McGuffeys Sixth Eclectic Reader | Page 7

commands usually have the falling inflection.
EXAMPLES. (25)
God is not the author of sin'. Thou shalt not kill.
RULE VI.--Interrogative sentences, and members of sentences which can be answered by yes or no generally require the rising inflection.
EXAMPLES. (25)
1. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation'?
2. Does the gentleman suppose it is in his power', to exhibit in Carolina a name so bright' as to produce envy' in my bosom?
3. If it be admitted, that strict integrity is not the shortest way to success, is it not the surest', the happiest', the best'?
4. Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens, To wash this crimson hand as white as snow'?
Exception.--Emphasis may reverse this rule.
EXAMPLES. (25)
1, Can' you be so blind to your interest? Will' you rush headlong to destruction?
2. I ask again, is' there no hope of reconciliation? Must' we abandon all our fond anticipations?
3. Will you deny' it? Will you deny' it?
4. Am I Dromio'? Am I your man'? Am I myself'?
RULE VII.--Interrogative 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