Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada in the year one
thousand nine hundred and one, by G. H. ARMSTRONG, M.A., B.PÆD.,
in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
=PREFACE.=
It is not considered necessary to offer an apology for the publication
of a work on English grammar and composition for the Public Schools of
Ontario.
The plan of the work is inductive and practical, and the author has
endeavored to make the book a useful one for the purposes of teaching.
Every principle is presented through the observation of examples of good
English.
The study of grammar aids the student to master his mother-tongue, but
its chief function is to secure mental discipline. For the development
of the intellectual powers, the capable teacher, well furnished with
rational methods, will find this study superior to all others. It is a
study in recognizing similarities, in distinguishing differences, in
making abstractions, in forming generalizations. The object of Parts
I.-IV. of this book is to contribute something to the science of
elementary English grammar.
Part V. treats of composition. The usual exercises in completing
half-built sentences, in straightening out wrecks of sentences, in
combining simple sentences into complex sentences, in expanding phrases
into clauses, etc., will not be found therein. They have done quite
enough towards fostering stupidity in our schools. The art of expression
is acquired through steady practice, therefore pupils should write
compositions not once a week, but during part of every period, about
things which they understand. They should be taught good form in
expression, and trained to correct their own exercises.
This part of the work, though brief, will be found suggestive. Teachers
and pupils have not been deprived of the pleasure and profit of an
independent examination of the construction of the prose selections.
This little volume owes something to several English grammars, and the
debt is hereby acknowledged.