Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1898-01-27
ENGLISH SPEECH AND WRITING.

MdOy bJuue0th WHO are uhle " iudSo
nice distinctions as TO details OF Eng
lish speech and writirg are, oddly
enough. quito unable to say their
minds on paper with clearnesH, direct
pess and simplicity. Indeed many
youth who knows to q nicely the exact
form Of addressing and coBing a letter,
seems quite unable to discover where
one sentence ends and another begins
This condition is doubtless tho result,
first, of tho fact that young minds
grasp and ksap more easily concrete
facts and details than abstract prirci
pies, and secondly, OF tho fact thar
English composition as ordinarily
taught seems tc DO concerned lees with
general principals than with minute
details. For example young men come
TO college filled TO the hrim with nice
notions as to the propriety OF writing,
I'd and Sd rather than End and 3rd,
and with critical opinions as 10 other
such details, hut with no true skill 10
even the simplest form OF English conf
position.
Now valuable and necessary as is
knowledge of nice details, student
will never learn to write English by
mastery of such things, nor is he likely
to acquire such skill by msmorizing a
multitude Of rules. IL the rules OF
composition are to be practically use
full TO young writer he must first
master the principles that lie behind
the rules, and learn to assign each rule
tu its underlying principle.
One OF the bast recent books on the
art of writing the English tongue is
Prof. Barrett Wentiell's English Com
position" and its chief merit lies in
it's clear and simple statement of few
broad principles. Prof. Wendell recog.
nizes three principles OF style. unity,
mass, and Conference, and three quail
ties os style, clearneHs, force and
elegance. Now il would, OF course, be
vain for teachers in most of our public
and other preparatory schools to at.
tempt in teaching composition to deal
with all these principles and all these
qualities. 1t is possible, however, to
single out what is Immediately essen
tial in these principles and qualities
and to teach those essentials to fairly
Intelligent boys Of IA. Is or l6
Leaving aside all the principles but
Conference, and all the qualities but
olearness, the teacher should explain
that clearness 10 such mode of ex-
preston es shall make plain the mean
ing OF the writer, aud that conference,
the most important principle for the
promotion Of UiearneEs, means such an
arrangement of words in sentences, sen
fences in paragraphs and paragraphs in
whole compositions, as shall make it
impossible sor any reader to mistake
tho relation of the parts. 1t is well 10
teach the subject of conferences, because
il is much more easily grasped than
eith9r unity or mass, and because 1t
underlies very many OF those porplexing
rules of composition that bawilder the
student. Once make a student under
stand that sentence is coherent when
every part is in its right place, aud the
student, If he be fairly well trained in
English grammar, and especially in
that part of English grammar which
has to do with analysis of sentences,
will soon learn to recognize and correct
in his own work and that OF others, in
coherent sentences.
A1y boy that knows his English
grammar, knows for example, that sd-
verbs aud adverbial phrases qualify
verbs. adjectives and other adverbs.
When he learns that the principle oi
conference requires that word or
phrase be placed as near as possible to
the word or phrase it qualities or re-
lates to, he has the key TO the proper
management Of adverbs and their
equivalent phrases. and his sentences
need not lack clearness from the mis-.
placing OF such parts of speech. Know.
ing what adjectives and adjective
phrases qualify, and what conference re-
quires as to the placing Of all words
and phrases, no has also the key to the
management Of the adjective and equiv,
alent phrases. GeneraliZing, he knows
the principle that must govern 10 the
management OF pronouns, propositions
and all such parts OF speech as ure
closely dependent upon or related Il
other parts of speech 10 composition.
The student who has learned thus
much of conference and its relation tc
clearness will be able to tell ut glance
wherein lies the error in such sentences
az, 81 only paid So for all those books, -
and can correct it by putting the advert
"only" where it belongs. When hall
a dozen sentences OF the kind have been
presented to the criticism of the class,
sentences containing less obvious errors
may be presented, and the teacher car
soon develop in the pupils critica
faculty equal to the detection of OK
tremely elusive errors. If along with
jr:orrect sentences are presented sen
fences conspicuous for excellence in
the matter OF conference, not only is thu
students critical faculty sharpened, hui
! his taste ia educated, and his construc
tive powers are developed.