ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE 6/ 



used in many simple sentences. The principal parts of 

 a number of the commonly used verbs are learned, as: 

 break, go, see, sit, eat, tell, fall, give, come, take, sing, 

 begin, draw, forget, speak, drive, write, tear, let, (to correct 

 the use of " leave " in the sense of permit), know, blow, do, 

 shine. The pupils learn the four principal forms of the verb, 

 as: break, broke, breaking, broken. They are written upon 

 the board, where a list soon grows, with distinct columns. 

 It must be remembered that this is simply a method to cor- 

 rect speech, not a grammatical learning of conjugations ; 

 consequently, if the pupils speak of the " second form," the 

 "fourth form" of the "word," there is no need to feel 

 troubled. The aim is to learn to use these forms, and the 

 arrangement in columns helps a child greatly in remember- 

 ing which form is used without a " helping word," which one 

 requires such assistance. Incidentally, much grammar is ab- 

 sorbed, even names of forms coming easily to the lips of 

 some of the pupils. Sentence making, in which the various 

 forms of the verbs are used, is an important and frequent 

 part of this drill. So also is the simple saying of the four 

 forms ; calling quickly for the fourth form, the third form. 



A beginning is made in this grade to teach pronouns sys- 

 tematically. The idea of a subject of a sentence is developed 



in order to learn to use I, he, she, correctly. 

 Pronouns 



No attempt is made to teach the grammar 



of these subjects, for third grade children are being dealt 

 with ; but even these little folks quickly get the subject sense 

 in a sentence. At this stage of the work little or nothing is 

 said of me, him, her, as these forms are probably being used 

 correctly. 

 The number of common abverbs in the vocabularies of the 



