DISCIPULIS SUIS EMERITIS

SCHOLAE ROEDEANIENSIS

HUNC LIBRUM

AMICITIAE DOCUMENTUM ESSE

VOLUIT SCRIPTOR

a 2

PREFACE

A SENSE of the importance of teaching the use of the English language to English boys and girls, has been growing of late years in the minds of all those who have devoted consideration to the subject of education. The difficulty has been to find a practical system. The problem involved is two-fold: it is necessary to have, first, a method of teaching the pupil to acquire subjectmatter; and, second, a method of teaching him to acquire the art of expression. This little book is an attempt to solve the problem. It is addressed to the pupil; and is designed both for individual use and for classteaching. With regard to the use of the book for individual study, nothing need be said; but as regards its use in class-teaching, a word may be permitted; the author having employed the system which his book embodies, during an experience of class-teaching extending over several years, with encouraging results.

The teacher's object being to induce the pupil to think for himself, the lessons fall naturally into the form of question and answer. The answers must of course be given in the book; but, as they are supposed to emanate from the pupil-and, in practice, a surprising number do so emanate the pupils in class must keep their books. closed during the working of the preliminary steps of a subject. Each lesson is designed to occupy from forty minutes to an hour; the pupil is then supposed to have from one hour's to three hours' preparation, during which the information he has gained from the lesson may be

shaped into an essay. In his preparation, the book serves to remind him of the lesson, and thus obviates the necessity of his taking notes in class. It also provides him with the model examples of English prose, which serve to guide him in dealing with his subjects. Without such models all English teaching is vain.

The teacher will at once perceive that the questions and answers in the book, which are necessarily somewhat condensed, must often be amplified or simplified, in classteaching, to suit the age and capacity of the pupils. For the same reason, a section may often be usefully divided into two or more lessons. The completed essays should be carefully corrected; and every sentence in which the smallest correction is madea correction of punctuation included should be written out in full by the pupil, on a separate sheet of paper, and shown up. As corrections are of no value unless the pupil understands the reasons thereof, it is better, in practice, to take two or three mistakes and to explain them thoroughly, than to correct every mistake that occurs. The Appendix at the end of the book deals with all the errors that are likely to occur giving both rule and example. An example of a wrong usage is much easier to remember than the rule that forbids it; and it has the additional advantage of embodying the rule itself, in a negative form.

I am much indebted to Mr. John Thompson for his kindness in reading the proofs, and in furnishing me with many valuable suggestions; and to Miss Marguerite Ninet for help with the Appendix. I have also to acknowledge the courtesy of the representatives of those authors, and the courtesy of those publishers, who have granted me permission to quote from copyright works. L. C. C.

BRIGHTON, May 1903.