An essential reference for writers, this brief text offers readers an analysis of style, grammar, diction, and
composition, including elements excluded by other books, such as tropes and the benefits of imitation. A reprint
of the popular Chapter IV of Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, it features lively exercises that emphasize
the practical applications of classic styles.
Table of Contents
Preface
THE STUDY OF STYLE
Grammatical Competence
Choice of Diction
An Adequate Vocabulary
Purity, Propriety, and Precision of Diction
Composition of the Sentence
Study of Style
Kind of Diction
Length of Sentences
Kinds of Sentences
Variety of Sentence Patterns
Sentence Euphony
Articulation of Sentences
Figures of Speech
Paragraphing
A Student Report on a Study of Style
Stylistic Study (Grammatical Types of Sentence)
Stylistic Study (Sentence Openers)
Stylistic Study (Diction)
Figures of Speech
The Schemes
Schemes of Words
Schemes of Construction
The Tropes
Metaphor and Simile
Synecdoche
Metonymy
Puns
Anthimeria
Periphrasis
Personification or Prosopopoeia
Hyperbole
Litotes
Rhetorical Question
Irony
Onomatopoeia
Oxymoron
Concluding Remarks on the Figures of Speech
Imitation
Testimonies about the Value of Imitation Rollo Walter Brown, "How the French Boy Learns to Write"
Exercises in Imitation
Imitating Sentence Patterns
Sample Imitations
Readings
Hugh Blair, Critical Examination of the Stule of Mr. Addison in No. 411 of "The Spectator" John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address
