Analysis of the Document "Imperialism"

This approach may affect the assessment of clarity and content because of changes in colloquial expressions. For example, people simply don't say "well-nigh" anymore, when they mean "nearly" or "almost," although that term was recognized as having once been common (line 25). However, a consistent focal point was needed, and it seems most appropriate to consider how this passage would be judged today for its quality, content, style and clarity.

The overall meaning of the document is quite clear -- it clearly conveys the values, passions and ideologies of the writers. But the meanings of individual sentences and phrases are not so clear, and the flow of prose is awkward in places. Some of this can be attributed to the choice of words which are not commonly used today in the same context.

In the "Anglo-Saxon Mission," Josiah Strong wrote, "The other great idea of which the Anglo-Saxon is the exponent is that of pure spiritual Christianity." (lines 12-13) The meaning of the word "exponent" was not recognized in t

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y and racism. Strong wrote that in addition to his conclusion the "fact" of the Anglo-Saxon's "rapidly increasing strength" demonstrates his destiny. (lines 24-26) The word "strength" suggested physical strength, longevity, perhaps intellectual advancement. But the author used the wrong word -- he meant "numbers." This was not clarified until the next few sentences which presented statistics about the increasing population of Anglo-Saxons. A bit of redundancy is found with the repetition of the same phrase used earlier, "the two great ideas of which the Anglo-Saxon is exponent...." (lines 39-40) Since the very first sentence stated that there were two ideas, and the first two paragraphs identified the two ideas, it would have been more concise to say that it could be shown that "these two ideas are having fuller development in the United States." Strong switches tense when he moves from "Here there is...," to "Here, also, has been evolved the form of government consistent with the largest possible civil liberty." (lines 43-45) He meant that "Here, a form of government has evolved...." The remainder of the sentence appears to be awkward as well. Civil liberty is a concept or a condition. It would have been more appropria
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Philippines China's, United Strong, President Mahan, , Christ Civil, Almighty God, Philippines Mahan, Josiah Strong, civil liberty, form government, Alfred Mahan's, isolated policy, form government consistent, pure spiritual christianity, nation's life, foot revelation, grammatical errors, direction nation's, keeper lines 20-24, deeper question, enter stage history, anglo-saxon exponent, brother's keeper lines, pure spiritual,
Approximate Word count = 1581
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)