1 “We should not forget that it will be just as important to our descendants to be
prosperous in their time as it is to us to be prosperous in our time.”— Theodore
Roosevelt
What is the effect of the phrases “prosperous in their time” and “prosperous in our
time”?
“Prosperous in their time” means that it will be important that their
descendants be prosperous as it is for Roosevelt and his generation. The use of his
diction here establishes a sort of parallel structure in saying “prosperous in their
time” and “prosperous in our time.” It emphasizes that fact to the reader and makes
it eye-catching.
Explain how it would change the effectiveness if Roosevelt had said, “We should not
forget that it will be just as important to our descendants to be prosperous in their
time as it is to us now.”
The diction here is very plain and not creative. That parallel structure that I
mentioned before is gone and takes away the emphasis that it created between
those two ideas. Saying it like this makes the quote dull and unimpressive and won’t
leave a lasting mark on the reader as the first one did.
2 “While we do these things, these deeply momentous things, let us be very clear, and
make very clear to all the world what our motives and our objects are.”— Woodrow
Wilson