composed of examples, arranged thus:

1. The War of 1871.

2. The War of 1905.

3. The Present War.

(a) France.

(b) England.

(c) Germany.

The order, in other words, is at once the order of chronology and that of climax, which combine to make the facts easy to remember. Paragraph 6 summarizes the argument and clinches it by a sharp ant.i.thesis.

V. Exercises

1. Using a similar framework, write an editorial disproving by examples the point made by the writer of the model.

2. Write an editorial proving by examples any proposition which you believe to be true and in which you are deeply interested.

3. Prove or disprove by example any one of the following propositions:

(a) Left-hand batters are better than right-hand batters.

(b) Germans are better ball-players than Irishmen.

(c) Frenchmen cannot play ball.

(d) Men write better than women.

(e) Asphalt pavements are more durable than brick pavements.

(f) Germany has contributed more to the world's culture than England.

(g) College graduates are more successful as statesmen than are self-made men.

(h) Very tall men have ever very empty heads.

(i) Athletes usually succeed well in after life.

(j) Dr. Samuel Johnson was a great wit. (For Johnson, subst.i.tute, if you wish, Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Francis Bacon, Samuel Butler, Alexander Pope, Charles Lamb, Sidney Smith, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, or Mark Twain.)

In the model there are twenty-two examples. In your composition there must be at least ten.

VI. Model II

WHAT DOES A MAN PRODUCE?