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similar expressions that take little space but promote good feeling.

4. Do not write a letter as if it were a telegram, condensing and abbreviating your text. Do not write, "Have received your letter." Use the pronoun "We" or "I" as is necessary. Write complete sentences, never omitting subject or predicate. 5. Be tactful; do not assume that an odd person is dishonest; give him the benefit of the doubt. Letters that breathe an undertone of suspicion often anger would-be customers, whose vagaries are frequently due to temperamental causes, not to dishonesty.

6. Study human nature. Learn how different people are from one another, and try to adapt yourself to other persons' tastes, temperaments, habits, and peculiarities.

7. Have an inflexible standard of honesty. Do not let anything in your correspondence or in your life suggest that you can distort truth. Honesty is not only the best policy, it is the root of all real success in business.

EXERCISES

The study of business letters is now carried on by means of models obtained from actual business houses. While it is most inconsiderate to waste the time of firms in making them write letters merely for the sake of providing examples, it is possible for you to collect from the correspondence carried on

by your father, or by some business men you know, examples of all sorts of letters.

1. Collect at least ten business letters.

2. Study in each letter: Heading, Salutation, Body, Complimentary close, and Signature. Study the Superscription of the envelope. Note in every case punctuation, spelling, grammar, and general tone.

3. Arrange the letters in what you consider their proper scale of excellence, judging by mechanical form and general appearance first; then, second, by clearness combined with courtesy.

EXERCISES

1. Write a letter such as a local furniture dealer would write to a large wholesale firm asking for prices and discounts on certain articles of furniture. Make a clear list of the articles, such as tables, chairs, davenports, beds, and sectional book cases, giving after each item the size, the style, and the kind of finish desired.

2. Write an answer to the foregoing letter as if from the wholesale firm, saying a price list is sent, and explaining that certain articles cannot be supplied in the finish desired, but can be furnished in a certain finish designated in the letter.

3. Write a letter giving an order, with careful specifications, and conclude by mentioning some bank as reference.

4. Write a letter such as the wholesale firm would send, acknowledging the order and stating when and how the goods ordered will be shipped.

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CHAPTER VI

THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF RHETORIC

Rhetoric (Greek, art of oratory) is concerned with the art of speaking and of writing. Grammar shows us how to speak with correctness; rhetoric shows us how to speak with clearness, force, and beauty. The lecturer who is awkward or careless in his speech is unpleasing to his audience, no matter how important his ideas may be. People do not listen willingly to a man who takes no pains to deliver opinions in a clear and effective way, but they will listen to a person who thinks out in advance just what he wants to say, and tries to present his ideas attractively. Who is the best lecturer you have ever heard; who in your circle of acquaintances can tell a story in the most thrilling fashion? Is it not the person who holds your attention by speaking enthusiastically, choosing as vivid phrases as possible? The word most frequently used by the average reader in criticising literature is the word "interesting." People expect to be held, not repelled, by what they read. How is a speaker to learn to be "interesting," what must he do? He must study the art of rhetoric. There are no mysterious secrets which,

once learned, will give him magic control over his hearers; the art of rhetoric is simple: it necessitates constant work, but does not demand extraordinary powers. Not every one can become a great writer, yet every one can learn the few rules that help us to become clear, forcible, and interesting in our method of speaking and of writing.

This

The Subject: What shall I write about? question is asked a thousand times daily by pupils who dislike writing themes and who train themselves to think that writing themes is a hardship. Every achievement worth while in life takes time and trouble. No man learns to be a doctor, or a lawyer, or a banker, or a statesman without hard work. No person can learn to use good English unless he practises writing. So make up your mind that you are no exception to the rule of toil. Be cheerful about your labor, realizing that, pleasant or unpleasant, the task must be accomplished.

What sports are you most interested in:-football, skating, swimming, or tennis? Write about that sport. What books do you like to read? What people do you know well enough to describe? What adventures have you had? What excursions have you taken? What other places in the world have you seen? What opinions have you about secret societies, school-papers, inter-school games? What subjects of study appeal to you, and why? What subjects do you dislike, and why? Look

about you, the world is full of things to write about. If you think nobody cares about your opinion remember that this matters little; what is important is that you should be able to express it. Your teacher, your relatives, your friends care what you think. Later on, if you learn to think clearly, and to express yourself clearly too, other people will be interested to know what you think. Practice in writing does not mean that you expect to be a writer, it means that you want to learn how to express yourself in words whether written or spoken. The Audience. First of all, a writer should decide what he wishes to say, how much and how little. This he cannot discover unless he knows the people whom he is addressing, his audience. He should try to find out three things about his audience:

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(1) How much do they already know about the subject he wishes to discuss?

(2) How much interest have they in that subject? (3) How well-educated are they?

EXERCISE

For what audience was each of the following books written? Give the reasons for your decision.

Ivanhoe, Little Women, The Boys of '61, Black Beauty, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Tom Brown at Rugby, Treasure Island, The Iliad, The Biglow Papers, The Last of the Mohicans, David Copperfield.

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