Composition-Rhetoric | Page 3

say.
Such expression of ideas is enjoyed by all. If we but choose to express
the same kinds of ideas and for the same reason, there is an equal or
even greater pleasure to be derived from the expression of ideas in
writing. The purpose of this book is to show you how to express ideas
_clearly, effectively_, and with pleasure.
+2. Sources of Ideas.+--We must have ideas before we can express
them. There are three sources from which ideas arise. We may gain
them from experience; we may recombine them into new forms by the
imagination; and we may receive them from others through the medium
of language, either by conversation or by reading.
Every day we add to our knowledge through our senses. We see and
hear and do, and thus, through experience, acquire ideas about things.
By far the greater part of expression has to do with ideas that have
originated in this way. The first chapter in this book is concerned with
the expression of ideas gained through experience.
We may, however, think about things that have not actually occurred.
We may allow our minds to picture a football game that we have not
seen, or to plan a story about a boy who never existed. Nearly every
one takes pleasure in such an exercise of the imagination. The second
chapter has to do with the expression of ideas of this kind.
We also add to our knowledge through the medium of language.
Through conversation and reading we learn what others think, and it is
often of value to restate these ideas. The expression of ideas so
acquired is treated in the third chapter.
+3. Advantages of Expressing Ideas Gained from Experience.+--Young
people sometimes find difficulty in writing because they "have nothing
to say." Such a reason will not hold in regard to ideas gained from
experience. Every one has a multitude of experiences every day, and
wishes to tell about some of them. Many of the things which happen to
you or to your friends, especially some which occur outside of the
regular routine of school work, are interesting and worth telling about.

Thus experience furnishes an abundance of material suitable for
composition purposes, and this material is of the best because the ideas
are sure to be your own. The first requisite of successful composition is
to have thoughts of your own. The expressing of ideas that are not your
own is mere copy work, and seldom worth doing.
Ideas acquired through experience are not only interesting and your
own, but they are likely to be clear and definite. You know what you
do and what you see; or, if you do not, the effort to express your ideas
so that they will be clear to others will make you observe closely for
yourself.
Still another advantage comes from the fact that your experiences are
not presented to you through the medium of language. When
experience furnishes the ideas, you are left free to choose for yourself
the words that best set forth what you wish to tell. The things of your
experience are the things with which you are most familiar, and
therefore the words that best apply to them are those which you most
often use and whose meanings are best known to you.
Because experience supplies an abundance of interesting, clear, and
definite ideas, which are your own and which may be expressed in
familiar language, it furnishes better material for training in expression
than does either imagination or reading.
+4. Essentials of Expression.+--The proper expression of ideas depends
upon the observance of two essentials: first, you should say what you
mean; and second, you should say it clearly. Without these, what you
say may be not only valueless, but positively misleading. If you wish
your hearer to understand what occurred at a certain time and place,
you must first of all know yourself exactly what did occur. Then you
must express it in language that shall make him understand it as clearly
as you do. You will learn much about clearness, later; but even now
you can tell whether you know what is meant by each sentence which
you hear or read. It is not so easy to tell whether what you say will
convey clearly to another the meaning you intend to convey, but you
will be helped in this if you ask yourself the questions: "Do I know
exactly what happened?" "Have I said what I intended to say?" "Have I
said it so that it will be clear to the listener?"
+Oral Composition 1.+--_Report orally on one of the following:_--
1. Were you so interested in anything yesterday that you told it to your

parents or friends? Tell the class about it.
2. Tell about something that you have