The Compound Sentence.  Somewhat like the use of complex sentences for general material is the use of compound ones for informal topics, familiar discourse, easy address, lighter material.  Valuable, too, is this form for the speaker who knows accurately the meaning of conjunctions, who can avoid the stringing together of what should be simple sentences by a dozen senseless ands.  A good rule for the beginner is to allow no ands in his speeches except those so imbedded in phrases—­husband and wife, now and then, principal and interest—­that he cannot avoid them.  Let him never speak such sentences as, “I came to this meeting and discovered only when I got here that I was scheduled to speak.”  Let him be careful of beginning sentence’s with and after he has made a pause.

The Exclamatory Sentence.  Many speakers yield to the temptation to strive for effect by delivering exclamatory sentences—­sometimes only clauses and phrases so enunciated.  The disposition to do this is born of the desire to be emphatic.  Strong feeling makes one burst out in ejaculation.  Used sparingly this form may be extremely effective.  Used too frequently it reduces a speech to a mere series of ejaculations of little more value than a succession of grunts, groans, and sobs.  Exclamatory sentences seldom convey much meaning.  They indicate emotion.  But a speech, to be worth listening to, must convey ideas.

The Interrogative Sentence.  A second sentence which may be classed with the preceding is the interrogative.  There is a disposition on the part of speakers to ask direct questions of the audience.  Frequently the rhetorical question—­which is one asked because the answer is the quite apparent fact the speaker wants to impress upon his hearers—­is an effective method of making a seemingly personal appeal to sluggish intellects or lazy wills.  The interrogative form has the same disadvantage as the exclamatory.  Except when its answer is perfectly plain it transfers no meaning.  It would be easily possible for a speaker with no ideas at all, no knowledge of a topic, to engage time and attention by merely constructing a series of questions.  At the conclusion the audience would wonder why in the world he spoke, for he had so little to say.

Long and Short Sentences.  So far as long and short sentences are concerned some general rules have already been hinted at in dealing with other kinds.  The advantages of the short sentence are mainly those of clearness, directness, emphasis.  Its dangers are monotony, bareness, over-compactness.  The advantages of the long—­that is, quite long—­sentence, are rather difficult to comprehend.  A wordy sentence is likely to defeat its own purpose.  Instead of guiding it will lose its hearer.  Somewhat long sentences—­as already said—­will serve in general discussions, in rapidly moving descriptive and narrative passages, in rather simple explanation and argument.  No one can state at just what number