McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader Part 5

EXAMPLES. (24)

1. It is not by starts of application that eminence can be attained'.

2. It was not an eclipse that caused the darkness at the crucifixion of our Lord'; for the sun and moon were not relatively in a position' to produce an eclipse'.

3. They are not fighting': do not disturb' them: this man is not expiring with agony': that man is not dead': they are only pausing'.

4. My Lord, we could not have had such designs'.

5. You are not left alone to climb the steep ascent': G.o.d is with you, who never suffers the spirit that rests on him to fail.

Exception 1.--Emphasis may reverse this rule.

EXAMPLE. (24)

We repeat it, we do not' desire to produce discord; we do not' wish to kindle the flames of a civil war.

Exception 2.--General propositions and commands usually have the falling inflection.

EXAMPLES. (25)

G.o.d is not the author of sin'. Thou shalt not kill.

RULE VI.--Interrogative sentences, and members of sentences which can be answered by yes or no generally require the rising inflection.

EXAMPLES. (25)

1. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation'?

2. Does the gentleman suppose it is in his power', to exhibit in Carolina a name so bright' as to produce envy' in my bosom?

3. If it be admitted, that strict integrity is not the shortest way to success, is it not the surest', the happiest', the best'?

4. Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens, To wash this crimson hand as white as snow'?

Exception.--Emphasis may reverse this rule.

EXAMPLES. (25)

1, Can' you be so blind to your interest? Will' you rush headlong to destruction?

2. I ask again, is' there no hope of reconciliation? Must' we abandon all our fond antic.i.p.ations?

3. Will you deny' it? Will you deny' it?

4. Am I Dromio'? Am I your man'? Am I myself'?

RULE VII.--Interrogative exclamations, and words repeated as a kind of echo to the thought, require the rising inflection.

EXAMPLES. (25)

1. Where grows', where grows it not'?

2. What'! Might Rome have been taken'? Rome taken when I was consul'?

3. Banished from Rome'! Tried and convicted traitor'!

4. Prince Henry. What's the matter'?

Falstaff. What's the matter'? Here be four of us have taken a thousand pounds this morning.

Prince H. Where is' it, Jack, where is' it?

Fal. Where is' it? Taken from us, it is.

5. Ha'! laughest thou, Lochiel, my vision to scorn?

6. And this man is called a statesman. A statesman'? Why, he never invented a decent humbug.

7. I can not say, sir, which of these motives influence the advocates of the bill before us; a bill', in which such cruelties are proposed as are yet unknown among the most savage nations.

RISING AND FALLING INFLECTIONS. (26)

RULE VIII.--Words and members of a sentence expressing ant.i.thesis or contrast, require opposite inflections.

EXAMPLES. (26)

1. By honor' and dishonor'; by evil' report and good' report; as deceivers' and yet true'.

2. What they know by reading', I know by experience'.

3. I could honor thy courage', but I detest thy crimes'.

4. It is easier to forgive the weak', who have injured us', than the powerful' whom we' have injured.

5. Homer was the greater genius', Virgil the better artist'.

6. The style of Dryden is capricious and varied'; that of Pope is cautious and uniform'. Dryden obeys the emotions of his own mind'; Pope constrains his mind to his own rules of composition.' Dryden is sometimes vehement and rapid'; Pope is always smooth, uniform, and gentle'. Dryden's page is a natural field, rising into inequalities, varied by exuberant vegetation'; Pope's is a velvet lawn, shaven by the scythe and leveled by the roller'.

7. If the flights of Dryden are higher', Pope continues longer on the wing'. If the blaze of Dryden's fire is brighter', the heat of Pope's is more regular and constant'. Dryden often surpa.s.ses' expectation, and Pope never falls below' it.