Practical English Composition: Book II by Edwin L. Miller (best books to read fiction .txt) 📕
III. Class Organization
For the present the teacher of the class studying this book may act as city editor and the pupils as reporters. Later, perhaps, a more formal organization may be effected, with pupils as managing editor, assistant managing editor, city editor, etc.
IV. Newspaper Coöperation
The editor of the local paper will probably be willing to print any really good material that the class produces. If possible, an arrangement for this purpose should be made with him
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When you have attracted the attention of your reader and carried him along through a logical argument to the conviction that he wants your goods, one thing more remains. He must be induced to act upon his conviction. Up to this point his part has been passive; he has been asked merely to sit in his easy chair and read what you have to say. Now he must be aroused to activity; he must be brought to the point of putting on his hat and coat and going out to buy your goods. The strongest language form at our command is required here, the direct urgent imperative. Involuntarily people tend to obey orders that are given them. The appeal must, of course, be courteous, so as not to offend; but it must be strong enough to induce action. Compare the strength of “Sign here for free booklet” with “If you will sign on this line, we will send you our free booklet.”
When your reader has been aroused to action, his way should be made as easy as possible. Every direction that he may need should be plainly before him, every convenience that will reduce his action to a minimum. He should be told clearly how and where he can get the goods that you have convinced him he wants, your name, your address, your telephone number, and everything else that will enable him to reach you promptly and certainly.
VI. Assignment IIIWrite a compelling sentence for each of the advertisements constructed in Assignment II (a), adding the necessary conclusion.
Construct a series of five advertisements, each dealing with a single attractive feature of one of the articles selected in the preceding work. Each advertisement should carry its argument through from attention to action.
VII. Suggested ReadingJames Parton’s Captains of Industry.
VIII. MemorizeHaving a glass of blessing standing by;
Let us (said he) pour on him all we can:
Let the world’s riches which dispersed lie
Contract into a span.
Then beauty flow’d, then wisdom, honour, pleasure;
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that alone, of all his treasure,
Rest in the bottom lay.
Bestow this jewel also on my creature,
He would adore my gifts instead of me,
And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature;
So both should losers be.
But keep them with repining restlessness:
Let him be rich and weary, that at least,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to my breast.
George Herbert.
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ADVERTISEMENTS (concluded)
“Honesty is the best policy.”
Benjamin Franklin.
I. Assignment IPick out in a large advertisement for a breakfast food the number of words of one syllable other than prepositions or articles; the words of two syllables; of three syllables; of more than three syllables. Reduce your results to percentages.
Make a similar study of advertisements for a set of books, of chewing gum, of an automobile, and of a piece of machinery in some technical publication. Compare results with a similar count in a newspaper paragraph, an encyclopedia paragraph, and paragraphs from Macaulay, Dickens, Carlyle, and Kipling.
II. ClearnessClear, simple language, language that will be readily understood by the least intelligent of your possible customers, is an essential of good advertising. Every word that is above the lowest reasonable level of understanding limits the number of possible customers. The railroad attorney who was asked to write a notice that would warn people to be careful at railroad crossings did not dig into his law books for a polysyllabic sentence like this: “Whereas this is the intersection of a public highway with the right-of-way of the —— Railroad Corporation, each and every individual is hereby advised to exercise extreme caution.” He wrote a sentence which is a classic in its way “Stop! Look! Listen! Railroad Crossing.”
III. Assignment IIIn the advertisements selected for Assignment I, count the number of words in each sentence and strike an average for each. Make a comparison with sentence length in other writings as suggested.
IV. Adaptation to AudienceThe degree to which the simplification of language in an advertisement should be carried depends upon the audience addressed. It is evident that a larger and less educated portion of the public is included in the possible customers for breakfast food and chewing gum than there are in the portion who would be likely to purchase a set of books. An even smaller portion of the public would be interested in an automobile or a piece of automatic machinery. A good advertisement should be framed in language that will be understood by all possible purchasers of an article. Many household articles, such as bread, breakfast food, candy, and confections, are advertised in language that a fourth-grade child will readily understand.
V. Assignment IIIWrite an advertisement for an athletic contest in which your school will take part, addressing it to the students in your school.
Write an advertisement to introduce a new candy or confection among grammar-school children.
Write an advertisement for boys’ hats; for girls’ hats; for overalls; for a magazine devoted to automobiles; for a magazine devoted to fiction.
VI. Simplicity in StructureAn advertisement must be clear, not only in language and construction, but in mechanical structure as well. Attention-lines and command-lines must be short and set up so as to stand out clearly from the body of the advertisement. The eye takes in automatically from four to six words at a glance, setting the natural limit of length for strong features in an advertisement. Artistic arrangement helps an advertisement because carefully balanced matter is more attractive than inartistic combinations. A well-balanced advertisement, an advertisement in which the points are properly subordinated, conveys its meaning to the reader more easily than a badly distributed statement of the same arguments. In the last analysis good art is little more than good order, order that is pleasing to the eye as well as the mind. Good order requires a distribution of eye-effects that coincides with the distribution of mind effects.
VII. Assignment IVMeasure ten particularly attractive advertisements, illustrated or otherwise. Find the line on which the attention is focused and measure its distance from the top and bottom. Test these distances by the formulæ:
AC = .62 inch.
AE = 1.62 inches. AE : AB :: AE + AB : AE
1.62 : 1 :: 2.62 : 1.62 CD: AC :: CD + AC : AD
1 : .62 :: 1.62 : 1
This is the so-called “golden rectangle,” the most pleasing of all rectangular forms. The attention-line CD is at the point that makes the upper section a “golden rectangle.” The capital letter “H” is also one of the most common arrangements in advertising. The square is another pleasing figure and there are many other forms in which advertising matter may be balanced.
VIII. BrevityAdvertising occupies space for which a high rate frequently is paid. Brief statement is therefore a factor of great importance. If a small space is all that is available, the problem of attracting attention becomes most important. It should be evident that a few words clearly and plainly printed are far more effective in a small space than a long message that is in such fine print that it will strain the eyes of the reader. In the one case you say something at least to your reader. In the other, you have no chance to say anything because you have tried to say too much. When it is necessary to confine your message to a small space, the attention-sentence, or in some cases the command-sentence, is the part to use. Many signs seen from the rapidly moving window of a street-car or railroad train carry only the name of the product attractively displayed, with a command to use it.
IX. Assignment VSelect one of the articles for which you have written advertising and write a complete advertising campaign for it, including five newspaper advertisements, five magazine advertisements, a four-page folder for distribution, signs for street-cars, signs for posting along highways, and other devices that you think would be effective.
X. Classified AdvertisementsMost newspapers carry columns of classified advertising consisting of many small advertisements grouped together under various heads. These are commonly used by the public for getting help; obtaining situations; buying, selling, and renting real estate; and disposing of miscellaneous articles. The principles of advertising compositions apply also to these advertisements. The attention-factor is not so important, however, as the reader of the advertisements in the classified columns is looking for the article or service that you to have sell. A glance through the classified columns of a newspaper will show clearly the increased attractiveness resulting from the skillful arrangement of details and the use of clear forceful words.
XI. Assignment VIWrite an advertisement offering a room of your home to rent, using not more than thirty words; an advertisement applying for work for which you consider yourself fitted; an advertisement offering for sale a house with which you are familiar.
XII. MemorizeAnd day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven;
The hill-side’s dew-pearled;
The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn:
God’s in his heaven—
All’s right with the world.
Robert Browning.
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“He [Goethals] received last week three medals—one at Washington, at the hands of President Wilson, from the National Geographical Society; another in New York, at the hands of Dr. John H. Finley, head of the New York State Educational System, from the Civic Forum; and a third, also in New York, at the hands of Hamilton W. Mabie, from the National Institute of Social Sciences. At the presentation of the Civic Forum medal, a poem written for the occasion was read by its author, Mr. Percy MacKaye.” (The Outlook. March 14, 1914.) This poem is here quoted, by permission, from Mr. MacKaye’s volume, The Present Hour. Published by The Macmillan Company, New York.
[1]Reprinted by permission of Funk & Wagnalls Company.
[2]Ibid.
[3]Reprinted, by permission of The Macmillan Company, from the introduction of Sense and Sensibility, edited by Edwin L. Miller.
[4]Reprinted by permission of the author, Mr. G. A. Batchelor, of the Detroit Free Press.
[5]Suggestions to Teachers:
Inspect notebooks frequently. Do not forget home-reading. Be careful to assign a definite task each day. Do not forget the minutes of the previous meeting. Call on everybody every day, even if it is only to recite one line of a poem. Don’t do the reciting yourself. Give the class a chance. Make them assume responsibility. Require them to rewrite themes until they are perfect in technique, but do not bother too much to point out their errors. Let the pupils discover them. Chapters V, VI, and XII of Book I should be reviewed at frequent intervals until their contents become as familiar as the alphabet. This result can
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