1897 copyrighted text. The preface states the work was written to be concise, using simple, untechnical language, for the purpose of practical teaching. Fill-in-the-blank exercises are used, as well as simple exercises in composition. The subjects of the exercises relate to the students' studies. The book includes selections from the writings of Holmes, Longfellow, Franklin, Warner, Scudder, Burroughs, Frank Dempster Sherman, Alice Cary, Stevenson, and Tarbell. The chapters cover the sentence, parts of speech (in several different sections), inflection, elements of the sentence, and classification of the sentence (which includes parts on letter writing). The Schultz Archive copy contains the preface, TOC, and a selection of pages containing the composition exercises.
1902 copyrighted text. Kavana is credited as Teacher of English in the Medill High School in Chicago. Beatty is credited as Instructor in English in the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Designed as a three year course for high school students, this text emphasizes technique and the studio method, using literature as the subject matter to avoid teaching rhetoric and composition as abstract science or mechanical detail. The first year is narration and description separately and then combined. The second year is exposition with narration and description with an emphasis on the book review, historical and biographical essays, and the nature sketch. The third year is argumentation and persuasion as found in debate, oration, and drama. It includes exercises in punctuation, word choice, and sentence structure. Themes are drawn from life and students are encouraged to choose their own subjects. Pictorial illustrations are included. The Schultz Archive's copy is roughly the complete text.
1898 copyrighted text. The second of a two-book course for students in seventh and eighth grade—see first part: Primary Grammar and Composition. The preface states the book aims to be concise, using brief and clear definitions, and to use ample illustrations of its principles from works by masters of English. Exercises are used for practice in parsing or for discussion. Part one is devoted to the treatment of the sentence as a whole; part two develops matters of etymology, as well as phrases and clauses; part three covers syntax as well as capitalization, punctuation, and rhetorical figures; part four cover prosody and kinds of composition. The Schultz Archive copy contains the preface, TOC, pages 260 – 301 (covering kinds of composition and the style and art of composition), and the topic index. The copies are of varying quality, some of which are difficult to read.