the meaning of what they read if they attack the page with the purpose of finding out some particular thing. If the teacher, therefore, says to the class, "Read this section and find out what we are to do," or "Read this section and find out what there is in it that is new," and if she then gives a few moments for silent reading, and afterwards quizzes the children until she gets a reply that all recognize as correct, she is not only beginning well the work of the day, but she is giving her pupils the habit of concentration in reading. In order to render this method of conducting the recitation an easy one, the authors have addressed the book to the pupils, and so persistently so that the teacher may seem to be eliminated. This, however, is in appearance only; the teacher can easily see that she is indispensable as a guide in the actual work of the class, as a judge of what the class accomplishes, and even as an adjuster, by her own originality and scholarship, of the book to the class. The amount of revision and rewriting to be done is left mainly to the teacher. If she herself corrects every theme and then rereads it after it has been rewritten, she is tasked almost beyond endurance. But if she reads a few from each bundle of compositions in order to discover in what particulars the class have failed, and afterwards gives a study of a theme that has the typical blunders, and follows this by an exchange of papers, accompanied by criticism and practice, she will both save herself much labor and, in all probability, get better results. From time to time, however, all the compositions should be read with care, and all that do not come up to a reasonable standard should be rewritten. It is recommended that there be no diagramming. If pupils are taught to indicate relationships by this method, questions of syntax will thereafter call into their minds the ingeniously contrived scheme that was their method of study; thus something false is introduced into the situation, which will intrude when there is need to think of grammar for the practical purposes of expression. Syntax is a science of pure relationship; to attempt to make it a science of space relationship is a mistake. Teachers are advised also to avoid routine parsing. There is no other phase of the teaching of grammar in which there is so much saying the same thing over and over again, until the exercise becomes a formula. The main thing in grammar is function, and this should be stated in good ordinary English, without the monotonous repetition which the use of a set form entails. Except in two cases, the terminology recommended by the National Education Association committee appointed to revise the terms of grammar is employed in this book. First, the term complex-compound is plainly needed, and is therefore used. Second, while the committee advised that such words as my, your, his, her, their, be all called adjectives or all called genitives of pronouns (since it would be confusing to attempt to divide them historically), the authors of this book call these words genitives of pronouns, from the standpoint of form, but possessive adjectives to indicate their function. This makes a perfect analogy with the noun, whose genitive form is for the adjective function. C. L. H. J. F. H. A COMPOSITION-GRAMMAR PART I THE SENTENCE AS A WHOLE: PREPARING FOR ORAL COMPOSITION 1. Some pupils in an elementary school were asked to write paragraphs beginning with this sentence: It is often difficult to amuse the baby. They were asked (a) to think the subject over carefully before beginning to write, (b) to consider what other people might want to know about it, and (c) to draw on their own personal experience for material. The following were two of the paragraphs: Quieting a Baby It is often difficult to amuse the baby. I know this because I had an experience with one. One day as I was sleeping I was awakened by a loud cry. Looking around I espied the baby sitting on the bed, crying. I took her in my arms and tried to stop her, but she kept on. I did all the funny things I knew of, but all in vain. At last just as I was about to put her down in disgust, my mother came, much to my relief. Difficult to Amuse the Baby It is often difficult to amuse the baby, because it will cry no matter what you give it. If you give it the doll it will cry, if you give it a book to tear up it will play with it until there are no pages left, and then it will begin to I |