CHAPTER IX : EXPLAINING
The part which explanation plays in all phases of life is too apparent
to need any emphasis here. It is to a great extent the basis of all
our daily intercourse, from explaining to a teacher why a lesson has
not been prepared, to painstakingly explaining to a merchant why a
bill has not been paid. An instructor patiently explains a problem to
a class, and a merchant explains the merits of an article or the
operation of a device to his customers. The politician explains why he
should be elected. The financier explains the returns from stock and
bond purchases. The President explains to the Senate the reason for
treaty clauses. The minister explains the teachings of his faith to
his congregation. You can make this list as long as the varied
activities of all life.
Exposition. This kind of discourse, the purpose of which is
explanation, is also called exposition. Has it any relation to the
underlying idea of the term _exposition_ as applied to a great
exhibition or fair? Its purpose is plainly information, the
transmission of knowledge. While description and narration exist
primarily to entertain, exposition exists to convey information.
Description and narration may be classed as literature of
entertainment; exposition as literature of knowledge. It answers such
questions as how? why? for what purpose? in what manner? by what
method? It can sometimes be used to convince a person with opposing
views, for frequently you hear a man to whom the explanation of a
belief has been made, exclaim, "Oh, if that's what you mean, I agree
with you entirely." All instruction, all directions of work, all
scientific literature, are in foundation expository. In its simplest,
most disconnected form, exposition gives its value to that most
essential volume, the dictionary.
Make a list of other kinds of books which are mainly or entirely
expository in character.
Difficulties in Exposition. Such are the purpose and use of
exposition. The difficulty of producing good exposition is evident
from those two factors. As it, exists everywhere, as it purposes to
inform, its first requisite is clearness. Without that quality it is
as nothing. When you direct a stranger how to reach a certain building
in your town, of what value are your remarks unless they are clear?
When a scientist writes a treatise on the topic of the immortality of
man, of what value are his opinions unless his statements are clear?
All the other qualities which prose may and should possess sink into
subordinate value in exposition when compared with clearness. Because
of all three phases of exposition--its universal use, its informative
purpose, its essential clarity--exposition is an all-important topic
for the consideration and practice of the public speaker. In its
demand for clearness lies also its difficulty. Is it easy to tell the
exact truth, not as a moral exercise, but merely as a matter of
exactness? Why do the careless talkers speak so often of "a sort of
pink" or "a kind of revolving shaft" or tack on at the end of phrases
the meaningless "something" or "everything" except that even in their
unthinking minds there is the hazy impression--they really never have
a well-defined idea--that they have not said exactly what they want to
say?
Clear Understanding. Here then is the first requisite for the public
speaker. He must have no hazy impressions, no unthinking mind, no
ill-defined ideas, no inexactness. He must have a clear understanding
of all he tries to tell to others. Without this the words of a speaker
are as sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. Or he may deliver a great
roar of words signifying nothing. This is the fault with most
recitations of pupils in school--they do not get a clear understanding
of the material assigned to them for mastery. As a test of the degree
of understanding, the recitation method serves admirably. The lecture
method of instruction--clear though the presentation may be--offers no
manner of finding out, until the final examination, how much the pupil
actually understands. So far, in public speaking, the only way of
learning that the student understands the principles and can apply
them is to have him speak frequently to indicate his ability. Can you
not name among your associates and friends those whose explanations
are lucid, concise, direct, unconfusing, and others whose attempts at
exposition are jumbled, verbose, unenlightening?
Have you not criticized certain teachers by remarking "they may know
their own subjects all right, but they couldn't impart their knowledge
to the class"?
Command of Language. What was lacking in their case? Certainly, to be
charitable, we cannot say they lacked a clear understanding of their
own topic. It must have been something else. That second element,
which is at times almost entirely absent when the first is present, is
the command of language. Many a man knows a great deal but is
incapable of transmitting his knowledge. He lacks the gift of
expression. He has not cultivated it--for it can be cultivated. The
man whose desire or vocation forces him to make the effort to speak
will train himself in methods of communication, until he arrives at
comfort and fluency.
The district manager of a large electric company related that as he
would sit at a meeting of the directors or committee of a large
corporation and realized that the moment was approaching when he would
be called upon to speak he would feel his senses grow confused, a
sinking feeling amounting almost to faintness would sweep over him.
Strong in his determination to do the best he could for his company he
would steady his nerves by saying to himself, "You know more about
this matter than any of these men. That's why you are here. Tell them
what you know so plainly that they will understand as well as you do."
There was, you see, the reassurance of complete understanding of the
subject coupled with the endeavor to express it clearly. These two
elements, then, are of supreme significance to the public speaker.
Even to the person who desires to write well, they are all-important.
To the speaker they are omnipresent. The effect of these two upon the
intellectual development is marked. The desire for clear
understanding will keep the mind stored with material to assimilate
and communicate. It will induce the mind continually to manipulate
this material to secure clarity in presentation. This will result in
developing a mental adroitness of inestimable value to the speaker,
enabling him to seize the best method instantaneously and apply it to
his purposes. At the same time, keeping always in view the use of this
material as the basis of communicating information or convincing by
making explanations, he will be solicitous about his language. Words
will take on new values. He will be continually searching for new ones
to express the exact differences of ideas he wants to convey. He will
try different expressions, various phrases, changed word orders, to
test their efficacy and appropriateness in transferring his meaning to
his hearers. Suggestions offered in the chapter of this book on words
and sentences will never cease to operate in his thinking and
speaking. There will be a direct result in his ability as a speaker
and a reflex result upon his ability as a thinker. What is more
encouraging, he will realize and appreciate these results himself, and
his satisfaction in doing better work will be doubled by the delight
in knowing exactly how he secured the ends for which he strove.
Methods of Explaining. In order to make a matter clear, to convey
information, a speaker has at his disposal many helpful ways of
arranging his material. Not all topics can be treated in all or even
any certain one of the following manners, but if the student is
familiar with certain processes he will the more easily and surely
choose just that one suited to the topic he intends to explain and
the circumstances of his exposition.
Division. One of these methods is by division. A speaker may separate
a topic or term into the parts which comprise it. For instance, a
scientist may have to list all the kinds of electricity; a Red Cross
instructor may divide all bandages into their several kinds; an
athletic coach may have to explain all the branches of sports in order
to induce more candidates to appear for certain events; a banker may
have to divide financial operations to make clear an advertising
pamphlet soliciting new lines of business, such as drawing up of
wills.
The ability to do this is a valuable mental accomplishment as well as
an aid to speaking. In dividing, care must be taken to make the
separations according to one principle for any one class. It would not
result in clearness to divide all men according to height, and at the
same time according to color. This would result in confusion. Divide
according to height first, then divide the classes so formed according
to color if needed--as might be done in military formation. Each
group, then, must be distinctly marked off from all other groups. In
scientific and technical matters such division may be carried to the
extreme limit of completeness. Complete division is called
classification.
Partition. In non-scientific compositions such completeness is seldom
necessary. It might even defeat the purpose by being too involved, by
including too many entries, and by becoming difficult to remember.
Speakers seldom have need of classification, but they often do have
to make divisions for purposes of explanation. This kind of grouping
is called partition. It goes only so far as is necessary for the
purpose at the time. It may stop anywhere short of being complete and
scientifically exact. All members of the large class not divided and
listed are frequently lumped together under a last heading such as
_all others, miscellaneous, the rest, those not falling under our
present examination_.
EXERCISES
1. Classify games. Which principle will you use for your first main
division--indoor and outdoor games, or winter and summer games, or
some other?
2. Classify the races of men. What principle would you use?
3. How would you arrange the books in a private library?
4. Classify the forms of theatrical entertainments. Is your list
complete?
5. Classify branches of mathematics. The entries may total over a
hundred.
6. Classify the pupils in your school.
7. Classify the people in your school. Is there any difference?
8. Classify the following:
The political parties of the country.
Methods of transportation.
Religions.
Magazines.
The buildings in a city.
Aircraft.
Desserts.
Canned goods.
Skill in division is valuable not only as a method of exposition but
it is linked closely with an effective method of proving to be
explained in the next chapter--the method of residues. Can you recall
any extracts given in this book in which some form of division is
used? Is this form of material likely to be more important in
preparation or in the finished speech? Explain your opinion--in other
words, present a specimen of exposition.
Definition. One of the simplest ways of explaining is to define a
term. Dictionary definitions are familiar to everyone. In a great
many instances the dictionary definition is by means of synonyms.
While this is a convenient, easy method it is seldom exact. Why?
Recall what you learned concerning the meanings of synonyms. Do they
ever exactly reproduce one another's meanings? There is always a
slight degree of inaccuracy in definition by synonym, sometimes a
large margin of inexactness. Is the following a good definition?
A visitor to a school began his address: "This morning,
children, I propose to offer you an epitome of the life of
St. Paul. It may be perhaps that there are among you some too
young to grasp the meaning of the word _epitome_. _Epitome_,
children, is in its signification synonymous with synopsis!"
London Tid-Bits
Logical Definition. An exact definition is supplied by the logical
definition. In this there are three parts--the term to be defined,
the class (or genus) to which it belongs, and the distinguishing
characteristics (differentia) which mark it off from all the other
members of that same class. You can represent this graphically by
inclosing the word _term_ in a small circle. Around this draw a larger
circle in which you write the word _class_. Now what divides the term
from the class in which it belongs? Indicate the line around the
_term_ as _distinguishing characteristics_, and you will clearly see
how accurate a logical definition is. The class should be just larger
than the term itself. The main difficulty is in finding exact and
satisfying distinguishing characteristics. There are some terms which
are so large that no classes can be found for them. Others cannot be
marked by acceptable distinguishing characteristics, so it is not
possible to make logical definitions for all terms. Consider such
words as _infinity, electricity, gravity, man_.
The words of the definition should be simple, more readily understood
than the term to be defined.
Term Class Distinguishing characteristics
A biplane is an airplane with two sets of supporting
surfaces.
A waitress is a woman who serves meals.
Narration is that form of discourse which relates events.
A word is a combination of suggesting an idea.
letters
A dictionary is a book of definitions.
A corporal is an army officer just higher than a private.
EXERCISES
1. Make logical definitions for the following:
A dynamo A circle A hammer
A curiosity Lightning A trip-hammer
Moving picture camera Democracy A lady
Curiosity An anarchist A Lady
A door A sky-scraper Man
2. Analyze and comment on the following definitions:
Man is a two-legged animal without feathers.
Life is an epileptic fit between two nothings.
Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains.
The picture writings of the ancient Egyptians are called hieroglyphics.
A fly is an obnoxious insect that disturbs you in the morning when you
want to sleep.
Real bravery is defeated cowardice.
A brigantine is a small, two-masted vessel, square rigged on both
masts, but with a fore-and-aft mainsail and the mainmast considerably
longer than the foremast.
A mushroom is a cryptogamic plant of the class _Fungi_; particularly
the agaricoid fungi and especially the edible forms.
Language is the means of concealing thought.
A rectangle of equal sides is a square.
Hyperbole is a natural exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis.
Amplified Definition. While such definitions are the first positions
from which all interpretations must proceed, in actual speech-making
explanations of terms are considerably longer. Yet the form of the
true logical definition is always imbedded--in germ at least--in the
amplified statement.
Again, democracy will be, in a large sense, individualistic.
That ideal of society which seeks a disciplined, obedient
people, submissive to government and unquestioning in its
acceptance of orders, is not a democratic ideal. You cannot
have an atmosphere of "implicit obedience to authority" and
at the same time and in the same place an atmosphere of
democratic freedom. There is only one kind of discipline
that is adequate to democracy and that is self-discipline.
An observant foreigner has lately remarked, somewhat
paradoxically, that the Americans seemed to him the best
disciplined people in the world. In no other country does a
line form itself at a ticket office or at the entrance to a
place of amusement with so little disorder, so little delay,
and so little help from a policeman. In no other country
would an appeal of the government for self-control in the use
of food or fuel, for a restriction of hours of business, for
"gas-less Sundays," have met with so ready, so generous and
so sufficient a response. Our American lads, alert,
adaptable, swiftly-trained, self-directed, have been quite
the equal of the continental soldiers, with their longer
technical training and more rigorous military discipline. In
these respects the English, and especially the British
colonial soldiers have been much like our own. Democracy,
whether for peace or for war, in America or in England,
favors individuality. Independence of thought and action on
the part of the mass of the people are alike the result of
democracy and the condition of its continuance and more
complete development, and it is visibly growing in England as
the trammels of old political and social class control are
being thrown off.
EDWARD P. CHEYNEY: _Historical Tests of Democracy_
What is a constitution? Certainly not a league, compact, or
confederacy, but a fundamental law. That fundamental
regulation which determines the manner in which the public
authority is to be executed, is what forms the constitution
of a state. Those primary rules which concern the body
itself, and the very being of the political society, the form
of government, and the manner in which power is to be
exercised--all, in a word, which form together the
constitution of a state--these are the fundamental laws.
This, Sir, is the language of the public writers. But do we
need to be informed, in this country, what a constitution
is? Is it not an idea perfectly familiar, definite, and well
settled? We are at no loss to understand what is meant by the
constitution of one of the States; and the Constitution of
the United States speaks of itself as being an instrument of
the same nature.
DANIEL WEBSTER: _The Constitution Not a Compact
between Sovereign States_, 1833
Particulars of a General Statement. A general statement made at the
beginning of a paragraph or section, serving as the topic sentence,
may then be explained by breaking the general idea up into details and
particulars. This may partake of the nature of both definition and
partition, as the terms may be explained and their component parts
listed. Note that in the following selection the first sentences state
the topic of the passage which the succeeding sentences explain by
discussing the phrase _variety of evils_.
So likewise a passionate attachment of one nation for another
produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite
nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common
interest, in cases where no real common interest exists, and
infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the
former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the
latter, without adequate inducement or justification. It
leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of
privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure
the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting
with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting
jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the
parties from whom equal privileges are withheld, and it gives
to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote
themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray, or
sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium,
sometimes even with popularity; gilding with the appearances
of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference
for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the
base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption or
infatuation.
GEORGE WASHINGTON: _Farewell Address_, 1796
Examples. A statement may be explained by giving examples. The speaker
must be sure that his example fits the case exactly; that it is
typical--that is, it must serve as a true instance of all cases under
the statement, not be merely an exception; that it is perfectly clear;
that it impresses the audience as unanswerable. The example may be
either actual or suppositious, but it must illustrate clearly and
accurately. The use of examples is a great aid in explanation. John C.
Calhoun expressed the value very distinctly in one of his speeches.
I know how difficult it is to communicate distinct ideas on
such a subject, through the medium of general propositions,
without particular illustration; and in order that I may be
distinctly understood, though at the hazard of being
tedious, I will illustrate the important principle which I
have ventured to advance, by examples.
By the use of an example he does make himself distinctly understood.
Let us, then, suppose a small community of five persons,
separated from the rest of the world; and, to make the
example strong, let us suppose them all to be engaged in the
same pursuit, and to be of equal wealth. Let us further
suppose that they determine to govern the community by the
will of a majority; and, to make the case as strong as
possible, let us suppose that the majority, in order to
meet the expenses of the government, lay an equal tax, say
of one hundred dollars on each individual of this little
community. Their treasury would contain five hundred
dollars. Three are a majority; and they, by supposition,
have contributed three hundred as their portion, and the
other two (the minority), two hundred. The three have the
right to make the appropriations as they may think proper.
The question is, How would the principle of the absolute and
unchecked majority operate, under these circumstances, in
this little community?
JOHN C. CALHOUN: _Speech on The Force Bill_, 1833
The example should be taken from the same phase of life as the
proposition it explains. As Calhoun was discussing governmental
regulation he supposed an example from majority rule. In the next the
topic is copyright, so the illustration is not taken from patents. In
introducing your own examples avoid the trite, amateurish expression
"take, for instance."
Now, this is the sort of boon which my honorable and learned
friend holds out to authors. Considered as a boon to them,
it is a mere nullity; but, considered as an impost on the
public, it is no nullity, but a very serious and pernicious
reality. I will take an example. Dr. Johnson died fifty-six
years ago. If the law were what my honorable and learned
friend wishes to make it, somebody would now have the
monopoly of Dr. Johnson's works. Who that somebody would be
it is impossible to say; but we may venture to guess. I
guess, then, that it would have been some bookseller, who
was the assign of another bookseller, who was the grandson
of a third bookseller, who had bought the copyright from
Black Frank, the doctor's servant and residuary legatee, in
1785 or 1786. Now, would the knowledge that this copyright
would exist in 1841 have been a source of gratification to
Johnson? Would it have stimulated his exertions? Would it
have once drawn him out of his bed before noon? Would it
have once cheered him under a fit of the spleen? Would it
have induced him to give us one more allegory, one more life
of a poet, one more imitation of Juvenal? I firmly believe
not. I firmly believe that a hundred years ago, when he was
writing our debates for the _Gentleman's Magazine_, he would
very much rather have had twopence to buy a plate of shin of
beef at a cook's shop underground.
THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY: _Copyright_, 1841
Comparison. Unfamiliar matter may be made plain by showing how it
resembles something already clearly understood by the audience. This
is comparison. It shows how two things are alike. The old geographies
used to state that the earth is an oblate spheroid, then explain that
term by comparison with an orange, pointing out the essential
flattening at the poles. In any use of comparison the resemblance must
be real, not assumed. Many a speaker has been severely criticized for
his facts because he asserted in comparison similarities that did not
exist.
Contrast. When the _differences_ between two things are carefully
enumerated the process is termed contrast. This is often used in
combination with comparison, for no two things are exactly alike. They
may resemble each other in nearly all respects, so comparison is
possible and helpful up to a certain limit. To give an exact idea of
the remainder the differences must be pointed out; that requires
contrast.
In contrast the opposing balance of details does not have to depend
necessarily on a standard familiar to the audience. It may be an
arrangement of opposite aspects of the same thing to bring out more
vividly the understanding. In his _History of the English People_,
Green explains the character of Queen Elizabeth by showing the
contrasted elements she inherited from her mother, Anne Boleyn, and
her father, Henry VIII. Such a method results not only in added
clearness, but also in emphasis. The plan may call for half a
paragraph on one side, the second half on the other; or it may cover
two paragraphs or sections; or it may alternate with every detail--an
affirmative balanced by a negative, followed at once by another pair
of affirmative and negative, or statement and contrast, and so on
until the end. The speaker must consider such possibilities of
contrast, plan for his own, and indicate it in his brief.
Nearly any speech will provide illustrations of the methods of
comparison and contrast. Burke's _Conciliation with America_ has
several passages of each.
Cause to Effect. Explanations based on progressions from cause to
effect and the reverse are admirably suited to operations, movements,
changes, conditions, elections. An exposition of a manufacturing
process might move from cause to effect. A legislator trying to secure
the passage of a measure might explain its operation by beginning with
the law (the cause) and tracing its results (the effect). So, too, a
reformer might plead for a changed condition by following the same
method. A speaker dealing with history or biography might use this
same plan.
Effect to Cause. In actual events, the cause always precedes the
effect, but in discussion it is sometimes better not to follow natural
or usual orders. Many explanations gain in clearness and effect by
working backwards. A voter might begin by showing the condition of a
set of workmen (an effect), then trace conditions backward until he
would end with a plea for the repeal of a law (the cause). A student
might explain a low mark on his report by starting with the grading
(the effect) and tracing backwards all his struggles to an early
absence by which he missed a necessary explanation by the teacher. A
doctor might begin a report by stating the illness of several persons
with typhus; then trace preceding conditions step by step until he
reached the cause--oysters eaten by them in a hotel were kept cool by
a dealer's letting water run over them. This water in its course had
picked up the disease germs--the cause. Many crimes are solved by
moving from effect to cause. A lawyer in his speeches, therefore,
frequently follows this method.
Both these methods are so commonly employed that the student can cite
instances from many speeches he has heard or books he has read.
Time Order. Somewhat similar to the two preceding arrangements of
exposition are the next two based on time. The first of these is the
natural time order, or chronological order. In this the details follow
one another as events happened. It is to be noted, however, that not
any group of succeeding details will make a good exposition of this
sort. The parts must be closely related. They must be not merely
_sequential_ but _consequential_. Dictionary definitions will explain
the difference in meaning of those two words. This method is somewhat
like the order from cause to effect, but it is adapted to other kinds
of topics and other purposes of explanation. It is excellently suited
to historical material, or any related kind. It is the device usually
employed in explaining mechanical or manufacturing processes. In mere
frequency of occurrence it is doubtlessly the most common.
Time Order Reversed. The student who starts to cast his expositions
into this scheme should judge its fitness for his particular purpose
at the time. It will often become apparent upon thought that instead
of the natural chronological order the exact opposite will suit
better. This--time order reversed--explains itself as the arrangement
from the latest occurrence back through preceding events and details
until the earliest time is reached. It is quite like the arrangement
from effect back to cause. It might be used to explain the legal
procedure of a state or nation, to explain treaty relations, to
explain the giving up of old laws. The movements of a man accused of
crime might be explained in this way. An alibi for a person might be
built up thus. The various versions of some popular story told over
and over again through a long period of years might be explained after
such a manner.
Although the time order reversed is not so common as the chronological
order it does occur many times.
Place. Certain material of exposition demands the order of place. This
means that the details of the explanation are arranged according to
the position of objects. If you have written many descriptions you
are familiar with the problems brought up by such an order. A few
illustrations will make it clear. A man on the street asks you how to
reach a certain point in the city. On what plan do you arrange your
directions? According to their place? You start to explain to a friend
the general lay-out of New York, or Chicago, or San Francisco. How do
you arrange the details of your exposition? You attempt to convey to
another person the plan of some large building. What arrangement is
inevitable? How do books on sports explain the baseball field, the
football gridiron, the tennis court, the golf links? When
specifications for a building are furnished to the contractor, what
principle of arrangement is followed? If an inventor gives
instructions to a pattern-maker for the construction of a model, what
plan does he follow? Would a man discussing drawings for a new house
be likely to formulate his explanations on this scheme?
You see, then, how well suited such an arrangement is to a variety of
uses. In such expository passages the transition and connecting words
are mainly expressions of place and relative position such as _to the
right, above, below, to the rear, extending upwards at an angle of
sixty degrees, dividing equally into three sections._ Such indications
must never be slighted in spoken explanations. They keep the material
clear and exact in the hearer's comprehension. The speaker, remember,
can never assume that his audience is bound to understand him. His
task is to be so clear that no single individual can fail to
understand him.
Importance. It has already been stated--in the chapter on
planning--that topics may be arranged in the order of their
importance. This same scheme may be used in delivery of expository
matter. A hearer will follow the explanation if he be led gradually up
the ascent; he will remember most clearly the latter part of the
passage. If this include the prime factor of the information he will
retain it longest and most clearly. You should listen to speeches of
explanations critically to judge whether the plans are good. Should
you make a list of the number of times any of the plans here set down
appears you will be struck by the fact that while other orders are
quite frequent, this last principle of leading up to the most
important outranks all the others. It may be simply a form of one of
the others previously enumerated in which time order, or contrast, or
cause to effect is followed simply because that does bring the most
important last in the discussion. Such an arrangement answers best to
the response made to ideas by people in audiences. It is a principle
of all attempts to instruct them, to appeal to them, to stimulate
them, to move them, that the successive steps must increase in
significance and impressiveness until the most moving details be laid
before them. Analyze for yourself or for the class a few long
explanations you have listened to, and report whether this principle
was followed. Does it bear any relation to concluding a speech with a
peroration?
Combinations of Methods. While any one of the foregoing methods may be
used for a single passage it is not usual in actual practice to find
one scheme used throughout all the explanatory matter of the speech.
In the first place, the attention of the audience would very likely
become wearied by the monotony of such a device. Certain parts of the
material under explanation seem to require one treatment, other
portions require different handling. Therefore good speakers usually
combine two or more of these plans.
Partition could hardly be used throughout an entire speech without
ruining its interest. It occurs usually early to map out the general
field or scope. Definition also is likely to be necessary at the
beginning of an explanation to start the audience with clear ideas. It
may be resorted to at various times later whenever a new term is
introduced with a meaning the audience may not entirely understand.
Both partition and definition are short, so they are combined with
other forms. Examples, likewise, may be introduced anywhere.
The two most frequently closely combined are comparison and contrast.
Each seems to require the other. Having shown how two things or ideas
are alike, the speaker naturally passes on to secure more definiteness
by showing that with all their likenesses they are not exactly the
same, and that the differences are as essential to a clear
comprehension of them as the similarities. So usual are they that many
people accept the two words as meaning almost the same thing, though
in essence they are opposites.
The other orders cannot be used in such close combinations but they
may be found in varying degrees in many extended speeches of
explanation as the nature of the material lends itself to one
treatment or another. A twelve-hundred word discussion of _The Future
of Food_ uses examples, contrasted examples, effect to cause, cause to
effect (the phrase beginning a paragraph is "there is already evidence
that this has resulted in a general lowering "), while the succeeding
parts grow in significance until the last is the most important. A
great English statesman in a speech lasting some three hours on a
policy of government employed the following different methods at
various places where he introduced expository material--partition (he
claimed it was classification, but he listed for consideration only
three of the essential five choices), contrast, comparison, time,
example, place, cause to effect. Some of these methods of arranging
explanatory matter were used several times.
EXERCISES
1. Explain a topic by giving three examples. The class should comment
upon their value.
2. Explain to the class some mechanical operation or device. The class
after listening should decide which method the speaker used.
3. Explain some principle of government or society following the time
order.
4. With a similar topic follow time reversed.
5. With a similar topic use comparison only.
6. Follow an arrangement based on contrast only.
7. In explaining a topic combine comparison and contrast.
8. Explain some proverb, text, or quotation. The class should discuss
the arrangement.
9. Choose some law or government regulation. Condemn or approve it in
an explanation based on cause to effect.
10. With the same or a similar topic use effect to cause.
11. Explain to the class the plan of some large building or group of
buildings. Is your explanation easily understood?
12. Explain why a certain study fits one for a particular vocation.
Use the order of importance.
13. Give an idea of two different magazines, using comparison and
contrast.
14. Explain some game. Time order?
15. How is a jury trial conducted?
16. Explain the principles of some political party.
17. Speak for four minutes upon exercise in a gymnasium.
18. Tell how a school paper, or daily newspaper, or magazine is
conducted.
19. What is slang?
20. Explain one of your hobbies.
21. Classify and explain the qualities of a good speaker. Order of
importance?
22. Explain some natural phenomenon.
23. Explain the best method for studying.
24. Contrast business methods.
25. From some business (as stock selling) or industry (as automobile
manufacturing) or new vocation (as airplaning) or art (as acting) or
accomplishment (as cooking) choose a group of special terms and
explain them in a connected series of remarks.
26. Why is superstition so prevalent? The class should discuss the
explanations presented.
27. "The point that always perplexes me is this: I always feel that if
all the wealth was shared out, it would be all the same again in a few
years' time. No one has ever explained to me how you can get over
that." Explain clearly one of the two views suggested here.
28. Explain the failure of some political movement, or the defeat of
some nation.
29. Select a passage from some book, report, or article, couched in
intricate technical or specialized phraseology. Explain it clearly to
the class.
30. Ben Jonson, a friend of Shakespeare's, wrote of him, "He was not
of an age, but for all time." What did he mean?
CHAPTER X : PROVING AND PERSUADING
PUBLIC SPEAKING By CLARENCE STRATTON
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