The Writing of English [antikvár]

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION i. The plan of this book, as it was originally conceived, may be briefly summed up as follows :- (1)The English boy cannot write English. (2)The English boy is not taught to write English. (3)The French boy can write French. (4)The French boy can write French because he is taught how to write. (5)Historical reasons for the foregoing facts. (6)How the French boy is taught to write. (7)How the English boy may be taught to write. To this plan I have kept fairly close; but the whole substance of my essay has been modified by the conclusions arrived at in working it out. In dealing with the ' writing of English ' it is the practical aspect of the question that strikes one first. The scandalous incapacity of the English boy to write clear English carries with it such obvious disabilities that we look at once for a practical remedy. Chapter I (together with other parts of the book) is intended to bring home the bare facts to those head masters, Governing Bodies of Schools, and public authorities generally who still ignore them, and to help in the fight for the introduction of English into the curriculum of our Secondary Schools for boys. It will not unreasonably be asked how the opportunity for teaching the mother tongue is to be used when once it