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ROBERT ARMSTRONG,

HEAD MASTER, NORMAL INSTITUTION, EDINBURGH.

PART I.

EDINBURGH: SUTHERLAND AND KNOX.
LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO.

1851.

302.c.2.

1

1

PREFACE.

THE present work, intended for the use of Schools, will consist of Two Parts, of which the First is now submitted to the public. It is divided into Four Books, the First of which treats of the Simple Sentence; the Second, of the Complex Sentence; and the Third, of Punctua tion and Dictation. In the Fourth Book, application is made of the principles laid down in the preceding divisions; and the pupil begins the Construction of Simple Narrative, for which his previous exercises will have been a sufficient preparation. The course embraced in Part I. is calculated to extend over a session of

one year.

Part II. will treat of the higher branches of English Composition, and will be published, it is intended, at the beginning of next session.

INTRODUCTION.

ECONOMY of time in the class-room has been prominently kept in view in the present work, which is intended for the use of Schools.

The exercises are

so planned as to afford ample employment to the pupils when left to themselves, and proceed upon a system of gradation calculated to render their progress easy and interesting. They will also be found convenient for home work; and, when performed, should be criticised by the master in presence of the class. Those prescribed for Oral Composition, in particular, will afford him a favourable opportunity of illustrating and suggesting in that familiar style so much calculated to give confidence and produce advantageous results in this branch of education.

Keeping in view that the great end of Composition is to cultivate habits of thought and discrimination, the Author has made it his aim to divest the exercises, as much as possible, of a mechanical character. This principle is particularly developed in Book IV., where the various "Heads," intended for the guid

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