INTRODUCTORY NOTE. THIS book is intended as an introduction to the study of rhetoric; it includes lessons in phraseology and sentence structure, covering the requirement in advanced grammar and in sentence structure for entrance to college, and lessons in punctuation. The work throughout has been so planned that the book may be used in elementary classes in English as soon as the study of grammar is completed, or, in more advanced classes, as a direct preparation for college. PART I. Part I. treats of the use and agreement of words. The lessons here presuppose a knowledge of parts of speech and of analysis, but it is suggested that constant drill in parsing and analysis be insisted upon when the book is used by young pupils. In elementary classes, as many quotations as possible from those illustrating correct usage should be memorised by the pupils and written in class. The writers are convinced that the best means of ensuring correctness of speech is to accustom the pupil as early as possible to the sound of good English. Titles and the names of authors also should be learned. An author's full name is given once, - the first time a quotation from his work is cited, — after this, only his last name is given; and after the first reference to it with the name of the author, the title of a poem, play, or novel, is given alone. The pupils should memorise the punctuation of the examples they are required to learn. There should be careful drill in punctuation, whether this is taught informally, as it is introduced throughout the lessons, or formally at once from the rules at the end of Part I. It should be noticed that in each lesson the usage treated in the preceding lesson is emphasised as far as possible in the examples under the new rule. The quotations should serve to review the use of words already learned, as well as to illustrate the use of the word or words treated in the lesson in which they occur. It is suggested that the exercises in Part I. be used as class work. PART II. Part II. deals with the position of words, phrases, and clauses, and with the principles of unity and arrangement in sentence structure. Only the most important elementary points in clearness, unity, and force have been discussed here, and the effort has been made to emphasise these few so that they may be thoroughly mastered. APPENDICES. The passages to be punctuated and the sentences to be corrected are intended as a test of the pupil's ability to apply the rules learned in Parts I. and II. LESSON III. CONTENTS. XVIII. "Shall" and "Will" (notional and auxiliary verbs) XIX. "Shall" and "Will" (auxiliary verbs) (Continued) |