Every talk or theme should be coherent. It may be easy to frame a coherent sentence or a coherent paragraph, but to hold the attention of an audience for ten minutes, or even for three minutes, makes a more serious demand of a speaker. He must arrange whole groups of thoughts so that the transition from one group to another will be easy and natural.

Let us suppose that in the ten-minute talk on your high school you wish to emphasize four matters: (1) the caliber of the pupils in the school; (2) the good condition of athletics; (3) the large number of available studies; and (4) the unusually strong body of teachers. In whatever way you arrange these divisions of your subject, you must make it plain that one leads up to another, and that each contributes its part to the main thought. As you pass from topic to topic, and from paragraph to paragraph, you should show in some way that you are moving toward your destination.

To apply to connected paragraphs the methods of securing coherence in the sentence (see sects. 119, 120) and in the paragraph (see sect. 107), we may summarize them thus:

1. The last sentence of a paragraph may introduce the subject of the next paragraph. (For example, see the last sentence in sect. 107).

2. The first sentence of a paragraph may refer to the preceding paragraph (a) through a conjunction or conjunctive phrase or (b) through a demonstrative adjective. (See sect. 108).

3. A transitional sentence, and sometimes a paragraph, may be used to connect two paragraphs. In one of the Spectator papers appears a story of which the following is an abstract:

Mahomet, "that famous imposter," was snatched one morning from his bed and taken by an angel to paradise. As the prophet was being carried off he upset a pitcher of water, but though he visited the whole of paradise and held ninety thousand conferences, so short a time elapsed before Gabriel restored him to earth, that Mahomet was able to stand upright the overturned pitcher before the water was all spilt.

Immediately after this story Addison inserts the following transitional paragraph:

There is a very pretty story in the Turkish Tales which relates to this passage of that famous imposter, and bears some affinity to the subject we are now upon.

After this transitional paragraph a story is told of a sultan of Egypt who ridiculed the adventure of Mahomet.

To secure coherence, then, you must see that each division of the subject leads up to the next, and that each contributes its part to the main thought.

Exercises

456. (1) Bring to class as many examples as you can find of the foregoing methods of passing from one paragraph to another. You may consult editorials, magazine articles, and whatever books you happen to be reading.

(2) Outline the life of an author whose work the class is now reading. Get any help you can from the arrangement that follows:

I. Parents

1. Father.

2. Mother.

II. Childhood

1. Nurse.

a. Stories.

b. Affection.

2. Playmates.

III. Boyhood

1. School.

2. Recreations.

a. Reading.

b. Sailing.

IV. College Life

1. Faithful student.

a. Favorite studies.

b. Debating club.

2. Athlete.

a. Football.

b. Rowing.

3. Ambitions.

V. Career

1. Industry.

2. Promotion.

3. Independence.

VI. Position in the community.

457. Make a detailed outline of one period of the life of the author.

458. Make a detailed outline of one period of the life of a favorite character.

459. Give the class a talk based on one of your outlines.

460. Write a letter to a friend explaining fully your school life. Make the letter coherent and give special attention to the transition from one paragraph to another.