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Introduction
Writing an introduction is a rather challenging task. In the University of Pécs there are no courses which teach us students how to edit the introduction, though it is of crucial importance. If a work bores you in the beginning, what can you expect from the continuation? The key is in the introduction. Umberto Eco has written a great many essays, and his writings are worth reading because of their thought-provoking ideas and questions. In my research paper I will make an attempt to find the answer for the question: What is the relationship between Eco's introductions and the main parts where he expresses his thoughts? How are introductions and the whole related to each other?

Method
I selected five chapters from Umberto Eco's book How to Travel With A Salmon And Other Essays. The titles of the essays are ”How to Eat Ice Cream”, ”How to Buy Gadgets”, ”How Not to Use the Cellular Phone”, ”How to Write an Introduction”, and ”How to Speak of Animals”. The method of selection was that I read one essay, and chose every fifth following the first. In my comparison analysis I will compare the selected introductions in accordance with their style, usage of words and structures.

Results and Discussion
On reading Umberto Eco's introductions it strucked me that all of them were written in various ways. The essays addressed different audience. For example, ”How to Eat Ice Cream” started as if it was written for children: "When I was little, children were bought two kinds of ice cream, sold from those white wagons with canopies made of silvery metal" (95). ”How Not to Use the Cellular Phone” reminded me of the outset of a general instruction. ”How to Write an Introduction” deceived me at first by its fake scientific and explanatory language: "The purpose of this article is to explain how you put together the introduction to a book of essays, a philosophical treatise, or a collection of scientific articles, to be published by a university press..." (172). The beginning of the essay ”How to Speak of Animals” seemed a sensation-mongering article for a tabloid. "Central Park. The Zoo. Some kids are playing near the polar bear tank. One dare the others to dive into the tank and swim alongside the bears... they tease him, he becomes annoyed, extends a paw, and eats, or rather chomps on, two kids, leaving some bits lying around" (197).

On seeing the differences I read some more introductions choosing them at random, but I valued the same thing. But despite the great range of approaches I could find two common things in the introductions. First, it is impossible to come to any conclusions from the introductions regarding the plot or the content of the essays. Eco deviates totally from the topic he starts with. Second, he begins his essays as if he intends to tell us a story. The introductions of his writings are like tales. I start to read them, and by the end of the introductions I wait for the continuation of the stories, but I realise that Eco led me away from the expected instalments.

I observed other significant factors as well in Umberto Eco's style. The words, especially the adjectives, and adverbs are sarcastic. He describes events, and people, while he is laughing at them, and reveals human beings' weaknesses and ridiculous endeavours. For example, from ”How to Eat Ice Cream”: "Granny always suggested I eat only a part of the cone, then throw away the pointed end, because it had been touched by the vendor's hand..." (95). Or another from How to Speak of Animals: "...a big male bear... chomps on, two kids, leaving some bits lying around. The police come quickly... there is some argument about whether or not the bear has to be killed. Some sensational articles appear in the press. It so happens that the boys have Hispanic names: Puerto Ricans, perhaps black, perhaps newcomers to the city..." (197).

I have another observation concerning the words and expressions of Eco. Whenever he recites a story, he applies a great many rarely used and unusual words. Some of them can be found only in monolingual dictionaries. Men in the streets do not use such expressions. This statement refers overwhelmingly to adverbs and adjectives, e.g. while Eco says 'analogous', we say similar or 'numerous' instead of many, 'drowsy' instead of sleepy, just to cite the most striking ones. He has an elegant style, chooses the words carefully. By writing an introduction in such polished style he gives the impression for the readers that they read a scientific work, constructed of a high standard.

The usage of structures, verb forms, phrases also tells much about the writer's style. Umberto Eco prefers sentences with simple structures. He does not complicate his introductions with convoluted grammatical solutions, which would be difficult to comprehend for an inexperienced reader: he rarely uses passive constructions, active verbs dominate in the introductions. I also perceived that Eco applied simple tenses for the most part. He preferred the Simple Present Tense above all, though he used Simple Past Tense as well in some places. As far as I could state he avoided the usage of 'have' forms. Thanks to the planned and designed style, Eco's writings are clearly understandable. A plain and clear introduction makes the readers go on reading, excites the curiosity of them. The key always lurks in the introduction. Many times it is only the question of the introduction whether the essay or novel will be read or not.

Why does he write so many kinds of introductions? The fact proves his many-coloured personality. Despite I did not always understand all of his words I was interested in the further reading.

Conclusion
In my research paper I tried to demonstrate the various ways how Eco was able to address his readers. He could present us always something new. I have to admit that first I had a totally different question from my present one: What is the relationship between Eco's introductions and the main parts where he expresses his thoughts? But as I read the outsets, they excited my curiosity, and now I will try to give the answer.

Three times in ”How to Eat Ice Cream”, ”How to Buy Gadgets”, and ”How to Speak of Animals”, Eco started the introductions as if he wanted to relate a short story. Two times in ”How Not to Use the Cellular Phone”, and ”How to Write an Introduction”, Eco gave the impression of a scientific writer. It is quite deceiving, because it turns out in the end of his essays that he made fun of conventions by the fake scientific and hypocrite writing. He draws startling conclusions. For example, it is worth reading how he set on from eating a two-cent cone ice cream and arrived at the point of mocking people, and making fun of their egoism and snobbishness. Eco's introductions arouse the readers' curiosity, and he manages to persuade people for further reading.