The following suggestive signs[5] may be used in the margin of themes, indicating the presence of errors, the actual errors to be discovered by the pupil for himself. Some teachers will prefer a simpler system of symbols, some a more elaborate system. The suggested list can easily be modified or supplanted.

Ms.Bad manuscript.
✓.Some obvious fault—a mark which will be used more and more frequently as the student’s knowledge increases. The check-mark will frequently indicate bad spelling or punctuation, or fault in capitalizing.
Sp.Bad spelling (see under check-mark).
Hy.Fault in use of hyphen.
P.Fault in punctuation (see also under check-mark).
Cap.Fault in the use of a capital letter (see check-mark).
L.Too loose; structure rambling.
S.Solecism.
C.Structure incoherent.
E.Lack of emphasis in sentence.
U.Lack of unity in sentence.
Tr.Transpose order of words.
V.Vague.
A.Ambiguous.
¶U.Lack of unity in paragraph.
¶.Proper place for a paragraph.
(.Run two paragraphs together.
[].Passages within brackets to be omitted.
.Dele, take out, omit; a mark used in correcting printer’s proof.
|.Against a passage requiring to be wholly recast.
Ri.Unnecessary repetition of idea.
?.Questions truth of statement.
B.Barbarism.
I.Impropriety.
W.Wordy.
H.High-flown, inflated, or over-ambitious.
D.Consult the dictionary.
Hack.Hackneyed.
Bw.Better word needed—a more exact or appropriate word.
Rw.Unnecessary repetition of a word.
M.Metaphors mixed, or other fault in the use of figures of speech.
K.Awkward, ugly, or unpleasing.
Bt.Bad taste.

A strong notebook of portable size is needed for the work in spelling and vocabulary. It should be used from the first for noting new words, etc. [See page 199.]

A FIRST BOOK
IN
WRITING ENGLISH

CHAPTER I
THE ART OF WRITING ENGLISH

An Art of Communication.—Language may be studied in various ways. It may be scientifically investigated as a historical growth, or as a curious revelation of how the human mind works. This kind of study has pure knowledge for its object; if it learns the laws which govern language, it is satisfied. Again, language may be studied with a view to applying its principles to the art of self-expression. The attempt to find words for one’s ideas has enlivened many a weary hour for many a person who wrote merely for his own satisfaction. But the chief object for which language should be studied is that it may be made a means of communication.

Most that is good in life comes from men’s ability to make their fellows share their thoughts and feelings. But it is not always an easy thing to make others see how we feel or think. The young child is called an infant, a word which means not-speaking. Half his miseries arise from his inability to communicate his notions. “Men are but children of a larger growth,” and much of their misery results from inability to tell what they think or feel. In a sense the case is worse for the man than for the child. The latter makes gestures and grimaces to help his meaning out; and he depends not in vain on pitch and stress. The grown man is partly shorn of these helps, in that he has to communicate by letters and other compositions. How much more work the eye does to-day than the ear! Before the age of printing, things were different.

Both in speaking and in writing there are many special laws that must be observed if there is to be real communication. The special laws of spoken language are not so numerous as those of written language. Written language has to be much more careful than spoken; the writer has no chance of correcting himself on the spot if not understood. Nevertheless a knowledge of how to communicate by written words is a very great help in communicating orally.