The Forms of Discourse With an Introductory Chapter on Style (Classic Reprint)

Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Forms of Discourse With an Introductory Chapter on Style This work is an attempt to present the subject of literary invention in a form suited to the needs of pupils in high schools and colleges. It has been prepared because the author was unable to find, in the many excellent text-books on formal rhetoric, any adequate discussion of this subject that he could use with his own classes. The authors of many recent text-books have assumed that the study of rhetoric is the study of style, and nothing more. If they have treated the forms of discourse at all, they have done so by way of literary analysis, and not in a manner that will prove helpful to young writers. The study of style is of the greatest importance. It should come first in a course in English, and it may profitably be continued, even by the greatest writers, throughout life; but it is not a study in which progress can be forced. The reason that so many courses in rhetoric are partial failures is because the pupils have already learned as many rules for style as they can assimilate without further knowledge of invention. The average junior or senior in the high school has been taught the principles of grammar, and something of what is generally known as English composition. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.