Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Practical Composition and Rhetoric
What should be most emphasized in a text-book on English composition is a question of much difficulty. My chief concern has been to discover what could be omitted rather than what could be included. The aim of the teacher of composition should be to bring his students into such an attitude of mind that a subject may be to them a genuine question to be answered, and not a mere occasion for combining words into sentences without regard to the thought. I have, therefore, laid especial emphasis on the choice and treatment of themes. If a writer can form the habit of choosing one sharply defined topic and of telling exactly what he thinks, the imperfect details of his composition can be corrected by reading and practice. I need scarcely remark that no book of instructions will make a finished writer. Only constant practice and merciless criticism by the writer himself can yield the desired result. My purpose is, therefore, rather to develop a few general principles than to prescribe definite rules.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
