Excerpt from Composition for Elementary Schools a Composition Grammar Two widely different methods of teaching composition are found in schools. One, the strictly technical method, makes constant use of the principles of rhetoric and grammar, and ignores the gain in power that may come to the pupil from the frequent and unfettered expression of his thoughts and experiences. The other reverses the process, trusting to the frequency of the act of composition to bring the pupil to a state of accuracy in his use of English. It is not likely that a great number of teachers rely wholly upon either one of these methods of instruction; but very few have been able to make a rational combination of the two, so that principles learned at any time may be used at once and thus become fixed as habit. More progress has been made in the case of rhetoric than in that of grammar, for while unity and the accompanying qualities of a theme have been taught to pupils as guiding principles of composition, a thorough and effective knowledge of syntax has often not been deemed necessary, or, perhaps, has been sought in the isolated study of grammar. Something may indeed be accomplished by such study, but it is the least economical method, and the one least likely to have an effect on oral and written language. This means of teaching the technique of the sentence has had its trial. While it may be true that the country was never so grammar-mad as it was once spelling-mad, it is yet true that grammar as an isolated study had, for a long time, its due share of attention in the curriculum, and that it failed to influence our use of language in a degree proportional to the time spent upon it. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.