Grammar and rhetoric, as too often presented in the schools, are such
uninviting studies that when
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school-days are ended, the books are laid aside, and are rarely
consulted afterward. The custom of formally burning the text-books
after the final examinations-- a custom that prevails in some
institutions-- is but an emphatic method of showing how the students
regard the subjects treated in the books.
If all the rules and principles had been thoroughly mastered, the huge
bonfire of text-books in grammar and rhetoric might be regarded a
fitting celebration of the students' victory over the difficulties of
"English undefiled." But too often these rules are merely memorized by
the student for the purpose of recitation, and are not engrafted upon
his everyday habit of speech. They are, therefore, soon forgotten, and
the principles involved are subject to daily violation.
Hence arises the need of books like SLIPS OF SPEECH, in which the
common faults of speakers and writers are pointed out, and the correct
use of words shown. Brief and informal in treatment, they will be read
and consulted when the more voluminous text-books will be left
untouched.
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