Year: 1874




in regard to teaching. We propose, in
this article, to speak Of what no one will
deny to be an exceedingly important
part of a complete education. We mean
the art of writing our own language cor
rectly.


If we were. to assert that not one col
lege student in four could write half
dozen pages of his own composition in
such a manner that any well-knownf
printing establishment would be willing
to publish them without alteration, it
would doubtless seem to many persons
Ikea very strange statement. We do
not make this assertion. Perhaps it
would not be true. But if it were made
by any one else, we should by no means
feel sure enough of its incorrectness to
contradict it. 1t is certain that 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
educated people in writing are those con-
nected with punctuation. That many
mistakes of this kind are made is not at
all wonderful. There is good deal of
difference of opinion as to what consti-
tutes correctness in this respect. But the
circumstance that it is not always easy
to determine what point should be used
in particular place is no reason for
writing as if punctuation had never been
invented. If man is in doubt whether
to wear light coat or heavy one on a
September day, it does not necessarily
follow that he should GO in his shirt
sleeves. The diversity of theories in re-
gard to punctuation does not render, for
instance, a long letter on several indie
pendent subjects without a single full
stop, except the one at the end, credita-
BILE either tC the education of the Indi-
vidual who writes it, or to the institu-
tion at which he or she has been taught.


Another class of errors which must be
mentioned, is that of mistakes in gram.
mer. These, it is true, are much less
frequent, among young people of educa-
tion, than deficiencies in respect to pune
tuation. Yet there are thousands of
such persons, who would be highly indig-
nant at the charge of writing ungram-
matical English, to whom 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 "shall I"
and "will might be of material SER
vice.


Quite as common as errors in punctu-
alton, and much more common-among
educated people, at least than mistakes
in grammer, is the misuse of words, and
especially of adjectives. A splendid
dinner is dinner at which there are
large number of guests, and great show
of silver and other handsome table fur
niture. The expression is not appropri-
ate when employed to indicate nice
piece of roast beef and well-cooked veg.
etables for half dozen individuals
This is but one illustration, among many
that might be given, of habtual misap-
plication 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, with
out assistance, letter or composition
of any kind, and if then what had been
written should be printed without alter
alton, and distributed among the parents
and friends of the authors, it would con-
stitute species of examination Of which
we venture to say, few institutions would
be 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 instruc-
tor could for moment be justified in
thus exposing to ridicule his students.


But it would be, in some respects, an
excellent criterion if professors and
teachers in our higher educational insti-
tutions, on perusing the compositions
submitted to their inspection, were to ask
themselves how these productions would
look in print. And here we would make
a suggestion which may be valuable to
some of our college students who are in
dulging hopes of distinguishing them
selves in literature. Il is often the case
that if these young men were to submit
their experiments in writing to the ex-
animation of some good compositor in
printing office, he would be able to give
them valuable instruction which their
Professor of English Literature would
not, and perhaps could not, impart. At
all events, if instruction of this kind Is
furnished by the professors in our col
1 e IL