Introduction
Ben Franklin’s father, to head him off from going to sea, apprenticed him at twelve to his elder brother James, a printer in Boston, Massachusetts. Eager to improve his command of prose writing, Ben entered into an informal writing competition with another boy from his neighbourhood, John Collins, on the subject of women’s education; but this only made him acutely aware of his shortcomings.
ABOUT this time I met with an odd volume of the Spectator.* It was the third. I had never before seen any of them. I bought it, read it over and over, and was much delighted with it. I thought the writing excellent, and wished, if possible, to imitate it. With this view I took some of the papers, and, making short hints of the sentiment in each sentence, laid them by a few days, and then, without looking at the book, try'd to compleat the papers again, by expressing each hinted sentiment at length, and as fully as it had been expressed before, in any suitable words that should come to hand. Then I compared my Spectator with the original, discovered some of my faults, and corrected them.
But I found I wanted a stock of words, or a readiness in recollecting and using them, which I thought I should have acquired before that time if I had gone on making verses; since the continual occasion for words of the same import, but of different length, to suit the measure, or of different sound for the rhyme, would have laid me under a constant necessity of searching for variety, and also have tended to fix that variety in my mind, and make me master of it.
* Not the modern political and literary periodical, but a magazine of musings and whimsy (nonetheless often penetrating) founded and largely written by Joseph Addison (1672-1719) and Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729). Issues came out daily (Sundays excepted), beginning on March 1st, 1711, and ending on December 6th, 1712. The following year the issues were republished as a collection in a total of seven volumes, with a supplementary eighth in 1715. One of the pieces was on Sappho and the legendary origin of the Lover’s Leap.
* Ben’s brother James had encouraged his verse-making, and even printed out some of his poetry on his press. “One was called ‘The Lighthouse Tragedy,’” Benjamin remembered, “and contained an account of the drowning of Captain Worthilake with his two daughters: the other was a sailor’s song, on the taking of Teach (or Blackbeard) the pirate. They were wretched stuff, in the Grub Street [an area of London known for its hack writers] ballad style; and when they were printed he sent me about the town to sell them. The first sold wonderfully, the event being recent, having made a great noise. This flattered my vanity; but my father discouraged me by ridiculing my performances, and telling me verse makers were generally beggars.” His father was more encouraging over Ben’s prose.
Précis
When he was about twelve, Benjamin Franklin decided to improve his written English. He took a collection of short essays, broke each one down into note form, and later reconstructed them from his notes. However, this did not enlarge his vocabulary, and he regretted giving up verse-making, as satisfying rhyme and metre would have taught him many new words. (59 / 60 words)
When he was about twelve, Benjamin Franklin decided to improve his written English. He took a collection of short essays, broke each one down into note form, and later reconstructed them from his notes. However, this did not enlarge his vocabulary, and he regretted giving up verse-making, as satisfying rhyme and metre would have taught him many new words.
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Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: besides, despite, or, ought, since, unless, whereas, who.
Word Games
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Ben read ‘The Spectator’. He thought the contributors wrote well. He tried to write as they did.
Variation: Try rewriting your sentence so that it uses one or more of these words: 1. Emulate 2. Impress 3. Quality