"I have been through college. I know something of English Grammar and English Literature. It would be the pleasure of my life to be permitted to impart some of what I know to you."
"Oh!—but it would take years, and years, and—then some," she put in.
"Not a bit of it! It would take an hour or two of an evening, maybe twice a week. That is all,—provided you went over and learned in between times all that was given you to master."
"Gee! I could do that. You just try me."
"Well, Rita. Here is your first lesson.
"Never say 'gee.' It is not good English."
And I never heard Rita use the expression again.
I had expected to see her smile with happiness, but she was too tremendously in earnest about it. Determination was written all over her sweet little face.
"George,—I'll learn anything you tell me. I'll work hard and I'll learn terrible fast, for I know I ain't no good now at talking slick."
"Here is another for you, Rita. Never say 'ain't no good.' Say, 'I am not any good.' 'Ain't' is not a word; it does not appear in any standard dictionary of English.