77-88-4 • June, 197. Gift of the Publishers. TRANSFERRED TO HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY PREFACE THE author has prepared this little volume with the hope that it may aid in producing more satisfactory results in first year English in high schools. The subject matter follows closely the outline of the New York 1905 Regents syllabus, and is designed to furnish material for all the work required outside of the prescribed texts. Certain features such as topical outlines, character sketches, narration, description, etc., which are on the whole new to first year work, have been made especially prominent, while drill in punctuation, letter writing, and sentence analysis has not been neglected. In punctuation the author has followed in the main the editing rules of the New York State Education Department, and in letter writing the forms current in official letters sent out by that department. While the work has been written with the needs of New York schools immediately in view, it is believed that it can be advantageously used for first year work in high schools throughout the country. Where the work has not been definitely organized, the author suggests that the appended outline, drawn for high schools of New York State, be adopted in whole or in part. Regents questions, as well as extracts from the prescribed literature, have been freely used for exercises and illustrations. Indeed, the work is based largely on the readings of the course, although the author has made no attempt to supply the detailed information which belongs to editions of the texts themselves. In regard to Chapter I, on oral composition, it may be stated that it was not the intention of the author to give an exhaustive summary of the work to be done along this line, but rather to suggest the kind of topics to be covered and the methods to be employed. The teacher should always bear in mind that no pupil can write until he has something to say, a fact which has been kept constantly in view in the presentation of the constructive work contained in this book. The author desires to acknowledge her indebtedness to Miss Jane K. Weatherlow, whose suggestions and criticisms have been invaluable. OUTLINE OF WORK IN ENGLISH FOR THE FIRST YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL FIRST HALF Literature. The general purpose of teaching literature in the first year is to arouse an interest in reading, to teach how to read, and to develop, through reading, the power to form vivid mental pictures. To this end books should be selected, first of all, for their wholesome interest to boys and girls. They should be chosen also with a view to multiply the student's interests and thus to prepare him to read other books to advantage. Some, for example, may treat of chivalry, some of romance, others of history, and still others of the classic myths and mediæval legends. Required for reading. One from each of the follow ing groups: I Coleridge. The Ancient Mariner. Macaulay. Lays of Ancient Rome. Lowell. The Vision of Sir Launfal. II Scott. Ivanhoe. Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities. Gaskell. Cranford. Suggested. Narratives in both prose and verse by various authors, for example, Scott, Cooper, Tennyson, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Whittier, Stevenson, and Kipling, and a good trans'ation of the Iliad or the Odyssey. Composition and rhetoric. The general purpose of teaching composition and rhetoric in the first year is to secure facility in expression, with some degree of accuracy. To this end students should write many compositions. While the criticism of the teacher must be concerned with matters of grammar, spelling, and punctuation it should be largely constructive. The work of the term should be as follows: 1 Letter writing with attention to substance as well as to form. 2 Short themes, both oral and written, based on the experience of the student and on the literature of the term. Emphasis shall be laid on narration. 3 A review of capitalization and of the simpler principles of punctuation. Elementary study of the principles of unity and coherence as applied to the whole composition and to sentences in compositions. Grammar. The analysis of easy sentences and the application of the principles of grammar in composition. |