Models have their use, but you can also work without models. It is imperative that you should. You must learn to discuss, explain, analyze, argue, narrate, and describe for yourself. Here again you should diversify your materials to the utmost, not only that you may become well-rounded and versatile in your ability to set forth ideas and feelings in words, but also that your knowledge and your sensibility may receive stimulation.
It is feasible to begin by discussing or explaining. Most of the intercourse conducted through language consists in either discussion or explanation. Analysis, ordinarily, is almost ignored. Argument is indulged in, and so is description (though less freely), but they are of the bluntest and broadest. Narration—the recounting of incidents of everyday existence—is, however, widely employed.
In your work of discussion or explanation you may seize upon any current topic—industrial, social, political, or what not—that comes into your mind. Or you may make a list of such topics, writing each on a separate piece of paper; may jumble the slips in a hat; and may thus have always at your elbow a collection of satisfactory themes from which you may take one at random. Or you may invest in language of your own selection the substance of an address or sermon you have heard, or give the burden of some important conversation in which you have participated, or explain the tenor of an article you have read. You should of course try to interest your hearers, and above all, you should impart to what you say complete clarity.
In analyzing you should select as your topic a process fairly obscure, the implications of a certain statement or argument, the results to be expected from some action or policy that has been advocated, or the exact matter at issue between two disputants. Any topic for discussion, explanation, or argument may be treated analytically. Your analysis in its final form should be so carefully considered that its soundness cannot be impeached.
In arguing you may take any subject under the sun, from baseball to Bolshevism, for all of them are debated with vehemence. Any topic for discussion or explanation becomes, when approached from some particular angle, material for argument. Thus the initial topic in the exercise that follows is "The aeroplane's future as a carrier of mail." You may convert it into a question for debate by making it read: "The aeroplane is destined to supplant the railroad as a carrier of mail," or "The aeroplane is destined to be used increasingly as a carrier of transcontinental mail." In arguing you may propose for yourself either of two objectives: (1) to silence your opponent, (2) to refute, persuade, and win him over fairly. The achievement of the first end calls for bluster and perhaps a grim, barbaric strength; you must do as Johnson did according to Goldsmith's famous dictum—if your pistol misses fire, you must knock your adversary down with the butt end of it. This procedure, though inartistic to be sure, is in some contingencies the only kind that will serve. But you should cultivate procedure of a type more urbane. Let your very reasonableness be the most potent weapon you wield. To this end you should form the habit of looking for good points on both sides of a question. As a still further precaution against contentiousness you should uphold the two sides successively.
In narrating you should, as a rule, stick to simple occurrences, though you may occasionally vary your work by summarizing the plot of a novel or giving the gist and drift of big historical events. You should confine yourself, in large part, to incidents in which you have been personally involved, or which you yourself have witnessed, as mishaps, unexpected encounters, bickerings, even rescues or riots. You should omit non-essentials and make the happening itself live for your hearer; if you can so interest him in it that he will not notice your manner of telling it, your success is but the greater.
Finally, in describing you should deal for the most part with beings, objects, and appearances familiar to you. Description is usually hard to make vivid. This is because the objects and scenes are likely to be immobile and (at least when told about) to lack distinctiveness. Try, therefore, to lay hold of the peculiar quality of the thing described, and use words suggestive of color and motion. Moreover be brief. Long descriptions are sure to be wearisome.
EXERCISE - Discourse
1. Select topics from the following list for discussion or explanation:
The aeroplane's future as a carrier of mail
The commercial future of the aeroplane
A recent scientific (or mechanical or electrical) invention
A better type of newspaper—its contents and makeup
A better type of newspaper—how it can be secured
The connection between the advertising and news departments
of a newspaper—the actual condition
The connection between the advertising and news departments
of a newspaper—the ideal
Special features in a newspaper that are popular
A single standard for the sexes—is it possible?
A single standard for the sexes—how it can be attained (or approximated)
Should the divorce laws be made more stringent?
Should a divorced person be prohibited from remarrying?
What further marriage restrictions should be placed upon the
physically or mentally unfit?
What further measures should be taken by the cities (states, nation) for
the protection of motherhood?
Is the division of men into strongly contrasted groups as to wealth
one of nature's necessities, or is it the result of a social and
economic system?
Some shortcomings of the labor unions
Are the shortcomings of the labor unions accidental or inherent?
Some ways of bettering the condition of the working classes
How municipal (state, national) bureaus for finding employment
for the laborer may become more serviceable
Wrongs committed by big business (or some branch of it)
Should a man's income above a stipulated amount be confiscated
by the government?
Income taxes—what exemptions should be granted?
The right basis for business—competition or coöperation?
Are the courts equally just to labor and capital?
How can legal procedure be changed to enable individuals to secure just
treatment from corporations without resorting to prolonged and expensive
lawsuits?
Where our interests clash with those of Great Britain
How our relations with Great Britain may be further improved
How our relations with Japan may be further improved
How may closer commercial relations with other countries be promoted?
What to do about the railroads and railroad rates
A natural resource that should be conserved or restored
Do high tariffs breed international ill-will?
Should we have a high tariff at this juncture?
To what extent should osteopathy (chiropractic) be permitted
(or protected) by law?
What is wrong with municipal government in my city
How woman suffrage affects local government
How to make rural life more attractive
The importance of the rotation of crops
The race problem as it affects my community
The class problem as it affects my community
The school-house as a social center
How to Americanize the alien elements in our population
To what extent, if at all, should foreign-born citizens of our
country be encouraged to preserve their native traditions and culture?
Censorship of the moving picture
Educational possibilities of the moving picture
How to bring about improvement in the quality of the moving picture
The effect of the moving picture upon legitimate drama
A church that men will attend
How young men may be attracted to the churches
How far shall doctrine be insisted upon by the churches?
To what extent shall the church concern itself with social
and economic problems?
To what extent, if at all, shall Sunday diversions be restricted?
The advantages of using the free public library
Can the cities give children in the slums better opportunities for
physical (mental, moral) development?
Should all cities be required to establish zoölogical gardens,
as well as schools, for the children?
How my city might improve its system of public parks
The most interesting thing about the work I am in
Opportunities in the work I am in
The qualities called for in the work I am in
The ideals of my associates
Something I have learned about life
Something I have learned about human nature
A book that has influenced me, and why
A person who has influenced me, and how
My favorite sport or recreation
Why baseball is so popular
What I could do for the people around me
What I should like for the people around me to do for me.