The Copy Book

Order and Method

Taking the trouble to express ourselves more clearly helps us to think more clearly too.

1783
In the Time of

King George III 1760-1820

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Order and Method

By Samuel Dukinfield Swarbreck (1799-1863), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain. Source

A view of Edinburgh, by Samuel Dukinfield Swarbreck.

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A view of Edinburgh in 1827, attributed to British watercolourist Samuel Dukinfield Swarbreck (?1799-1863). Blair spent most of his life in Edinburgh, at a time when Scotland was producing a remarkable catalogue of engineers, inventors, philosophers, economists and men of letters in what is termed the Scottish Enlightenment, roughly 1730-1820.

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A view of Edinburgh, by Samuel Dukinfield Swarbreck.

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By Samuel Dukinfield Swarbreck (1799-1863), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

A view of Edinburgh in 1827, attributed to British watercolourist Samuel Dukinfield Swarbreck (?1799-1863). Blair spent most of his life in Edinburgh, at a time when Scotland was producing a remarkable catalogue of engineers, inventors, philosophers, economists and men of letters in what is termed the Scottish Enlightenment, roughly 1730-1820.

Introduction

In 1783, after serving for twenty-one years as Edinburgh University’s first Professor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, Hugh Blair retired, and immediately published a collection of his lectures. No. XII dealt with the structure of sentences, and urged readers to take time over their sentence-making because disciplined writers make more disciplined thinkers.

THE fundamental rule of the construction of sentences, and into which all others might be resolved, undoubtedly is, to communicate, in the clearest and most natural order, the ideas which we mean to transfuse into the minds of others. Every arrangement that does most justice to the sense, and expresses it to most advantage, strikes us as beautiful. To this point have tended all the rules I have given.

And, indeed, did men always think clearly, and were they, at the same time, fully masters of the language in which they write, there would be occasion for few rules. Their sentences would then, of course, acquire all those properties of precision, unity, and strength, which I have recommended. For we may rest assured, that, whenever we express ourselves ill, there is, besides the mismanagement of language, for the most part, some mistake in our manner of conceiving the subject. Embarrassed, obscure, and feeble sentences, are generally, if not always, the result of embarrassed, obscure, and feeble thought. Thought and language act and react upon each other mutually. Logic and rhetoric have here, as in many other cases, a strict connexion; and he that is learning to arrange his sentences with accuracy and order, is learning, at the same time, to think with accuracy and order; an observation which alone will justify all the care and attention we have bestowed on this subject.

From Lectures on Rhetoric (1783) by the Revd Hugh Blair (1718-1800).

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Précis

In one of his acclaimed lectures on rhetoric, Hugh Blair (who had retired that same year, 1783, after a distinguished career at Edinburgh University) urged readers to pay close attention to the way they expressed themselves. Sloppy grammar or ill-chosen vocabulary betrays sloppy thinking; likewise, a habit of arranging one’s words with care can help foster a more orderly mind. (60 / 60 words)

In one of his acclaimed lectures on rhetoric, Hugh Blair (who had retired that same year, 1783, after a distinguished career at Edinburgh University) urged readers to pay close attention to the way they expressed themselves. Sloppy grammar or ill-chosen vocabulary betrays sloppy thinking; likewise, a habit of arranging one’s words with care can help foster a more orderly mind.

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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: although, because, despite, just, not, ought, since, unless.

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Word Games

Spinners Find in Think and Speak

For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.

This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.

1 Do. Strict. Their.

2 Advantage. Observation. Result.

3 His. Rule. There.

Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)

Confusables Find in Think and Speak

In each group below, you will find words that are similar to one another, but not exactly the same. Compose your own sentences to bring out the similarities and differences between them, whether in meaning, grammar or use.

This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.

1. Course. Curriculum. 2. Infamous. Obscure. 3. Manner. Manor. 4. Me. I. 5. Observance. Observation. 6. That. Which. 7. Their. They’re. 8. There. Their. 9. Treat. Tend.

Statements, Questions and Commands Find in Think and Speak

Use each word below in a sentence. Try to include at least one statement, one question and one command among your sentences. Note that some verbs make awkward or meaningless words of command, e.g. need, happen.

This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.

1 Mind. 2 Occasion. 3 Recommend. 4 React. 5 Resolve. 6 Care. 7 Point. 8 Order. 9 Acquire.

Variations: 1. use a minimum of seven words for each sentence 2. include negatives, e.g. isn’t, don’t, never 3. use the words ‘must’ to make commands 4. compose a short dialogue containing all three kinds of sentence: one statement, one question and one command

High Tiles Find in Think and Speak

Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?

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