AIMBORLIAD

COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY

CHARLES DE GARMO.

LANG. LESS. BOOK II.

EDUCATION DEPT.

THE WERNERC

TPRINTER

PREFACE.

THIS book continues the development of the two leading language ideas embodied in Book I. of this series. These ideas are (1) the practical mastery of English Composition as an art, and (2) an inductive approach to the laws of Grammar as a science.

The language art is presented specifically in COMPOSITION EXERCISES, though all the lessons help to develop skill and facility in writing. The inductive mastery of the principles of Grammar is accomplished by means of SENTENCE EXERCISES, each of which embodies in concrete form an important grammatical distinction.

There follows at the close of each chapter a summary of the RULES AND PRINCIPLES of Grammar and Composition that have been embodied in the two classes of exercises. The summary serves a double purpose, since, on the one hand, it furnishes the teacher with a guide to the real significance of the lessons, and on the other formulates for the pupil the rules and definitions of Grammar and Composition that have been concretely developed.

These language exercises present not only the FORM but also the SUBSTANCE of induction, for they offer a thought material as rich as history, literature, and nature can well

furnish. They provide this material, moreover, in such quantities that an idea can be not only apprehended by the pupil, but also mastered.

The Composition Exercises, having no absolutely necessary sequence, and being drawn freely from literature, history, and natural science, may be efficiently correlated with the other studies, since in most cases they furnish the precise material that would naturally be desired. In any event, they suggest types and methods of composition growing out of historical, literary, and science studies. The index at the close of the book furnishes an easy means for thus utilizing the whole wealth of composition exercises offered.

It is not recommended, however, that the Sentence Exercises be used indiscriminately, for the sequence here given, if not an absolutely essential, is at least a natural one. A science is a system of ideas, and even where the order is not substantially fixed, as in mathematics, the mastery of any subject is greatly promoted by the orderly presentation of its parts. For this reason, the Sentence Exercises should be taken up in the order given. They are so arranged that there is a steady progress in the thought, each onward step either presenting a new phase of grammar or reinforcing an old one by concrete practice.

The great desirability of taking the Sentence Exercises in the order given is urged, because this language series aims to do more than to teach the pupil how to write. To practical composition it adds an inductive approach to the chief ideas of grammar. With the introduction furnished by these inductive lessons, a brief study of formal grammar as presented in the third book of the series will

put the pupil, at an early age, into firm possession of all the essentials of English grammar, so that he will possess their substance as well as their form.

As in the first book, so here, the material for composition is enriched by connected outlines taken from classic literature, ancient and modern. The mind of the pupil is guided by brief outlines in words, while his imagination is quickened by pictorial illustration showing likewise the progress of the thought. There is consequently a double stimulus to interest; namely, contact with ideas that have stood the test of time, and a system of pictures revealing to the fancy what the words suggest to the mind. In this way, pictures illuminate the thought without having a tendency to dissipate it.

Notwithstanding the fact that the exercises furnish a brief, concrete, definite, and interesting nucleus of thought, the teacher will quickly observe that they are not a substitute for the pupil's originality, but a powerful stimulus to it. They offer a perpetual challenge to thought, awakening the mind to independent activity by giving it something to react upon. The teacher will soon perceive, moreover, that though it is far from the purpose of the lessons to make the children "good," yet many of the exercises have a powerful indirect influence in implanting right social ideals of conduct.

It will be found that the exercises are equally well adapted to oral and written work. This fact makes it easy to adapt them to the time at command, and to the amount of writing, both in and out of the class, that can profitably be done. Their variety, brevity, and definiteness insure a large num