Series VI
(Other Punctuation Points)
The period, the question mark, exclamation point and other signs of punctuation:
In this series should be given dialogues, interesting stories, passages which express emotional states of mind vividly portrayed. Such selections, as is true also of our shorter passages, ought to be taken from the best writers, distinguished by the naturalness and vivacity of their style and the use of an accurate orthographical technique. At this point we make use of the selections used for our "interpretations," since the question of punctuation coincides with the problems of text interpretation itself.
XIV
WORD CLASSIFICATION
The Kinds of Words
In doing the work outlined thus far, the children have acquired considerable resources in vocabulary. They have seen all the articles, prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions, interjections, many of the adverbs; and they know many nouns, adjectives, and verbs, which will be increased in number as their culture is widened. They know something also of the use of the parts of speech and their functions in the expression of thought. This is the natural place for a classification in retrospect of those words which the children have in writing before them on the cards and slips of different colors. Separate tables should be used for these exercises in word grouping.
This new step is preparatory to a theoretical study of language to be developed in later courses in the second period of their education.