HOW TO TEACH GRAMMAR: ILLUSTRATED IN A SERIES OF NOTES OF LESSONS. BY T. J. LIVESEY, Muster of Method, and Lecturer on School Management, Author of "How to Teach Arithmetic," "How to Teach Reading," etc.; etc. Price 2s. Od. LONDON: MOFFATT AND PAIGE, 28, WARWICK LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. 30279. J. PREFACE. THIS work is not meant to supersede the Text Book on Grammar, but rather to prepare the way for an intelligent use of it. Text Books present to us a complete picture of the subject: this is little more than an outline. But in teaching Drawing,—or rather, in teaching a child to observe what is to be drawn, before trying to reproduce it, we do not, to begin with, place a complete picture, before the child, and burden him with a multitude of details. Do we not at first sketch, or "block in," such a rough outline as the untrained observation can grapple with, and then, little by little, add detail to detail? So should we do in Grammar. Again the chromo-lithographer does not print off a complete picture by one impression. For each colour he has a separate stamping. His second impression is placed upon his first; his third overlies his second; his fourth is superposed on his third, and so on. The uses or So should it be in teaching Grammar. functions of the parts of speech should be taught first, and thoroughly mastered; then the changes or inflections which the parts of speech undergo; then the relations which the parts of speech may stand in, with regard to the other words with which they are associated. It has been urged against "Notes of Lessons," that they tend to make the teacher, who uses them, wooden and mechanical. If the notes are elaborate, and are slavishly followed, this is no doubt true; but in the following series there is room enough left for the teacher to draw upon his own resources, and to exercise his own judgment and originality. The "Notes" lay claim to be suggestive, but not exhaustive. The writer has assumed a knowledge of the subject on the part of the teacher. He has simply laid down the broad lines along which he is to travel, and set up finger-posts to guide him on his way—that is all. To Mr. Mason's excellent Grammar, and to a very interesting and able lecture of his on the "Current Mistakes in Teaching English Grammar," the writer is glad to acknowledge his indebtedness. HAMMERSMITH, July, 1880. |