McGuffeys Sixth Eclectic Reader | Page 8

exclamations, and words repeated as a kind
of echo to the thought, require the rising inflection.
EXAMPLES. (25)
1. Where grows', where grows it not'?
2. What'! Might Rome have been taken'? Rome taken when I was
consul'?
3. Banished from Rome'! Tried and convicted traitor'!

4. Prince Henry. What's the matter'?
Falstaff. What's the matter'? Here be four of us have taken a thousand
pounds this morning.
Prince H. Where is' it, Jack, where is' it?
Fal. Where is' it? Taken from us, it is.
5. Ha'! laughest thou, Lochiel, my vision to scorn?
6. And this man is called a statesman. A statesman'? Why, he never
invented a decent humbug.
7. I can not say, sir, which of these motives influence the advocates of
the bill before us; a bill', in which such cruelties are proposed as are yet
unknown among the most savage nations.
RISING AND FALLING INFLECTIONS. (26)
RULE VIII.--Words and members of a sentence expressing antithesis
or contrast, require opposite inflections.
EXAMPLES. (26)
1. By honor' and dishonor'; by evil' report and good' report; as
deceivers' and yet true'.
2. What they know by reading', I know by experience'.
3. I could honor thy courage', but I detest thy crimes'.
4. It is easier to forgive the weak', who have injured us', than the
powerful' whom we' have injured.
5. Homer was the greater genius', Virgil the better artist'.
6. The style of Dryden is capricious and varied'; that of Pope is cautious
and uniform'. Dryden obeys the emotions of his own mind'; Pope

constrains his mind to his own rules of composition.' Dryden is
sometimes vehement and rapid'; Pope is always smooth, uniform, and
gentle'. Dryden's page is a natural field, rising into inequalities, varied
by exuberant vegetation'; Pope's is a velvet lawn, shaven by the scythe
and leveled by the roller'.
7. If the flights of Dryden are higher', Pope continues longer on the
wing'. If the blaze of Dryden's fire is brighter', the heat of Pope's is
more regular and constant'. Dryden often surpasses' expectation, and
Pope never falls below' it.
REMARK l.--Words and members connected by or used disjunctively,
generally express contrast or antithesis, and always receive opposite
inflection.
EXAMPLES. (27)
1. Shall we advance', or retreat'?
2. Do you seek wealth', or power'?
3. Is the great chain upheld by God', or thee'?
4. Shall we return to our allegiance while we may do so with safety and
honor', or shall we wait until the ax of the executioner is at our throats'?
5. Shall we crown' the author of these public calamities with garlands',
or shall we wrest' from him his ill-deserved authority' ?
REMARK 2.--When the antithesis is between affirmation and negation,
the latter usually has the rising inflection, according to Rule V.
EXAMPLES. (27)
1. You were paid to fight' against Philip, not to rail' at him.
2. I said rationally', not irrationally'.
3. I did not say rationally', but irrationally'.

4. I said an elder' soldier, not a better'.
5. Let us retract while we can', not when we must'.
REMARK 3.--The more emphatic member generally receives the
falling inflection.
EXAMPLES. (27)
1. A countenance more in sorrow', than anger'.
2. A countenance less in anger', than sorrow'.
3. You should show your courage by deeds', rather than by words.
4. If we can not remove' pain, we may alleviate' it.

OF SERIES. (28)
A series is a number of particulars immediately following one another
in the same grammatical construction.
A commencing series is one which commences a sentence or clause.
EXAMPLE. (28)
Faith, hope, love, joy, are the fruits of the spirit.
A concluding series is one which concludes a sentence or a clause.
EXAMPLE. (28)
The fruits of the spirit are faith, hope, love, and joy.
RULE IX.--All the members of a commencing series, when not
emphatic, usually require the rising inflection.
EXAMPLES. (28)

1. War', famine', pestilence', storm', and fire' besiege mankind.
2. The knowledge', the power', the wisdom', the goodness' of God, must
all be unbounded.
3. To advise the ignorant', to relieve the needy', and to comfort the
afflicted' are the duties that fall in our way almost every day of our
lives.
4. No state chicanery', no narrow system of vicious politics', no idle
contest for ministerial victories', sank him to the vulgar level of the
great.
5. For solidity of reasoning', force of sagacity', and wisdom of
conclusion', no nation or body of men can compare with the Congress
at Philadelphia.
6. The wise and the foolish', the virtuous and the evil', the learned and
the ignorant', the temperate and the profligate', must often be blended
together.
7. Absalom's beauty', Jonathan's love', David's valor', Solomon's
wisdom', the patience of Job, the prudence of Augustus', and the
eloquence of Cicero' are found in