BY
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
NEW YORK CHICAGO
This book was begun as a result of the author's experience in teachingsome classes in English in the night preparatory department ofthe Carnegie Technical Schools of Pittsburg. The pupils in thoseclasses were all adults, and needed only such a course as wouldenable them to express themselves in clear and correct English.English Grammar, with them, was not to be preliminary to the grammarof another language, and composition was not to be studied beyondthe everyday needs of the practical man.
Great difficulty was experienced because of inability to secure atext that was suited to the needs of the class. A book was neededthat would be simple, direct and dignified; that would cover grammar,and the essential principles of sentence structure, choice of words,and general composition; that would deal particularly with the sourcesof frequent error, and would omit the non-essential points; and,finally that would contain an abundance of exercises and practicalwork.
It is with these ends in view that this book has been prepared. Theparts devoted to grammar have followed a plan varying widely fromthat of most grammars, and an effort has been made to secure a moresensible and effective treatment. The parts devoted to compositioncontain brief expositions of only the essential principles of ordinarycomposition. Especial stress has been laid upon letter-writing,since this is believed to be one of the most practical fields foractual composition work. Because such a style seemed best suited tothe general scheme and purpose of the book, the method of treatmenthas at times been intentionally rather formal.
Page vi Abundantand varied exercises have been incorporated at frequent intervalsthroughout the text. So far as was practicable the exercises havebeen kept constructive in their nature, and upon critical pointshave been made very extensive.
The author claims little credit except for the plan of the bookand for the labor that he has expended in developing the details ofthat plan and in devising the various exercises. In the statementof principles and in the working out of details great originalitywould have been as undesirable as it was impossible. Therefore,for these details the author has drawn from the great common storesof learning upon the subjects discussed. No doubt many traces ofthe books that he has used in study and in teaching may be foundin this volume. He has, at times, consciously adapted matter fromother texts; but, for the most part, such slight borrowings asmay be discovered have been made wholly unconsciously. Among thebooks to which he is aware of heavy literary obligations are thefollowing excellent texts: Lockwood and Emerson's Composition andRhetoric, Sherwin Cody's Errors in Composition, A. H. Espenshade'sComposition and Rhetoric, Edwin C. Woolley's Handbook of Composition,McLean, Blaisdell and Morrow's Steps in English, Huber Gray Buehler'sPractical Exercises in English, and Carl C. Marshall's BusinessEnglish.
To Messrs. Ginn and Company, publishers of Lockwood and Emerson'sComposition and Rhetoric, and to the Goodyear-Marshall PublishingCompany, publishers of Marshall's Business English, the author isindebted for their kind permission to make a rather free adapta