In arranging arguments attention needs also to be given to coherence.  One proof may be so related to another that the presentation of one naturally suggests the other.  Sometimes, for the sake of climax, the coherent order must be abandoned.  More often the climax is made more effective by following the order which gives the greatest coherence.

+Theme CII.+—­Prove one of the following propositions:

1.  The Presidential term should be extended.

2.  Bookkeeping is of greater practical value than any other high school study.

3.  In cities all buildings should be restricted to three stories in height.

4.  Sumptuary laws are never desirable.

5.  No pupil should carry more than four studies.

6.  This school should have a debating society.

(Have you proved possibility, probability, or actuality?  Have you used arguments from cause, sign, or example?  Consider the arrangement of your arguments.  Consider the analogies you have used, if any.  Can you shorten your theme without weakening it?)

+194.  The Brief.+—­Arrangement is of very great importance in argument.  In fact, it is so important that much more care and attention needs to be given to the outline in argument, and the outline itself may be more definitely known to the hearer than in the other forms of discourse.  In description and narration especially, it detracts from the value of the impressions if the reader becomes aware of the plan of composition.  In exposition a view of the framework may not hinder clear understanding, but in argument it may be of distinct advantage to have the orderly arrangements of our arguments definitely known to him whom we seek to convince.

The brief not only assists us in making our own thought orderly and exact, but enables us to exclude that which is trivial or untrue.  An explanation may fail to make every point clear and yet retain some valuable elements, but an argument fails of its purpose if it does not establish a belief.  A single false argument or even a trivial one may so appeal to a mind prejudiced against the proposition that all the valid proofs fail to convince.  This single weakness is at once used by our opponent to show that our other arguments are false because this one is.  A committee once endeavored to persuade the governor of a state not to sign a certain bill, but they defeated themselves because their opponents pointed out to the governor that two of the ten reasons which they presented were false and that the committee presenting them knew they were false.  This cast a doubt upon the honesty of the committee and the validity of their whole argument, and the governor signed the bill.

The brief differs from the ordinary outline in that it is composed of complete sentences rather than of topics.

Notice the following example.

+Term examinations should be abolished.+

AFFIRMATIVE