Primary Lessons in Language and Composition (Classic Reprint)

The Gift of Good Language: A Practical Course for Young Writers This foundational volume introduces language and composition without heavy grammar, pairing each lesson with clear oral and written tasks. It emphasizes thinking as you learn to express yourself, guiding students from observation to description and storytelling.

The book explains a two-part approach for every lesson—speaking first, then writing. It offers graded exercises that build observation, memory, and careful use of language, with teacher-friendly directions and adaptable activities. Throughout, the aim is to foster confidence in clear, precise expression while avoiding rote repetition.

- Learn through pictures, narratives, and familiar objects to describe, narrate, and connect ideas.
- Practice writing in complete sentences and using words that tell how, when, and where actions happen.
- Use guided questions and suggested corrections to develop thinking and expression in tandem.
- Apply methods to real classroom settings with flexible drills that suit different learners.

Ideal for teachers and students beginning language and composition study, this edition lays a solid foundation for thoughtful writing and confident oral expression.

Excerpt from Primary Lessons in Language and Composition

The thought I have kept constantly in view while writing is best expressed in the following words from Dr. Bam Now the school master may allow the accumulation of sentence types to proceed silently with the reading lessons, or he may do something expressly to quicken the process of stamping them on the memory. I assume that the age of Grammar has not yet arrived; and hence the science of sentences is not entered upon That age is, nevertheless, drawing near; and there may, conceivably, be a preparation for it, not to say a certain amount of inde pendent tuition having the same fina' result, although not in the same complete form. As empirical knowledge should, indeed must, always precede scientific knowledge - as direct observation must go before the more complex operations of reasoning - as qualitative analysis must be the forerunner of quantitative analysis, so a knowledge of the proper use of language-forms - both words and sentences - should precede their scientific study. The only question is as to the amount of precision, of complexity, and of technicality to be given to the study. Of complexity and technicality, it has been my object to give it as little as possible; of precision, as much as possible.

To train young children in the proper use of the words that belong to a child's vocabulary, and to give them facility in the use of such sen tence forms as they can readily imitate and employ, have been my chief objects.

I have also introduced a series of exercises intended to supply, or to lead the child to supply, the matter to be clothed in language. These exercises consist of graded lessons on pictures and narratives, which serve the double purpose of reviewing the more technical language lessons and of training the mind in observation and reflection. To study words and sentences without cultivating the faculties that give substance to language is to lead the mind on a futile quest. What I have aimed at is the development of the power of thinking along with and through the development of the power of expression. The one is of little use without the other. Indeed, one can scarcely exist without the other. Thought claims expression; expression excites thought. As thought is logical, language will be clear; as thought is confused, language will be defective.

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