The effective use of language is an art, not merely a skill. It can be learned and improved.
All arts involve the adaptation of means to ends.
Continued human experience with an art involves following certain procedures effectively and efficiently to achieve these ends. These procedures then are formulated into a body of knowledge governed by a set of standards that must be followed if success in that art is to be achieved. The criteria for the effective use of language can be classified into the rules of grammar, rhetoric, and logic. The general aim of all freshman courses is to familiarize the student with the standards of contemporary American usage and to provide him with opportunities for putting these standards into practice in writing.