Before considering these more detailed matters, however, we may pause for
a general exercise on verbal harmony.
EXERCISE - Discords
1. Study the editorial in Appendix 1 for unforewarned changes in mood and
assemblages of mutually uncongenial words. Rewrite the worst two
paragraphs to remove all blemishes of these kinds.
2. Compare Burke's speech (Appendix 2) with Defoe's narrative (Appendix 5)
for the difference in tone between them. Does each keep the tone it adopts
(that is, except for desirable changes)?
3. Note the changes in tone in the Seven Ages of Man (Appendix 4). Do the
changes in substance, make these changes in tone desirable?
4. In the following passages, make such changes and omissions as are
necessary to unify the tone:
How I loved to stroll, on those long Indian summer afternoons, into the
quiet meadows where the mild-breathed kine were grazing! An old cow that
switches her tail at flies and puts her foot in the bucket when you milk
her, I absolutely loathe. How I loved to hear the birds sing, to listen to
the fall of ripe autumnal apples!
It wasn't the girl yclept Sally. This girl was not so vivacious as Sally,
but she had a mug on her that was a lot less ugly to look at.
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