from the grand old masters,
Not from the bards sublime,
Whose distant footsteps echo
Through the corridors of Time.

I do not know what I was playing,
Or what I was dreaming then,
But I struck one chord of music
Like the sound of a great Amen.

Note the rising inflection on these negative clauses.

On the same principle the rising inflection is used on the negative
statements of persuasive argument as in the _Apology of Socrates_ (p.
145).

But I thought that I ought not to do anything
common or mean, in the hour of danger: nor do I
now repent of the manner of my defence.

For neither in war nor yet at law ought any man
to use every way of escaping death.

Not so; the deficiency which led to my conviction
was not of words--certainly not.

Doubt and hesitation also imply incompleteness:

He surely would do desperate things to show his love of me!
King, ladies, lovers, all look on; the chance is wondrous fine;
I'll drop my glove to prove his love; great glory will be mine!

Note the rising inflection on the first two lines where the lady is
still in doubt as to what shall be the test of De Lorge's love, and
the falling inflection on the last one when she has reached a
decision.

Pleading and entreaty also convey a sense of incompleteness and take
the rising inflection:

Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up
To such a sudden flood of mutiny.

Good Sir Richard, tell us now,
For to fight is but to die!

A direct interrogation, that is, one that can be answered by "Yes" or
"No", implies incompleteness in the mind of the questioner and
requires a decided rising inflection:

Is your name Shylock?

May you stead me? Will you pleasure me? Shall I know your answer?

Questions that require an explanatory answer and cannot be answered by
"Yes" or "No," do not convey an idea of incompleteness, being merely
equivalent to the statement of a desire for certain information.
Consequently they take the falling inflection:

_Flav._ Speak, what trade art thou?
_1st Cit._ Why, sir, a carpenter.
_Mar._ Where is thy leather apron, and thy rule?
What dost thou with thy best apparel on?--
You, sir, what trade are you?

The purpose or motive of a question must be considered. We must know
whether the question is asked for information, or whether its purpose
is to give information; that is, whether it is only another way of
making an asserti