1871 printing of the 1871 copyrighted text. No information on the author is given, although the author is presumably one of the publishers. The preface explains that twelve-year-olds should be able to speak and write accurately, avoid vulgarisms, and detect errors. While most methods of teaching grammar incorrectly focus on memorization, this text is interested in teaching the practical use of language. This is done through observation (or perception) of correct models, imitation of those models, and finally construction of correct sentences. Observation of correct sentences is guided with questions. The text is organized into punctuation, objects, pictorial illustrations (pictures), brief narratives, poems to be rewritten into prose, letter writing, longer narratives, and activities of classifying words. The Schultz Archive copy is roughly the complete text.
1876 printing of the 1876 copyrighted text. A revised edition of the "popular" 1871 text. Preface explains it strives to teach children to use language, and is meant for nine, ten, and eleven-year-olds. The work is divided into two parts: part one for the year when students read the Third Book in a series of readers, part two for the succeeding year. Students are meant to write in response to the book's questions, the teacher is meant to correct these answers, and students are then to revise them. Illustrations are used to teach children through observation and to teach them facts of natural history. Part one is organized into chapters covering punctuation, words classed by use, errors, descriptions, comparisons, , objects, pictures, and genres (poetry, prose, letters, receipts, advertisements). Questions and sample teacher-students conversations are used throughout. The Schultz Archive's copy is roughly the complete text.
1835 printing of the 1834 copyrighted text. The text uses pictorial illustrations to aid in the instruction of parts of speech. The text covers orthography, etymology and syntax. The syntax sections has examples to be parsed. The Schultz Archive's copy is roughly the complete text.
1831 printing of the 1831 copyrighted text of the Third Edition, Enlarged and Improved. This text is an abstract of a larger book. The directions for teachers says the book may be used with "children from five to eight or twelve years of age." The author states, in the preface, that as grammar is founded in custom, its best to teach students grammar by induction, allowing them to form rules based on their own knowledge of language. The first section of introductory exercises focuses on the senses as a source of knowledge. The second section is inductive exercises for different classes of words, such as nouns, articles, adjectives, and verbs, as well as different cases, such as nominative, possessive, imperative, intransitive, etc. A series of questions is used for each to help a student understand each classification. The final section is Orthography and Orthoepy. Periodically, the text has a section of recapitulation, wherein it asks a series of review questions. The Schultz Archive's copy is roughly the complete text.
1828 printing, the second edition, copyrighted 1827. Short book focusing on exercises etymological and syntactical parsing that grow in difficulty over each chapter. The work attempts to make the study of English grammar easier through classification of the forms of English construction. It is to be used after students have committed the rules of grammar to memory. There are forty lessons in all. Some use quotations by distinguished authors. The Schultz Archive's copy is roughly the complete text.
No printing year given. 1897 copyrighted text. The author is a Ph.D. and credited as President of Swarthmore College. Based on two leading ideas: progressive exercises in composition and an inductive approach to grammar. The work is divided into sentences exercises and composition exercises. The exercises are based on occupations, nature, history, and great literature. Pictorial illustrations are used to stimulate the imagination. Book I of the text is for third and fourth graders. Book II is for fifth and sixth graders. The author credits the influence of Baron, Junghann, and Schindler. The Schultz Archive's copy is roughly the complete text of Book I.
1870 printing of the 1870 copyrighted text. The author is credited as the author of books on logic, discourse, composition, and literature. The book is based on Day's rhetoric that argues thought is the starting point for teaching rhetoric, composition, and grammar rather than style and form. The text is aimed at students of different levels, using various font sizes for each: the larger fonts for the young, smallest for older or more advanced. The introductory lessons cover parts of speech. These are followed by sections on concrete nouns (object lessons), attributes, distinctions of nouns, modifying elements, abnormal forms, construction, and explanation. Oral and written exercises are included throughout. The Schultz Archive's copy is roughly the complete text.
1847 printing. No copyright date provided. The author is credited as Editor of the United States Gazette. A grammar handbook for those who feel "the need of simple and familiar explanations and illustrations, and oft-repeated rules." Chandler claims that this textbook is intended to present grammar instruction in a more interesting manner than it is usually presented. He claims that his text accomplishes this goal through the use of familiar language, numerous examples and illustrations, and through exercises in parsing. Chandler does not intend for this textbook to replace the grammar instructor, but that the book should be used as an effective supplement to in-class instruction. The Schultz Archive only includes a brief excerpt of the cover page, preface and the first 11 pages of content. The scans are good quality, but there are a few markings that obscure the text.
1842 printing. No copyright date given. No information on the authors is provided. The authors' text begins with a brief discussion of the inefficacy of the previous method of instructing grammar and composition, which included a heavy emphasis on rule memorization and the reading--and subsequent copying of--classic texts. The authors, instead, advocate a more "natural" approach to the acquisition of grammar and composition: practice, object use and familiarity. The authors propose students should be given the chance to copy short pieces by good authors to learn neatness and exactness. They then work with writing about familiar objects, exchanging their work and correcting each other's errors, discussing their work as a class, then having their instructor provide feedback for correction. The authors suggest beginning with concrete objects that are near the students and progressing through to more complex abstract ideas and series of objects in order to assist in the acquisition of composition abilities. The Schultz Archive includes the complete text (although it is a fairly short text), and the quality of the scans is fairly good; however, there are a few places where markings on the text are somewhat distracting.
The second edition, printed 1859, copyrighted 1858. The work begins with twenty pages of certificates: words of praise from various people. A grammar handbook aimed at a wide audience of readers who wish to become "grammarians." Based on Lindley Murray's Grammar and the work of Samuel Kirkham, the author seeks to establish a more effective and systematic method of teaching students to parse and correct. For each grammatical principle Caldwell offers a number of questions and answers to elucidate the system of grammar. Students are expected to memorize the answers (the rules). Examples of false orthography, false syntax, and false punctuation are used to teach correcting. The Schultz Archive only includes a brief excerpt, but the scans are good quality. However, some highlighter obscures text throughout.