the events or facts:

He spoke of the grass, the flowers and the trees,
Of the singing birds and the humming bees;
Then talked of the haying, and wondered whether
The cloud in the west would bring foul weather.

Note the lightness with which the unimportant details of conversation
are skimmed over.

=Inflection.= If we listen to the speech of the people around us, we
can easily detect an upward slide of the voice on some words, a
downward slide on others, and on others again a combination of the
two. This slide of the voice on words--generally on the accented
syllable of an emphatic word--is called =inflection=, and the various
inflections are known as _rising_ (/), _falling_ (\), _rising
circumflex_ (\/), and _falling_ circumflex (/\).

Each inflection has a definite and fixed meaning recognized by every
one, and it is because of the laws of inflection that we can tell what
meaning a speaker intends to convey when he uses certain words; for
often the same words may carry two or three different meanings
according to the inflection. The simple word "Yes," with an abrupt
downward slide, expresses decided affirmation. When spoken with an
upward slide, it expresses interrogation and is equivalent to "Is that
really so?" When it has a combination of the downward and upward slide
or a rising circumflex inflection, the meaning is no longer simple but
complex. There is an assertion combined with doubt. It is equivalent
to saying: "I think so but I am not really sure." In such a sentence
as: "Do not say 'yes,'" where the idea "but say 'no,'" is merely
implied, but not formally expressed, the word "yes" has a combination
of the upward and downward slide or a falling circumflex inflection.

If we take an idea for its own sake, if it is independent and complete
in itself, the voice has the downward slide or falling inflection on
the words which stand for the central idea:

My good blade carves the casques of men,
My tough lance thrusteth sure,
My strength is as the strength of ten,
Because my heart is pure.
The shattering trumpet shrilleth high,
The hard brands shiver on the steel,
The splinter'd spear-shafts crack and fly,
The horse and rider reel.

Each statement is complete in itself and has the falling inflection.

Sometimes there is a slight downward slide before the statement is
completed, because the mind feels that the ideas already expressed
are of sufficient force to give the