Articulate well: Take up; make haste; note what you utter; his arm; we are; you are; thou art; it is; how ill they serve; some ore; an ice house; small eyes; small lies; all of us; all love us.

(13) It may be added here that whenever a preposition directly following a verb modifies its meaning, the two are pronounced as one word with the accent on the preposition. If they are separated, their sense is destroyed or altered.

Articulate well: Call up; fall in with the others; muster up all your strength; let us gird on our swords; send in a cab; he turned over the seat; "Lay on, Macduff.”

(14) Miscellaneous.

Do not say woosh for wish, jist for just, kaint for can't, ketch for catch, ast for asked, kep' for kept, las' for last, tuck for took, sitch for such, hesh for hush, purty for pretty, an' for and, sence for since, groun' for ground, fiel's for fields, helum for helm, cap'n for captain.

Elocutionary Interpretation

Public reading and speaking require not only correct pronunciation and distinct articulation, but also a true interpretation of the matter, an accurate rendering of its every thought and feeling. To succeed in this, attention must be paid to pauses, emphasis, vocal pitch, force, movement, inflexion, form, quality, gestures, attitude, and facial expression.

Pauses

Pause is a marked cessation of speech between words in order to make the sense clear or to intensify emotion. There are pauses of sense, of deliberation, and of emphasis.

(A) Pauses of Sense

The object of sense pauses is to separate from each other words that are not directly related, and, consequently, to divide series of words into groups. "Grouping", so-called, is required to make the sense of what is read aloud or spoken intelligible to the hearer. Hence the elocutionary pause is to the art of expression what the grammatical pause indicated by punctuation marks is to composition. However, as shall be shown below, the two kinds of pauses are not always coincident, and so the elocutionist does not indiscriminately regulate either the number or length or place of his pauses by the punctuation marks.

Fundamental Law. The closer or more direct the relation of adjoining "groups", the shorter the pause; the more distant and indirect the relation, the longer the pause.

Generally, the relation between sentences is more indirect and distant than that between clauses, and still more so than that between phrases. The length of the pause is to be determined accordingly.

Thus, "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, || neither can an evil tree | bring forth good fruit. Every tree | that bringeth not forth good fruit || shall be cut down || and shall be cast into the fire."

(Throughout this chapter, the number of vertical lines indicates the comparative length of pauses).

Rule 1. Pauses are usually made at punctuation marks, the short and medium pause at commas; the medium at semicolons, colons, and dashes; the long, at interrogation points, exclamation points, and periods.

Exceptions. Do not pause at punctuation marks: (a) At a comma occurring between a demonstrative and a relative pronoun, particularly if the relative clause be short, as: They, that sow, || shall reap. Not everyone || admires him, that toils.

The student should select five instances illustrative of this and each of the following rules from the pieces contained in this Class-book, and read them aloud in the class-room.

(b) At a comma standing before certain adverbs, phrases and short clauses, as: True eloquence, indeed, does not consist in speech.— Away, I say, | | and bring him hither.

(c) At a comma before the nominative case absolute, as: "There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats."

(d) At a comma between conjunctions or pronouns, and certain phrases and clauses, as: "O limed soul, that, struggling to be free, art more engaged."

Rule 2. A short pause occurs whether a punctuation mark is used or not:

(a) Between the logical subject (i. e. the subject taken. together with its modifiers) and the predicate, as: "He that hideth his sins || shall not prosper."-"The mind of the just studieth

obedience."

(b) Between the object and the rest of the sentence, when the object precedes, as: Not even the weak || could he overcome.

(c) Between prepositional and other phrases, that express a cause or important circumstance, and the rest of the sentence, as: "By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.”—“Of making many books | there is no end.”—“Gently but firmly || he demanded his rights."

(d) Often before the infinitive mood, as: He desired to rule by love.

(e) In case of an ellipsis, as:

"This was the bravest warrior |
That ever buckled sword; ||
This the most gifted poet |

That ever breathed a word."

Several selections of the Beginners' Course should be read in the class-room for illustration of the foregoing.

(B) Pauses of Deliberation

Intermediate

Course

These pauses, which are of greater frequency and length than those of sense, aim to give time to the hearers for deliberation, or to indicate thoughtfulThe speech becomes measDrawling, however, should be

ness and weightiness. ured and slow.

avoided.

This kind of pausing is required:

(1) When the minds of the hearers are not prepared to attend to the utterance of a speaker, as, for instance, at the opening of an address, or at a de

cided turn from one point to another. This rule applies only rarely to the opening passages of an elocutionary selection.

This law of inertia in the human mind is quite perceptible when one is absorbed in some serious occupation and is unexpectedly addressed on a foreign matter. The speaker will find it necessary either to bridge his hearer over to his subject by means of conventionalities, or to intersperse his speech with many and lengthy pauses until the hearer's mind has adjusted itself to the new situation.

(2) In passages that are particularly difficult of comprehension or belief, or unusually important, such as

(a) Epigrams, apothegms, sententious statements, thoughtful speech, e. g. “He that concealeth || a transgression, || seeketh | friendships: || ! he that repeateth it again || separateth | friends.' "Shun delays, || they breed | remorse."

"It must be so |||.-Plato, | thou reasonest | well ||, Else whence this pleasing hope,|| this fond desire,|| This longing | after immortality?”

(b) Bold assertions, apparent contradictions, and paradoxes.-Long pauses occur after these, e. g.—“To be prepared || for war || is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace. || ! A free people || ought not only | to be armed || but disciplined."

(c) Serious but unimpassioned admonitions and warnings, or when an air of pompousness must be assumed, e. g.-Polonius' fatherly advice to his son, Laertes (see page 528).-"The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: || O God, || I give Thee thanks || that I am not as the rest of men, |||