Situation-type 1

Situation-type 1.

"The sun was shining bright and clear after squalls, and the straits showed violet, green, red, and bronze lines, melting and intermingling each changing second. Jules McCartney, the best blacksmith on the island, stood at the -door of his cottage, noting this change in the weather. He was keeping melancholy holiday in his best clothes. His neighbor, Simon Griggs, paused at the gate in passing. He was evidently in distress."

ANALYSIS OF THE MODEL

1. The time element here day time) told in an indirect way—

2. The space  element .

3. The characters  we shall designate as A and B, A being the one first mentioned in any situation.

In writing a situation on this model, A is to be described by an appositive, a phrase, or a clause, which will tell his occupation or other relation to society The best blacksmith on the island." B is to be described by an appositive, a phrase, or a clause, which will tell the relation of B to A " His neighbor." Use "a stranger," or "a traveler," or some other general characterization, if B is unknown to A.

A and B are each to be located —"door of his cot¬tage," "gate." B. is to be placed at some distance from A. The reason why each is in a particular place is given — A is "noting the change in the weather." B paused "in passing" and "was evidently in distress." g. In addition to f (/. e., the reason why each is in a particular place), A and B may each be represented in action. In the above situation, Simon Griggs might have been represented as coming down the street shouting.

. In telling a story in the form of a series of three situations, 4

There should be no change of place or time in this kind of situation. It should be like a picture taken with a snap shot.

Examples of Situation-type 1.

The following paragraphs should be examined for illustrations of points 1-3 given in the analysis of Situation-type I.

I.

Towards the hour of supper on Friday, the twenty- sixth of the month of December, a little shepherd lad came into Nazareth , crying bitterly.

Some peasants, who were drinking ale in the Blue Lion, opened the shutters to look into the village orchard, and saw the child running over the snow. They recognized him as the son of Korneliz, and called from the window : "What is the matter ? It ’ s time you were abed ! "

But sobbing still and shaking with terror, the boy cried that the Spaniards had come, that they had set fire to the farm, had hanged his mother among the nut trees, and bound his nine little sisters to the trunk of a big tree.

-MAURICE MAETERLINCK,  The Massacre of the Innocents.

SUGGESTIONS.- I.  Notice that the name of the town is given first; then that of the inn; then a particular part of the inn is mentioned.

2. How many timgs is A spoken of? What is the name ?

3. The reasons why A and B are  in their respective places are told. Who gives each reason ? What are the reasons ?

4..  The actions of A and B are told. What is the action of each ?

5. Although a third set of people are mentioned here, the mother and sisters and the Spaniards, they are not characters of the situation, for they are not in Nazareth at the time the boy appears before the Blue Lion.

When it rains in Amsterdam, it pours ; and when the thunder takes a hand in the performance things are pretty lively ; this is what my friend Balthazer Van der Lys was saying to himself one summer night as he ran along the Amstel on his way home to escape the storm. . . . On reaching the Orphelinat Straat he rushed under <font color="#FF0000">the awning of a shop to seek refuge from the rain; in his hurry he did not take time to look where he was going, and the next moment he found himself fairly in the arms of <font color="#33CCCC">another man. . . . <font color="#33CCCC">The person thus disturbed was seated at the time <font color="#FF0000">in an arm-chair ; <font color="#33CCCC">this person was no other than <font color="#33CCCC">our mutual friend, Cor¬nelius Pump, who was undoubtedly one of the most noted savants of the age.

-VICTORIEN SARDOU,  fettatura and Other Stories.

<font color="#33CCCC">Mrs. Rutger de Peyster sat <font color="#FF0000">in her steamer chair idly watching the people marching back and forth <font color="#FF0000">on the deck. A gleam of interest flickered an instant in her eyes as <font color="#33CCCC">her nephew, young Oswald <font color="#3366FF">, gave her a good morning and asked if he might take advantage of Colonel de Peyster ’ s absence to sit in his chair for a while.

Iv.

<font color="#3366FF">It was a summer evening;

<font color="#33CCCC">Old Kaspar ’ s work was done, And he <font color="#FF0000">before his cottage door

Was sitting in the sun ;

And by him sported on the green His little grandchild Wilhelmine.

- ROBERT SOUTHEY,  The Battle of Blenheim.

The preceding examples of Situation-type I. are varied in the order in which they introduce the four w ’ s, in the way they express them, and in sentence structure.

Variing the order of the elements.

The original situation: <font color="#3366FF">The sun was shining bright and clear after squalls, and <font color="#FF0000">the straits showed violet, green, red, and bronze lines, melting and intermin¬gling each changing second. <font color="#33CCCC">Jules McCartney, the best blacksmith on the <font color="#FF0000">island, stood <font color="#FF0000">at the door of his cottage , noting this change in the weather. He was keeping melancholy holiday in his best clothes. <font color="#33CCCC">His neighbor, Simon Griggs, paused <font color="#FF0000">at the gate in passing. He was evidently in distress.

A reproduction of this, with changes in order and in mode of expression, reads as follows :

The reproduction: <font color="#33CCCC">Jules McCartney had left his forge for a holiday and was evidently very uncomfortable in his best clothes. For lack of something better to do he stood <font color="#FF0000">at the door of his cottage, watching how the violet, green, and bronze lines on <font color="#FF0000">the straits made the waters round the <font color="#FF0000">island look like a great caldron of molten metals, for though <font color="#3366FF">the sun was again shining clear and bright, the waves were still rough after the squall. Down the street hurried <font color="#33CCCC">his neighbor, Simon Griggs, seemingly in some distress. He paused <font color="#FF0000">at the gate.

CAUTION.—Do not use the words "was ’ or "were" too often in writing a situation, unless you use them as part of a verb in the passive voice.

The repetition of " was " and " were " in the fol¬lowing shows how monotonous the use of these verbs can become.: "It was midday. The villagers were on the road. They were on their way to mar¬ket." Verbs of action are generally stronger than verbs of being.