It means that none of them are fully absorbed or mastered.
The selections here given,* together with the volumes recommended above,
may of course be judiciously supplemented if occasion requires;
but as a rule, these will be found ample. Each type should be studied
and mastered, one type after another. It would be a mistake to omit any
one, even if it is a type that does not particularly interest the
student, and is one he thinks he will never wish to use in its purity:
mastery of it will enrich any other style that may be chosen:
If it is found useful for shaping no more than a single sentence, it is
to be remembered that that sentence may shape the destinies of a life.
*A fuller collection of the masterpieces of style than the present
volume contains may be found in "The Best English Essays,"
edited by Sherwin Cody.
CHAPTER XIII.
IMAGINATION AND REALITY.---THE AUDIENCE.
So far we have given our attention to style, the effective use of words.
We will now consider some of those general principles of thought end
expression which are essential to distinctively literary composition;
and first the relation between imagination and reality, or actuality.
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