III. A well-balanced, even movement, whether fast or slow, should be acquired. Reference is now made, not so much to a selection as a whole,—for a uniform rate throughout a whole selection is rarely desirable, but rather to proper rate-proportion in sentence-delivery. It is the habit of some readers to give the first part of a sentence with medium or slow rate; then to snap out the closing words— often the most significant part of the sentence or vice versa. The utterance moves by fits and jerks, like a horse that has not learned to pull steadily. A well-timed, balanced movement should be appreciated and acquired.

PAUSE. The pause denotes the time spent between syllables, words, phrases, or sentences. Language is made up of groups of words expressing single ideas, and any discourse is intelligible only through its integral ideas. A group of words that expresses a single thought or feeling, describes a single event, or pictures a single scene, is called a phrase. Good reading requires that these word-groups be indicated by pausing between them. Phrasing is vocal punctuation (indicated by vertical lines, thus: / /); it is usually identical with grammatical punctuation, though not necessarily so. The thought, and not the grammatical construction, determines the pause.

A common fault in phrasing is too frequent pausing. This arises from word-reading, rather than phrase-reading. In word-reading the reader tends to utter a word as soon as he sees it, regardless of its relation to other words in the sentence. But it usually requires several words to express a complete idea or picture. In phrase-reading one looks ahead of the vocal utterance and groups the words for the proper expression of the successive ideas.

Good sight-reading absolutely requires that the eyes always precede the voice by a number of words, so that the mind has time to understand the ideas. Wrong phrasing is also illustrated in the “sing-song" style of reading poetry,

where a pause is made at the end of each line, regardless of the sense; and again, when there is little or no pausing between phrases, every sentence being given in a single breath, and hence no discrimination between the ideas. A reader must learn to realize that a pause between the thoughtphrases is a necessary part of the thought-expression; that such pause is "a silence filled with significance—a time to reflect upon what is past and to prepare for what is to come." Pauses will vary in frequency and length according to the reader's conception of relationship.

To illustrate: Take the sentence, "John Keys the lawyer says he is guilty." These words can be grouped so as to express at least a half-dozen different thoughts. It usually is a safe plan to take in additional breath at each pause.

Since punctuation marks are used to help the reader interpret the meaning, they should be observed carefully. Not in the old-time way of counting one at a comma, two at a semicolon, and four at a period; though that rule encouraged a mechanical expression, it was better than the plan used by many to-day-not to pause at all until at the end of the selection. Punctuation marks, especially the comma, are being used less and less. At the present time, they are seldom used unless their omission makes the meaning doubtful.

Many times you must pause where there is no punctuation. To illustrate: In Tennyson's The Coming of Arthur we read, "And Arthur rode a simple knight among his knights." This portrays a unique scene, indeed, unless we pause after "rode."

In the lines,

"And as the greatest only are,
In his simplicity sublime,"

"only" modifies "greatest." Hence the group is “And the greatest only," and not "and the greatest only are."

In the lines from Robert Browning's Home Thoughts, From Abroad:

Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge/
Leans to the field/ and scatters on the clover/

Blossoms and dewdrops-/ at the bent spray's edge-/
That's the wise thrush:

Some never pause until after dewdrops. This makes "clover" modify "blossoms." "Clover" is the object of "on" and "blossoms and dewdrops" are the objects of "scatter"; hence a pause must be made after clover to bring out this correct relationship.

Let the student determine the reason for the suggested phrasing in the following example, then read by pausing only as indicated:

I.

II.

III.

A thing of beauty/ is a joy forever.-KEATS.
The proper study of mankind/ is man.-POPE.
The more we work/ the more we win.—MACKEY.

The night/ has a thousand eyes,/
And the day/ but one;/

Yet the light of the bright world dies
With the dying sun.

The mind/ has a thousand eyes,/
And the heart/ but one;/

Yet the light of a whole life dies
When love is done.

-BOURDILLON.

If you and I-/ just you and I—/
Should laugh/ instead of worry;/
If we should grow-/just you and I-/
Kinder and lighter hearted,/
Perhaps in some near by-and-by

A good time might get started;/
Then what a happy time 'twould be
For you and me,/ for you and me.
-SELECTED.

TRANSITION. In reading, transition refers to the changes in expression that take place in passing from one shade of thought or feeling to another. It is, in a sense, phrasing

on a large scale, and requires proper discrimination as to thought-values. The transition from one completed idea to another, from a literal statement to an illustration, from the mental to the emotional, from one part of a description to another, must be indicated distinctly in the delivery. The larger groups, as represented by the paragraph, require transitions of wider intervals. At such places the reader says to himself, "We now take up a new line of thought," or "Here is another phase of this idea," as the case may be. The reader must take time to adjust his mind to the change, and he must in some way indicate the change to a hearer. To accomplish this, the time-element is employed in taking a relatively long pause, aided, usually, by a change in rate, key, and tone. It should be noted that well-marked, easy, natural transitions in reading, besides showing changes in the thought, aid much in breaking up a general monotony.

The disjunctives “but," "if," "however," etc., usually herald a transition. In the sentence, "He is brave, generous, loving, but he is not trustworthy," a pause should be made after "but," the voice lowered in tone and the clause read with a slower movement.

A change in thought must always be accompanied by appropriate voice modulation. Study the following illustrative examples with special reference to the proper expression of the transitions:

I. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.—JOB.

II.

The little toy dog is covered with dust

But sturdy and staunch he stands.-FIELD.

III. If you should transfer the amount of your reading day by day from the newspapers to the standard authors-but who dare speak of such a thing.-EMERSON.

IV.

The combat deepens. On, ye brave,
Who rush to glory or the grave!
Wave, Munich! all thy banners wave,
And charge with all thy chivalry!

Hohenlinden.

Ah! few shall part where many meet!
The snow shall be their winding sheet,
And every turf beneath their feet
Shall be a soldier's sepulcher.

THOMAS CAMPBELL.

V. While all enjoy the balmy air, the bright sunshine, the social pleasantries of wit and humor, and the like; these are not the fundamental impulses of life.-A. TOMPKINS.

QUANTITY. This element represents the time given to the utterance of the sounds, syllables, and words of a sentence. For the sake of convenience, three degrees should be recognized:-Long, Medium, and Short.

Long quantity is used to express emphasis, reverence, pathos, laziness, and sometimes in expressing an onomatopoeic idea. Medium quantity is used in ordinary expression. Short quantity is used in joy, laughter, commands and ideas of haste.

Note the difference in the quantity of the words in reading the following:

I.

O, a wonderful stream is the rive Time

As it runs through the realm of tears,

With a faultless rhythm and a musical rhyme,
And a boundless sweep and a surge sublime,

As it blends with the Ocean of Years.

The Isle of Long Ago.

TAYLOR.

II. For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee,

And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

And so all the night-tide I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
In her sepulcher there by the sea,

In her tomb by the sounding sea.