In making a written report of conversation you should remember that short
sentences predominate. A conversation composed of long sentences would
seem stilted and made to order. What each person says, however short, is
put into a separate division and indented. Explanatory matter accompanying
the conversation is placed with the spoken part to which it most closely
relates. Notice the indentations and the use of quotation marks in several
printed reports of conversation.

+20. Ideas from Pictures.+--If you look at a picture and then attempt to
tell some one else what you see, you will express ideas gained by
experience. A picture may, however, cause a very different set of ideas to
arise. Look at the picture on page 38. Can you imagine the circumstances
that preceded the situation shown by the picture? Or again, can you not
begin with that situation and imagine what would be done next? If you
write out either of the series of events, the theme, though suggested by
the picture, will be composed of ideas furnished by the imagination. In
the writing of a story suggested by a picture, the situation given in the
picture should be made the point of greatest interest, and should be
accounted for by relating a series of events supposed to have preceded it.

+Theme IX.+--_Write a story that will account for the condition shown in
the picture on page 38._

(Correct with reference to clearness and meaning. Do you need to change
the sentence length either for the sake of clearness or for the sake of
variety? Cross out unnecessary _ands_. Underscore _got_ and _then_ each
time you have used them. Can the reader follow the thread of your story to
its chief point?)

[Illustration]

+21. Vocabulary.+--A word is the symbol of an idea, and the addition of a
word to one's vocabulary usually means that a new idea has been acquired.
The more we see and hear and read, the greater our stock of ideas becomes.
As our life experiences increase, so should our supply of words increase.
We may have ideas without having the words with which to express them, and
we may meet with words whose meanings we do not know. In either case there
is chance for improvement. When you have a new idea, find out how best to
express it, and when you meet with a new word, add it to your vocabulary.

It is necessary to distinguish between our reading vocabulary and our
writing vocabulary. There are many words that belong only to the first. We
know what th