have the proper denotation and connotation. When words attract attention to their sound, they necessarily diminish the attention which the hearer can pay to what they mean. Therefore any combinations of sounds which strike the ear as being in themselves unusual, unpleasant, or in any way attract and hold the attention of the audience as sound, must necessarily detract from the attention which the audience can pay to the meanings of the language used. Under such circumstances the words do not function well as symbols. Various aspects of the problem of euphony are suggested by the following passage from Shurter, "Rhetoric of Oratory":4

"A sentence which cannot be easily pronounced, is a bad sentence and ought to be either thrown out or recast; for men are influenced not only by what is reasonable but also by what is agreeable. The way a sentence sounds depends both upon the choice and arrangement of words. Whatever words are difficult to pronounce are also unpleasant to hear, as smoothedst, inextricableness, excogitation, lowlily, arbitrarily, incalculable, meteorological, and in general those having either a repetition of syllables of similar sounds or a long succession of unaccented syllables. As to arrangement, words euphonious by themselves may displease the ear on account of the proximity to other words containing similar sounds as, his history, I can candidly say, I confess with humility my inability to decide, how it was was not explained. . . . Again, while a certain alliteration and rhythm is allowable, any suggestion of rhyme should be avoided as, then Robert E. Lee began to make history, avoid any appearance of incoherence, the sailors mutinied and set him afloat in an open boat."

C. Economy. The principle of economy in the use of language is one which should be constantly borne in mind by the speaker who wishes to be an efficient workman. It is fully discussed in Chapter XVIII, Attention. It remains here to mention two qualities which, so far as rhetoric is concerned, are the principal servants of economy.

E. D. Shurter, Rhetoric of Oratory, p. 148. Copyright 1909 by The Macmillan Company. Reprinted by permission.

1. Brevity. Appropriate brevity is attained, not by leaving out material that should be used, but by omitting all unnecessary remarks. It is a relative rather than an absolute quality. The proper length for any given speech will depend upon many circumstances. Brevity is violated when one talks simply to fill up time, or because he cannot drop one point when he has said enough on it. The use of unnecessary words or sentences constitutes a breach of the law of brevity. The shortest explanation that will explain, the shortest allusion that will awaken the desired memories or associations, is the most persuasive. Wasting time with unnecessary talking irritates an audience and greatly hinders persuasion. Hills gives a pointed warning when he says:

"It is in exordiums and perorations that a young writer often fails; he does not know how to get at his subject or how to get away from it. He should beware of putting in a word of introduction that is not necessary to prepare the way for his argument, and of adding a word at the end that is not necessary to enforce his conclusion. 'Is he never going to begin?' 'Will he never have done?' are questions equally fatal."

Herbert Spencer after commenting on numerous maxims of rhetoric goes on as follows (italics not in the original):

"On seeking for some clue to the law underlying these current maxims, we may see shadowed forth in many of them, the importance of economizing the reader's or hearer's attention. To so present ideas that they may be apprehended with the least possible mental effort, is the desideratum towards which most of the rules above quoted point. When we condemn writing that is wordy, or confused, or intricate when we praise this style as easy, and blame that as fatiguing, we consciously or unconsciously assume this desideratum as our standard of judgment. Regarding language as an apparatus of symbols for the conveyance of thought, we may say that, as in a mechanical apparatus, the more simple and the better arranged in its parts, the greater will be the effect produced. In either case,

A. S. Hill, Principles of Rhetoric, p. 388. American Book Company.
Philosophy of Style, pp. 6–8. D. Appleton and Company.

whatever force is absorbed by the machine is deducted from the result. A reader or listener has at each moment but a limited amount of mental power available. To recognize and interpret the symbols presented to him requires part of this power; to arrange and combine the images suggested, requires a further part; and only that part which remains can be used for realizing the thought conveyed. Hence, the more time and attention it takes to receive and understand each sentence, the less time and attention can be given to the contained ideas, the less vividly will that idea be conceived.

where

"How truly language must be regarded as a hindrance to thought, though the necessary instrument of it, we shall clearly perceive on remembering the comparative force with which simple ideas are communicated by signs. To say 'Leave the room' is less expressive than to point to the door. Placing a finger on the lips is more forcible than whispering 'Do not speak.' A beck of the hand is better than 'Come here'. No phrase can convey the idea of surprise so vividly as opening the eyes and raising the eyebrows. A shrug of the shoulders would lose much by translation into words. Again, it may be remarked that when oral language is employed, the strongest effects are produced by interjections, which condense entire sentences into syllables. And in other cases, custom allows us to express thoughts by single words, as in Beware, Heigho, Fudge, much force would be lost by expanding them into specific propositions. Hence, carrying out the metaphor that language is the vehicle of thought, there seems reason to think that in all cases the friction and inertia of the vehicle deduct from its efficiency; and that in composition, the chief, if not the sole thing to be done, is to reduce this state of friction and inertia to the smallest possible amount. Let us then inquire whether economy of the recipient's attention is not the secret of effect, alike in the right choice and collocation of words, in the best arrangement of clauses in a sentence, in the proper order of its principal and subordinate propositions, in the judicious use of simile, metaphor and other figures of speech and even in the rhythmical sequence of syllables."

2. Simplicity promotes economy. The first five definitions of simplicity given in Webster's dictionary show how in practically every shade of meaning of the word, simplicity as a

rhetorical quality must aid persuasion by economizing attention. The definitions are:

(a) The quality or state of being simple, unmixed, or uncompounded.

(b) The quality or state of being not complex or of consisting of few parts.

(c) Artlessness of mind; freedom from cunning or duplicity. (d) Freedom from artificial ornament, pretentious style or luxury; plainness.

(e) Freedom from subtlety or abstruseness; clearness.

Simplicity in rhetoric means all these things: unmixed, not complex, free from cunning, duplicity, artificial ornament, pretentiousness, subtlety, and abstruseness. The absence of such simplicity both in composition and delivery is one of the greatest faults known in public speaking. Speak simply, avoid the artificial, ornate, bombastic style which results in a speech which is an exhibition and not a communication. This indirectness, which is a sort of parading of voice and vocabulary

ringing, long drawn, emotionally false cadences in voice, and high flowing, ponderous periods in language, is quite inconsistent with effective thinking. A mentality that is alive and active at the moment of utterance cannot use this sort of medium. So this fault is most common in declamation or in the speaking of those who have learned to speak largely by practice in declamation. The common custom of choosing only the perorations of great speeches (the parts in which emotion was at its height with the audience prepared for it a tense emotional setting ready) for practice, in a flat, uninteresting, absolutely non-emotional atmosphere, by a boy who often cannot grasp the mighty thoughts of the orator, is a fruitful source of this kind of hollow, declamatory, meaningless speaking. The result is a show rather than an address. Such speakers display their powerful voices and teeming vocabularies before an audience. They do not present live thought to an audience. They do not reason with an audience.

There is no contact. It is all detached, impersonal, indirect; literally "sound and fury signifying nothing." After such an experience the listeners may say (if their taste is low) "What a fine speech!" They will not say "Let us march against Phillip!"

Simplicity is Akin to Sincerity. The speaker or writer who is really sincere usually treats his subject with simplicity. In fact, having any one good quality aids us in getting the others. The false ornaments, the ringing alliterative adjectives, the trite figures of speech, which always hinder communication of thought, are usually the specific offenses against simplicity. Such hollow language should be eliminated whatever the cost. There can be no speech or manuscript that will not be improved by such cutting-regardless of the nature of what is left.

D. Vividness. "Deductions," says Cardinal Newman,7 "have no power of persuasion. The heart is commonly reached, not through reason, but through the imagination, by means of direct impressions, by the testimony of facts and events, by history, by description." If we would persuade by means of direct impressions, facts, events, descriptions, we must present such material vividly. Vividness is an essential quality of all good persuasive work, either oral or written. Vivid means strong, bright, animated, lifelike. To get vividness we must keep this quality in mind when choosing facts, evidence, anecdotes, etc. "The chief source of vividness and brevity in dramatics is selection; that is, a dramatist does not give all the details of the lives of his characters or of their conversations, but selects those parts which are most significant for his purpose. Similarly a speaker, in making any direct appeal to the emotions, should give only the essential or striking features of that which moves him or is intended to move his hearers." Of course only that can be vivid which is understood. A reference to anything with which your

"Discussions and Arguments, quoted by A. S. Hill, Principles, p. 394.

8 Baker and Huntington, Principles of Argumentation, New Ed. 1925, p. 316.