Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-02-08
&eading.
THE Study OF LANGUAGE.

| A Chicago man has discovered and pro-
claims to the world that the study of Eng
! lish grammar has not produced and cannot
produce correct use of the English lam
guage. He proves it by the rules Of COM
mon sense. The correct use of language is
taught when children are learning to use it..
| The mistakes they hear and initiate before
they are eight or nine years Old abide with
them through life, or are uprOOted only by
the most persistent effort and selt-watchful-
ness After bad habits of speech are formed
children are set to learning names and COM
binations of arbitrary phrases, defining g, reti-
| ming, and hair-splitting lot of incohcrent
and meaningless terms; parslng and anal
wing to the utmost nicely upon the ques-
ton whether an atlverbial phrase or a par
ticipial adjective is the subject or object of
! some verb on the other side OF the page.
The whole hasabOut as much practical bear
ing upon reading and understanding good
English as the old schOOlmen's question as
to how many angels can stand upon the
point of needle has to the ability of a man
away with hisneighbOr's wife. Then comes
"diagraming" and other rigmarole, often
crushing and destroying the essence of the
beautiful thought or majestic sentence in
some great English masterpiece. Parsing
is waste of time, both to teacher and pupil.
And the more analytical and precise it is,
the more useless and absurd it becomes.
AS rule definitions are only combinations
of words, and the man with the latest gram
mar simply gives the combination new
twist. They befog the pupils mind and
have as little influence upon the correctness
of his language as the definitions in die
tionary of the steam-engine and its parts,
have upon the success of a locomotive build
er, or a bOiler-maker in his business.
This subject was recently discussed by the
teachers of st. Louis, and all those who took
part in the discussion favored the abolition
of the present teaching of grammar. They
advocated instruction in the language and
in the proper use Of words, by means OF con-
versatiOn, pictures and other methods, in
stead of rules, definitions and analyses,
which do not teach the Use Oflanguage. One
teacher said he wanted Il new method Of
teaching the English language in common
sense way; and anothersaid that the gram
mar as now taught was more of curse than
blessing.
Grammar, at the best is onlythe technical
science of the language, and is worth the
study only of those who make language IA
speciality If it were not taught in the
schools, not one person in Il thousand would
voluntarily take it up. 1t would become
like botany or entomOlogy-a hobby, a pas,
time or pursuit for those whose taste and
leisure led them voluntarily to its study.
But, as common school and general study,
it on ght to be banished. Those people who
do not love and admire flowers are destitute
of some of the senses that give pleasure.
Those who do not admire good English are
equally rare. Yet neither botany or gram
mar is essential to any appreciation of the
flowers of the field or the flowers Of litera-
ture. In a certain class in Yale College, the
best writer of English never saw the inside
of an English grammar. How much of his
youth did Shakespeare spend in the study of
English grammar?
Of course, no one has the slightest idea
that grammar will be abolished in our
schools. Every school-boOk publisher in
the land would forbid it, and school-boards
would not, in the face of their prohibition,
dare to suggest, much less carry out, such
evoution.-DetrOH Free Press.