KEY ΤΟ RUDIMENTS OF ENGLISH COMPOSITION. OTHE BY ALEXANDER REID, A. M., Rector of the Circus-Place School, Edinburgh Author of "Rudiments EDINBURGH: PUBLISHED BY OLIVER & BOYD, TWEEDDALE COURT; AND SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., LONDON. 1843. PREFACE. IN publishing the following Key, the Author begs to state that it is designed solely for the convenience of Teachers. That they may use it in such a way as not to defeat the principal object of the Rudiments of English Composition, namely, to train Pupils to think for themselves, and to give ready and correct expression to their thoughts; and that the latter may not be permitted to abuse it, if it should fall into their hands; he submits the following directions for teaching the Rudiments of English Composition with the help of the Key. The Exercises may be divided into three classes,— sentences which contain errors to be corrected,-sentences and passages in which words or clauses are to be supplied, or the inflection, expression, construction, or arrangement varied,-and essays to be written from detached sentences, hints, heads, or according to a prescribed method. The Exercises in the first of these classes can generally be corrected only in one way. It is therefore recommended to the Teacher, that he cause his Pupils to correct them orally in the class, and to state the principle or rule by which the correction is made. The second class of Exercises may be performed in various ways. These may therefore be written, partly in the class, and partly at home, according to the direction given in the Preface to the Rudiments of English Composition; but the Teacher ought not to take from the Pupils the particular form of the sentence or passage given in the Key. He may read it to them for the purpose of showing how the sentence or passage may be varied; but he should require them to write it in a different form. The Exercises in the third class admit of a still greater variety in the mode of performance. The essay of each Pupil, therefore, should be different, not only from the essay in the Key, but from that of every other Pupil. At least one essay in the week should be written by the Pupils at home; but, in order to train them to readiness in expressing their ideas, and at the same time to test their progress, the Teacher should also cause them to practise original composition in the class. When it is necessary for them to collect information on the subjects prescribed, he should require them to mark with inverted commas the passages directly quoted, and to mention, at the end of each essay, the books which they have consulted. EDINBURGH, July 1843. |