The History of the English Paragraph
Book Details
Author(s)
Edwin Herbert Lewis
ISBN / ASIN
1493762664
ISBN-13
9781493762668
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#4,281,525
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United States 🇺🇸
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Description
An excerpt from the Author's Preface:
Historically considered, the word paragraph means (a) a marginal character or note employed to direct attention to some part of the text; (b) a character similar to (a), but placed in the text itself; (c) the division of discourse introduced by a paragraph mark or by indentation, and extending to the next paragraph mark or the next indentation; (d) the rhetorical paragraph, that is, (c) developed to a structural unit capable of organic internal arrangement.
The plan of the present essay is to discuss, in the first chapter, (a) and (b} and other mechanical signs of the paragraph; in the second chapter to introduce (c) for the purpose of further definition; in the next seven chapters to show the historical development of (c) in English prose, first by a statement of the general development, then by a particularized account according to periods, then by a summary of this account; lastly, in an appendix, to offer a few incomplete notes on the development of (c) in Middle English verse.
It is a pleasure to acknowledge here my indebtedness, first to Professor W. D. McClintock, who approved the choice of subject, and made most searching and suggestive comments upon the whole course of the treatment; and to Professors F. A. Blackburn, W. C. Wilkinson, and A. H. Tolman, for many helpful criticisms. Professor L. A. Sherman, of the University of Nebraska, generously furnished me with certain statistics, noted in the text by the parenthesis (Sherman). Mr. G. W. Gerwig, of Allegheny, Pa., kindly supplied me in advance with the results of his research concerning the decrease of predication,— research pursued under Professor Sherman's direction. I have quoted freely from his results, using as reference mark the parenthesis (Gerwig). In such cases the expression "clauses saved" needs a word of explanation. Mr. Gerwig says:
"The manifest effect of such verb suppression is a lightening of the style of the authors engaging in it. A partial effort was made to find out the line of this movement, but no complete or final results were obtained. The number of clauses saved by the substitution of present and past participles or by the use of appositives was noted, and is made a systematic part of the present exhibits. No especial value is claimed for the results, except perhaps as an aid to later investigators.... This exhibit of course includes only the verb suppressions through aid of the simplest substitutes. That there has been a similar saving by the use of verbal nouns, gerundive constructions, and other devices will be apparent to any student."….
Historically considered, the word paragraph means (a) a marginal character or note employed to direct attention to some part of the text; (b) a character similar to (a), but placed in the text itself; (c) the division of discourse introduced by a paragraph mark or by indentation, and extending to the next paragraph mark or the next indentation; (d) the rhetorical paragraph, that is, (c) developed to a structural unit capable of organic internal arrangement.
The plan of the present essay is to discuss, in the first chapter, (a) and (b} and other mechanical signs of the paragraph; in the second chapter to introduce (c) for the purpose of further definition; in the next seven chapters to show the historical development of (c) in English prose, first by a statement of the general development, then by a particularized account according to periods, then by a summary of this account; lastly, in an appendix, to offer a few incomplete notes on the development of (c) in Middle English verse.
It is a pleasure to acknowledge here my indebtedness, first to Professor W. D. McClintock, who approved the choice of subject, and made most searching and suggestive comments upon the whole course of the treatment; and to Professors F. A. Blackburn, W. C. Wilkinson, and A. H. Tolman, for many helpful criticisms. Professor L. A. Sherman, of the University of Nebraska, generously furnished me with certain statistics, noted in the text by the parenthesis (Sherman). Mr. G. W. Gerwig, of Allegheny, Pa., kindly supplied me in advance with the results of his research concerning the decrease of predication,— research pursued under Professor Sherman's direction. I have quoted freely from his results, using as reference mark the parenthesis (Gerwig). In such cases the expression "clauses saved" needs a word of explanation. Mr. Gerwig says:
"The manifest effect of such verb suppression is a lightening of the style of the authors engaging in it. A partial effort was made to find out the line of this movement, but no complete or final results were obtained. The number of clauses saved by the substitution of present and past participles or by the use of appositives was noted, and is made a systematic part of the present exhibits. No especial value is claimed for the results, except perhaps as an aid to later investigators.... This exhibit of course includes only the verb suppressions through aid of the simplest substitutes. That there has been a similar saving by the use of verbal nouns, gerundive constructions, and other devices will be apparent to any student."….
