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Show FOURTH AIM: SPEECH UNIT sciousness for a short period of time. 83 Nouns with their accompany ing adjective modifiers are always ideas, while verbs, unless the subject or predicate is included in the verb form, can never be an idea. One can think "car"; the concept becomes more exact as we add "street car" or "large street car" or "large yellow street car," but there is only one idea and therefore one speech unit, regardless of the number of adjective qualifiers we may add to "car." The adjective modifiers bring the speaker and the auditor to a more exact visualization. If a speaker uses the word "car" the audience may think of many different kinds of cars; if he modifies it, the object is still one idea, but becomes in the minds of the audience more nearly like the speaker's concept. An adjective never makes an added idea except when it is to be held in contrast with other kind of the same object. some For instance, if we say, "He was a good man," and mean that we did not say that he was bad, or short sighted, or any other kind of man, the adjective "good" assumes a substantive meaning. We cannot hold a verb in a mental picture. No one can think running, going, coming, giving unless they supply in mind someone or something that is running, going, coming, giving, or with some objective to run to, come from, give to, and so on. The Pause. One idea is separated from the idea which precedes it, or from the idea which follows, by the use of a time element-a pause. A pause is not a blank-the mind and body must continue to act-but the action is, as Mr. Clark says, a "psycho-pbysiologi cal" one. It is psychological because, during the lapse of time be tween ideas, the body reacts to the emotional stimulus of the next idea, the mind changes this emotional stimulus into the mental reaction which produces speech, and the transition is manifest in action. The pause is physical because simultaneous with the emo tional-mental behavior, the lungs fill with air, in order to produce voice and to carryon the regular functio!1s of the body. There is no need of any breathlessness in reading if the speaker forms the habit of taking breath (inaudibly) at the same time that he is preparing mentally and emotionally for the coming idea. A little breath taken before each idea will prevent the bad habit of gasping. Length of Time. The length of the pause has nothing to do with the grammatical punctuation but is dependent upon the amount |
