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Posted at 12:00 AM ET, 11/ 7/2010 Lincoln thinkin ' By Tom Toles Toles , Tom. The Washington Post. 07 November, 2010.
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Posted at 12:00 AM ET, 11/ 7/2010 Lincoln thinkin'By Tom TolesToles, Tom. The Washington Post. 07 November, 2010. "A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Abraham Lincoln , June 1858
Parallelism: The intentional repetition of similar grammatical structures to show the equal importance of all parallel items.
Parallelism: • Some Ways to Use Parallel Structures With • Items in a series: • As an artist, he drew, painted, and sculpted. • I came; I saw; I conquered. • Eat, drink, and be merry. • Paired items: • The musicians began not only to sing, but also to dance. • Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. (John F. Kennedy)
Parallelism: • Balanced Sentences: • White chickens lay white eggs, and brown chickens lay brown eggs; so if white cows give white milk, do brown cows give chocolate milk? • Lists and Outlines: • The research had three main goals: To discover the cause of the disease. To propose a medicinal treatment. To document the success of the treatment. • In Resumes: • Note: As you write or update your resume, make sure all your listings are "parallel": • "Responsibilities included . . . ." as the beginning of each description, or begin each description with verbs in the same tense: "Researched," "Conducted," "Supervised," etc.
Parallelism: Identify the parallelism in the following passage from Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address”: Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Parallelism: Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
Parallelism: But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
Parallelism: It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. Abraham Lincoln
Paradox • par·a·dox • –noun • 1. • a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth. • 2. • a self-contradictory and false proposition. • 3. • any person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory nature. • 4. • an opinion or statement contrary to commonly accepted opinion.
Paradox "War is peace.“ "Freedom is slavery." "Ignorance is strength."(George Orwell, 1984)
Paradox in Thoreau “That government is best which governs not at all.” “Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.”
Paradox in King “I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.”
Elliptical sentences • Elliptical Clauses • An elliptical clause is a clause in which certain words are “understood” without being said or written. As in most languages, English allows for the omission of words when they are obvious by nature of context or grammar. • What will happen if I miss the deadline? • Elliptical:What if I miss the deadline? • She enjoys history more than she enjoys math. • Elliptical:She enjoys history more than math.
Ellipsis in King (and parallel structure and anaphora) • I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I'm sorry that I can't join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department.
