often denoted by italics, and a still stronger
emphasis by SMALL CAPITALS or CAPITALS, according to the
degree of emphasis desired.
REMARK 2.--Emphasis constitutes the most important feature in
reading and speaking, and, properly applied, gives life and character to
language. Accent, inflection, and indeed everything yields to emphasis.
REMARK 3.--In the following examples it will be seen that accent is
governed by it.
EXAMPLES.
What is done cannot be undone. There is a difference between giving
and forgiving. He that descended is the same that ascended.
Some appear to make very little difference between decency and
indecency, morality and immorality, religion and irreligion.
REMARK 4.--There is no better illustration of the nature and
importance of emphasis than the following examples. It will he
observed that the meaning and proper answer of the question vary with
each change of the emphasis.
EXAMPLES.
QUESTIONS. ANSWERS. --------- -------- Did you walk into the city
yesterday? No, my brother went.
Did you walk into the city yesterday? No, I rode.
Did you walk into the city yesterday? No, I went into the country.
Did you walk into the city yesterday? No, I went the day before.
ABSOLUTE EMPHASIS.
Sometimes a word is emphasized simply to indicate the importance of
the idea. This is called absolute emphasis.
EXAMPLES.
To arms! they come! the Greek! the Greek! Woe unto you,
PHARISEES! HYPOCRITES! Days, months, years, and ages shall
circle away.
REMARK.--In instances like the last, it is sometimes called the
emphasis of specification.
RELATIVE EMPHASIS.
Words are often emphasized in order to exhibit the idea they express as
compared or contrasted with some other idea. This is called relative
emphasis.
EXAMPLES.
A friend can not be known in prosperity; an enemy can not be hidden in
adversity.
It is much better to be injured than to injure.
REMARK.--In many instances one part only of the antithesis is
expressed, the corresponding idea being understood; as,
A friendly eye would never see such faults.
Here the unfriendly eye is understood.
King Henry exclaims, while vainly endeavoring to compose himself to
rest,
"How many thousand of my poorest subjects Are at this hour asleep!"
Here the emphatic words thousand, subjects, and asleep are contrasted
in idea with their opposites, and if the contrasted ideas were expressed
it might be in this way:
While I alone, their sovereign, am doomed to wakefulness.
EMPHATIC PHRASE.
Sometimes several words in succession are emphasized, forming what
is called an emphatic phrase.
EXAMPLES.
Shall I, the conqueror of Spain and Gaul, and not only of the Alpine
nations but of the Alps themselves--shall I compare myself with this
HALF--YEAR--CAPTAIN?
Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the LAST
TEN YEARS.
And if thou said'st I am not peer To any lord in Scotland here, Lowland
or Highland, far or near, Lord Angus-THOU-HAST-LIED!
EMPHATIC PAUSE.
The emphatic expression of a sentence often requires a pause where the
grammatical construction authorizes none. This is sometimes called the
rhetorical pause. Such pauses occur chiefly before or after an emphatic
word or phrase, and sometimes both before and after it.
EXAMPLES.
Rise--fellow-men! our country--yet remains! By that dread name we
wave the sword on high, And swear for her--to live--with her--to die.
But most--by numbers judge the poet's song: And smooth or rough,
with them is--right or wrong.
He said; then full before their sight Produced the beast, and lo!--'t was
white.
VI. MODULATION.
Modulation includes the variations of the voice. These may be classed
under the heads of Pitch, Compass, Quantity, and Quality.
PITCH AND COMPASS.
If anyone will notice closely a sentence as uttered in private
conversation, he will observe that very few successive words are
pronounced in exactly the same key or with the same force. At the
same time, however, there is a certain PITCH or key, which seems, on
the whole, to prevail.
This keynote, or governing note, as it may be called, is that upon which
the voice most frequently dwells, to which it usually returns when
wearied, and upon which a sentence generally commences, and very
frequently ends, while, at the same time, there is a considerable play of
the voice above and below it.
This key may be high or low. It varies in different individuals, and at
different times in the same individual, being governed by the nature of
the subject and the emotions of the speaker. It is worthy of notice,
however, that most speakers pitch their voices on a key too high.
The range of the voice above and below this note is called its
COMPASS. When the speaker is animated, this range is great; but
upon abstract subjects, or with a dull speaker, it is small. If, in reading
or speaking, too high a note be chosen, the lungs will soon become
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