The study of grammar requires some use of mental power; but
when it is presented to pupils by the aid of an object which, in itself
and in what it does, illustrates the subject and the predicate of a
sentence, the work of comprehending the offices which words perform is
rendered comparatively easy. Having the skeleton thus furnished, and
with the eyes and minds of the pupils fixed upon an object that
possesses known and appreciable powers and qualities, it is not
difficult for the teacher to construct a sentence that shall contain
words of several parts of speech, all understood, because the
grammatical office of each was seen even before the word itself was
used. This work may be commenced when the child is young, and very
satisfactory results ought to be secured as soon as the pupil is in
other respects qualified to enter a grammar school. The pupil should be
trained in reading as an art; that is, with the purpose of expressing
whatever is intellectual and emotional in the text. Satisfactory results
cannot at first be secured by much reading; it seems wiser for the
teacher to select an extract, paragraph, or single sentence only, and
drill a pupil or a class until the meaning of the author is
comprehended, and accurately or even artistically expressed. This can be
done only when the teacher reads the passage again and again in the best
manner possible.
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