The Silver Series of Language Books The Essentials of Language and Grammar BY Albert LeRoy Bartlett, A.M. SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY 1899 EdueT 758.99.183 HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY GIFT OF GEORGE ARTHUR PLIMPTON Copyright, 1899 BY SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY INTRODUCTION. If, as Bacon says, “A wise questioning is the half-way towards knowledge,” a wise questioner is the best guide to that destination. Any text-book will fail of its highest service unless the wise questioning of the teacher, his tactful adaptation of its material to the condition of his pupils, and his sympathetic fidelity to the methods and spirit of the book, give it life and make it a moving influence. I have sought to write a lesson book, illustrating, explaining, and defining the grammatical facts about words, and the fundamental principles upon which the construction of an English sentence is based; to add thereto such analyses of a few selections from good American authors, as shall give to pupils some insight into the fulness of beauty and meaning contained in what we term good literature, and shall suggest to teachers methods that may be used in the study of other selections; and to outline some plans for training the pupils to write English easily, correctly, and gracefully. The following simple exercises will form a useful and strengthening accompaniment to all language work: 1. In order to express thoughts the pupil must have that wherewith he may express them-a vocabulary of words in good usage. Such a vocabulary may be made a growing and, ultimately, a full one, by two methods: I. By making a list of such unfamiliar words as may occur in each chapter, studying them as the dictionary defines them and illustrates their use, and then using them in sentences. Some one has said that any word belongs to a man who has used it correctly three times. II. By the recasting of sentences: first, by substituting synonyms for as many words as possible in the sentences; second, by using as many antonyms as possible. This work should be a regular practice exercise from the beginning of the study of language, starting, of course, with very simple beginnings, and advancing by easy and very gradual stages to more difficult exercises. 2. The following plan for work in composition may followed: be I. The writing of single sentences. The leading group of words in a sentence is given, or suggestive words that occur therein. This is called a skeleton sentence. About this group of words the pupils, one after another, construct each a sentence, giving them orally or writing them on the board. Such sentences should be the best thoughts of the pupils, expressed in correct form. Criticism of these sentences follows, whatever is good being noticed and whatever is faulty being kindly corrected. When the pupils have acquired grace and facility in writing sentences, then follows: II. The construction of the paragraph. A subject is discussed orally, then suggestive words for two or three sentences are placed on the board, the pupils filling out these skeletons as above. The advance work is not only in becoming familiar with the form of the paragraph, but in gaining the power of arranging sentences, so that their sequence shall be orderly and easy. III. A further useful exercise in composition is the expansion of a single sentence into a paragraph, or of a succinct paragraph into a fuller one, and the reverse the contraction of a paragraph into a sentence, and of a long paragraph into a shorter one. IV. Last, comes the planning of a studied composition, as is carefully outlined in Chapter L. The illustrative sentences and selections in this book have been written and chosen with two purposes: first—that they shall illustrate clearly the grammatical principle that is being discussed, and second—that they shall have literary value and be in themselves the teachers of something. The pupil, therefore, should be led to appreciate the lesson or the beauty of the thought, as well as to comprehend the grammatical principle which it illustrates. It is only by constant practice that the power of discrimination becomes keen, only by repetition that the principles of grammatical construction become familiar, and only by constant and careful exercise that the use of good English becomes habitual. He who teaches the essentials of English in accordance with the spirit of this introduction and of the purpose with which this book has been written will find that he has taught a thousand graces in addition to that of correct speech. He will have heard and obeyed the bidding of those strong lines of Emerson's Go, speed the stars of thought On to their shining goals: The sower scatters broad his seed, SILVER HILL, -ALBERT LE ROY BARTLETT. HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS. |