The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-07-21
| Iigh School English 8
A Suggestion for Substitution by Arthur Kyle Davis

b.. HI
fore touch briefly upon eaoh Of the two
omissions mentioned, and then Try 70
suggest remedy BY substitution.
(h) Higher Grammar.
The only mention OF grammar In the
! hieh school course. as we shall see
i later, is in the first year of the four
| wear course, where 1t is put along with
lcomposition and clnssics--n very proper
liuxtn position Then for three years
| the student BIDS a long farewell to
grammar. until he falls into the, hands
loc the college professor--at least. such
/ lis the plan outlined.
This fret year of grammar Is not
4 higher grammar If may Judge from
| teachers. With one accord they, tell
me that 1t is simply a review of the
| essentials OF grammat-spelling and
parts of speech, infection and simpler
| syntax. In other words. this first year
| OF high school English is devoted to a
thorough review Of the lower course III
English. Is this sufficient?
If there Is one thing that our modern.
theory of teaching demands more than
another. it Is that all language be
studied in the light of the general laws
OF language and OF thought. After all
grammar is q department OF psych-
ology, inasmuch as we should know the
thoughtfvalues as we'll as the. word VAL
ues of the elements of the sentence.
The system OF classical study always
recognizes this, and there is nm estab-
Ilished method and nomenclature that is
applied always in our Latin, and Greek.
generally in our French and German.
and that Is adopted by our best text
books in English. There is a growing
tendency in this direction. AS an illus
tration, I may quote the following from
ali excellent 1907 treatise on the prin-
ciples OF English grammar:"Coh dition-
al sentences are so familiar q feature
OF Greek and Latin grammar that the
student of tie classics may feel III at
ease unless he has classified such sem.
tonces in accordance with the usages
OF English syntax. AS a matter of
fact, owing to the comparative infre-
cucnce of the subiunctive. the English
conditional sentence scarcely presents
any difficulty. We may, however, clas-
SHY English conditional sentences, like
Latin, into CD logical, (2) ideal and
I (S) unreal" This is really the CLASH
cal method of giving the thought value
of an English expression In how
many of our high schools is q ccndi-
tionaI sentence anything more than a
mere IF clause, without further
meaning and classification?
Let me make mySalf clear on this
lpcint. Just as there are finer shades
OF English idiom, SO there are certain
niceties of English grammar that may
probably never be grasped by the stu
| dent without the rigorous discipline of
the Latin or the Greek, along with the
careful study of the meanderings of
river of English speech. Certainly, the
English subjunctive, In its present neg
lected and amorphous state, must be
| only a puzzle to the student trained
only in present-day English. while such
a well-known textbook as Abbott's
i Shakespearian Grammar is hopeless
! maze without the twin lights Of Latin
and early English. These matters con
i Germ the college, and not the high
school. My plea is not that we put
4 the college work into the high school
/ course but tha! we put the high school
i course in Linz With the college work.
4 While the author quoted above urges
that the stuGcnt of the classics be put
4 in accord With the usages of English
i syntax. l would urge that some time
be devoted to the teaching of English
grammar In accord With the methods
Z. Of misunderstanding and e1psychology
BY this means, even the student thai
cannot pursue a college coures vii
have some Of the benefits Of the
stricter training Of the classics and OF
II logic.
{ The Very nomenclature of grammar
4 is unknown to the high school grad
uate, according to the present course
ii of study. The fact that the broader
movements of syntax or laws of Ian
4 grage operate in Englishis seldom In
4 sisted on. With our ever-new crops
OF grammars. with their special devices
and fresh wording, we are not only
losing the good old nomenclature, but
We are also coming to neglect and look
4 askance at the laws that operate In
1 language. Just as we train the gram
4 mar school pupil to skip all difficulties
4 by the help of diagrams, so we allow
/ our high school papils TO skim all pars.
4 ms with a superficial formula. There
is no going beneath the surface to tbs
s real meaning, or value or. function o,
4 the clause. The classic method in syn.
i tax is growing Obsolete, and we are
Il shaping new ways of our own. It /.
not in photography alone that we are
becoming independent. If there ha.
been a Bacon's Rebellion in spelling
4 we are fast nearing re in our parsing
Now, If we may arrange to give
full half-session to the work of high
er grammar. as shall try to prov,
I practicable, we may hope to have on
high school graduate know that hi
own language has sequence o
: tenEes. an ethical dative. an ideal con
dition, and an accusative and inhni
tive. We may then hope to have tn
Pupil turned over to the college pro
iessor with some knowledge of til
restrictive relative, and even OF th
characteristic reiative7 Is 1t too muc
to ask that all that" clauses sha
not look alike to the student? I'll
lower grammar does insist that til
? distinction be made between the rela
J tive and the conjunction. but there til
! accepted formula ceases. Once gran
the conjunction, and the case rest
Z No mention need be made OF the ma
:. ture and value OF the clause, or Of tn