BY PRACTICE, WITH EXERCISES ADAPTED FOR USE IN HIGH BY WILLIAM WILLIAMS, B.A., EDITOR OF GOLDSMITH'S “DESERTED VILLAGE," COWPER'S "TASK,” ETO. BOSTON: D. C. HEATH & Co., PUBLISHERS. PREFACE. THIS is, on the face of it, a practical book; not that it excludes theory, but that it gives prominence to practice. If this were not the case, it need not have been written. There are already books enough that deal ably with the theoretical part of the subject, but there are none that combine with theory a sufficient amount of practice. As composition is both a science and an art, no system of teaching it can be successful that does not recognize both of these parts. Young people do not acquire facility and correctness of expression merely by memorizing rules or by poring over methods of sentential structure. Still the learning of principles is not to be neglected; for, though it is not the whole, yet it is an essential part. How, then, can these two departments of the subject be most advantageously presented to the pupil? Every discerning teacher must have found that little theory and much practice is by far the most effective way of teaching composition. On this maxim this book is based; and its purpose is to furnish the teacher with the means of carrying into effect the plan here indicated. It proceeds on the simple method of laying down a few principles at a time and then illustrating them with such a number and variety of exercises that the pupil may fully master the practical application of these principles and thereby learn not only to write, but to write correctly. 3550 974 2€438 |