Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1874-11-19
Writing Good English.


The beginning of the school year is an
appropriate time for making suggestions
in regard to teaching. We propose, in
this article, to speak of what no one will
deny to be an exceedingly important
part of complete education We mean
the art of writing our own language cor
rectly.
If we were to assert that not one coll
lege student in four could write half a
dozen pages of his own composition in
such manner that any well-known
printing establishment would be willing
TO publish them without alteration, it
it would doubtless seem to many per-
sons like very strange statement. We
do not make this assertion Perhaps it
would not be true. But if it were made
by anyone else We should by no means
feel sure enough of its incorrectness to
contradict it, 1t is certain that a very
large part of our educated youth of both
sexes are unable to put their thoughts on
paper without numerous inaccuracies.
Perhaps the most frequent errors of edu-
Gated people in writing are those connect
ed with punctuation. That many mistakes
of this kind are made is not at all won
derful. There is good deal of differ
ence of opinion as to what constitutes
correctness in this respect. But the cir
cumstance that it is not always easy to
determine what point should be used in
a particular place is no reason for writing
as if punctuation had never been in
vented. If man is in doubt whether to
wear light coat or a heavy one on a
September day, it does not necessarily
follow that he should go in his shirt
sleeves. The diversity of theories in
regard to punctuation does not render,
for instance, long letter on several in
dependent subjects without single full
stop, except the one at the end, credita-
BILE either TO the education of the indi-
vidual who writes it or to the institution
at which he or she has been taught.
Another class of errors which must be
mentioned is that of mistakes in gram
mar These, ii is true, are much less
frequent among young people of educa-
ton than deficiencies in respect to punct-
uation. Yet there are thousands of
such persons who would be highly indig-
nant at the charge of writing ingram
NAUTICAL English to whom a gentle hint,
that, for instance, the objective case
of the prOnoun "who" always ends with
an M, or little instruction in regard to
the proper use of the auxiliaries "shalp
and "will," might be of material service
Quite as common as errors in punctua-
ton, and much more common-among
educated people at least-than mistakes
in grammar, is the misuse of words, and
especially of adjectives. A splendid
dinner is dinner at which there is a
large number of guests and great show
of silver and other handsome table furni-
ture, The expression is not appropriate
when employed to indicate nice piece
of roast beef and well-cooked vegetables
for half dozen individuals. This is but
one illustration, among many that might
be given, of habitual misapplication of
adjectives. Such misuse of words is
bad enough in talking. 1t is still worse
In writing.
If the more advanced students in some
of our colleges or female seminaries were
each to be required to write, without as.
| sistance, letter or a composition of any
| kind, and if then what had been written
should be printed without alteration, and
distributed among the parents and
| friends of the authors, il would constitute
| a species of examination of which, we
venture to say, few institutions wouldsbe
proud. We by no means recommend
such test. On the contrary, we should
denounce an attempt of the kind as ut
terly heartless and cruel. No instructor
could for moment be justified in thus
exposing to ridicule his students. But 1t
would be in some respects an excellent
criterion ii professors and teachers in our
higher educational Institutions, on perus-
ing the compositions submitted to their
inspection, were to ask themselves how
these productions would look in print.
And here we would make suggestion
which may be valuable to some OF our
college students who are INDUCING hopes
of distinguishing themselves in literature.
| 1t is often the case that If these young
men were to submit their experiments in
writing to the examination of some good
compositor in printing office he would
be able to give them valuable instruction
which their professor of English litera-
ture would not, and perhaps could not,
| impart. At all events, If instruction OF
this kind is furnished by the professors
in our colleges many of the students APP
pear to profit remarkably little by it,
| Ne0 York Times.