apters emphasis has been laid upon the care that a
writer must give to saying exactly what he means. This must never be
neglected, but we need to add to it a consideration of how best to adapt
what we say to the interest and intelligence of our readers. It will
become clear in writing the following theme that the discussion of
paragraph development in Chapter III was in reality a discussion of
methods of adapting our discourse to the mental habits of our readers.

+Theme XXX.+--_Write a theme showing which one of the five methods of
paragraph development proceeds most nearly in accordance with the way the
mind usually acts._

(This theme will furnish a review of the methods of paragraph development
treated in Chapter III. If possible, write your theme without consulting
the chapter. "Think it out" for yourself. After the theme has been
written, review paragraph development treated in Chapter III. Can you
improve your theme? What methods of development have you used?)

+56. Selecting a Subject.+--Sometimes our theme subjects are chosen for
us, but usually we shall need to choose our own subjects. What we should
choose depends both upon ourselves and upon those for whom we write. The
elements which make a subject suitable for the reader will be considered
later. In so far as the writer is concerned, two things determine the
suitableness of a subject:--

First, the writer's knowledge of the subject. We cannot make ideas clear
to others unless they are clear to us. Our information must be clearly and
definitely our own before we can hope to present it effectively. This is
one of the advantages possessed by subjects arising from experience. Any
subject about which we know little or nothing, should be rejected. We must
not, however, reject a subject too soon. When it is first thought of we
may find that we have but few ideas about it, but by thinking we may
discover that our information is greater than it at first seemed. We may
be able to assign reasons or to give instances or to originate comparisons
or to add details, and by these processes to amplify our knowledge. Even
if we find that we know but little about the subject from our own
experience, we may still be able to use it for a composition subject by
getting our information from others. We may from conversation or from
reading gain ideas that we can make our own and consequently be able to
write intelligently. Care must be taken that this "reading up" on a
sub