tion that any piece of writing should be independent of its
title. The title may be lost, but the essay must be clear without it.

There are many ways of beginning a lead in order to embody the feature
in the first line. At first glance the operation of putting the emphasis
of a sentence at the beginning, rather than at the end, may seem
difficult, but with a clear idea of the rules of dependence in English
grammar a reporter may transpose any clause to the beginning and thus
play up the content of the clause. For instance, in this lead,

| Fire, starting in a moving picture |
|theatre, 4418 Third avenue, drove the |
|tenants of the building out into the icy |
|street while the snowstorm was at its |
|height shortly before 12 o'clock last |
|night. |

the striking feature of the story is buried--we do not get the unusual
picture of a little group of people shivering in the street during a
blinding snowstorm while they watch their homes burn. A simple
transposition of the _while_-clause puts the feature in the first line.
Thus:

| While the snowstorm was at its height |
|shortly before 12 o'clock last night, |
|fire, starting in a moving picture |
|theatre, 4418 Third avenue, drove the |
|tenants of the building out into the icy |
|street. |

The lead is not perfect now; it might be greatly improved, but it is
better than before.

A few of the possible beginnings for a lead are:

1. _Noun._--The simplest beginning of a lead is of course the use of a
noun as subject of the principal verb. For example, "Fire destroyed the
residence of----" or "A flashlight setting fire to a lace curtain
started a fire----" or "The Plaza Hotel had a few uncomfortable moments
last night----" etc. The subject of the verb may of course have its
modifiers--adjectives and phrases--but it should not be separated too
widely from its verb. One point is to be noted in the use of a simple
noun at the beginning; an article should not precede the noun if it can
be avoided, for the very simple reason that an article is not worth the
important space that it takes at the beginning of the lead. In the case
of fire no article is necessary. In other cases it is usually possible
to put in an adjective or