1891 printing of 1891 copyrighted text. The author is credited with a Master of Arts and as the author of several texts. The preface (A Talk with Teachers) argues that language should be taught directly, systematically, and persistently to students in the primary grades and that a textbook is a necessary tool to supplement oral instruction. It argues against the teaching of spelling and punctuation, technical grammar, pictures for stories, and poetry. Furthermore, excellence in language is attained through observation and practice, the observing of models of writing and the composing of original compositions. It focuses on: the sentence and the paragraph, chief parts and their helpers, the thought and language of the exercises, common errors, letter-writing, and opportunities for work. The Schultz Archive copy is perhaps the complete text. It contains roughly the first 253 pages of the text.
1909 printing of text copyrighted in 1877, 1885, 1896, and 1909. Reed is credited with a Master of Arts and as Formerly Instructor in English Grammar in the Polytechnic Institute, Brooklyn. Kellogg is credited with a Doctor of Laws of English degree and as Formerly Dean of the Faculty and Professor of the English Language and Literature in the Polytechnic Institute, Brooklyn. Publishers' note attests to the widespread use and popularity of the text. The preface states the book traces the easy steps and natural development of the sentence, beginning with the leading facts and then descending to details. The preface also connects the study of the sentence to the laws of discourse, translation, discipline, paragraphs, and the text's use of diagrams. The Schultz Archive copy contains preface, authors' note to the edition of 1896, and pages 374 – 442, which cover lessons in composition and the index.
1895 printing of the 1895 copyrighted text. Reed is credited with a Master of Arts degree. Kellogg is credited with a Doctor of Laws of English degree. Together they are credited as the authors of two other texts of English lessons. A complete, consecutive, and carefully graded series of inductive lessons in composition-writing, emphasizing habits of close, logical observation and the discipline of taste. Subjects covered include capitals, abbreviations, punctuation; noun and verb agreement; possessive and explanatory modifiers; the complex sentence; noun clause--construction; construction of pronouns; construction of gender-forms; qualities of style; versification; letter writing; and conjugation. The Schultz Archive's copy is roughly the complete text, but even numbered pages are cut off on the edge of one side, making some of them difficult to fully decipher. End of binding features excerpt from Word-Building with Roots, or Stems, and Prefixes and Suffixes.