Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1921 edition. Excerpt: ... chapter xh some common faults and their correction no book, however elementary or however short, dealing with speech matters, would be complete without some discussion on some of the most popular errors of speech. One must know what to do, but one must also know what to avoid. Again one is at a disadvantage, in that custom stales the ear to the recognition of errors which are part of the local speech of one's home community. Careful examination and comparison with good forms of speech will disclose anything that may be incorrect, as well as provide a pattern on which to base reconstruction work. "Out of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh," but not very successfully unless the head also be full. All progressive schools are now grading pupils much more frequently as the result of the Simon Binet psychology tests, than through the old style examination method. These tests are very varied, covering all phases of the process of thought. It is significant, therefore, that if there is not time, for any reason, for a complete analysis of a subject, or time for only one specific medium for analysis, the vocabulary test is invariably the medium chosen. It is not the spelling of the word which is required--that is relatively unimportant--but the ability to understand and to explain the meaning of the word. The mental age and development is judged by the number of words in a given list which the subject can explain the meaning of, and possibly form sentences in which such words occur, demonstrating their proper use. If this knowledge of words--spoken sound--is so important that it can be used as a basis on which to calculate the mental age of a person, then surely the study of such words is also highly important. A large vocabulary means
