The Art of Writing and Speaking the English Language Sherwin Cody If there is a subject of really universal interest and utility, it is the art of writing and speaking one's own language effectively. It is the basis of culture, as we all know; but it is infinitely more than that: it is the basis of business. No salesman can sell anything unless he can explain the merits of his goods in effective English (among our people), or can write an advertisement equally effective, or present his ideas, and the facts, in a letter. Indeed, the way we talk, and write letters, largely determines our success in life. Now it is well for us to face at once the counter-statement that the most ignorant and uncultivated men often succeed best in business, and that misspelled, ungrammatical advertisements have brought in millions of dollars. It is an acknowledged fact that our business circulars and letters are far inferior in correctness to those of Great Britain; yet they are more effective in getting business. As far as spelling is concerned, we know that some of the masters of literature have been atrocious spellers and many suppose that when one can sin in such company, sinning is, as we might say, a "beauty spot", a defect in which we can even take pride.
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
The publication features two titles, 'Word-Study' and 'Composition & Rhetoric', from the popular classic series on writing and speaking by Sherwin Cody. An easy way to learn how to communicate clearly and effectively.
Excerpt from The Art of Writing and Speaking the English Language, Vol. 1: Word-Study Again, those words called homonyms, which are pronounced alike but spelled differently, can be stud led only in connection with their meaning, since the meaning and grammatical use in the sentence is our only key to their form. SO we have to go consider ably beyond the mere mechanical association of let ters. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
"Do You Make These Mistakes in English?" Sherwin Cody was an American writer and entrepreneur who developed a long-running home-study course in speaking and writing with an advertisement with this title. A critic of traditional English education, Cody advocated colloquial style and grammar. He asked: What is the reason so many of us are deficient in the use of English and find our careers stunted in consequence? Why is it some cannot spell correctly and others cannot punctuate? Why do so many find themselves at a loss for words to express their meaning adequately? The reason for the deficiency is clear: Most persons do not write or speak good English simply because they never formed the habit of doing so. Most persons use only common words -- colorless, flat, ordinary. Their speech and their letters are lifeless, monotonous, humdrum. If there is a subject of really universal interest and utility, it is the art of writing and speaking one's own language effectively. It is the basis of culture, as we all know; but it is infinitely more than that: it is the basis of business. No salesman can sell anything unless he can explain the merits of his goods in effective English (among our people), or can write an advertisement equally effective, or present his ideas, and the facts, in a letter. The way we talk, and write letters, largely determines our success in life. Now it is well for us to face at once the counter-statement that the most ignorant and uncultivated men often succeed best in business, and that misspelled, ungrammatical advertisements have brought in millions of dollars. As far as spelling is concerned, we know that some of the masters of literature have been atrocious spellers and many suppose that when one can sin in such company, sinning is, as we might say, a "beauty spot", a defect in which we can even take pride. There is a general belief that while bad air may be a positive evil influence, incorrect use of language is at most no more than a negative evil: that while it may be a good thing to be correct, no special harm is involved in being incorrect. The ordinary person conceives of good use of language as an accomplishment to be learned from books, a prim system of genteel manners to be put on when occasion demands, a sort of superficial education in the correct thing, or, as the boys would say, "the proper caper." In this, however, he is mistaken. Language which expresses the thought with strict logical accuracy is correct language. Language which is sufficiently rich in its resources to express thought fully is effective language. If the writer or speaker has a sufficient stock of words and forms at his disposal, he has only to use them in a strictly logical way and with sufficient fullness to be both correct and effective. The unfortunate thing is that teachers of language have failed to go to the root of the trouble, and enormous effort has counted for nothing, and besides has led to discouragement. The right kind of language-teaching will give us power, a kind of eloquence, a skill in the use of words. That help us to write advertisements that pull business, write letters that win customers, and speak in effective ways to sell goods. (From the Introduction) Those who take advantage of this study gain something so priceless that it cannot be measured in terms of money. They gain a facility in speech that marks them as educated people in whatever society they find themselves. They gain the self-confidence and self-respect which this ability inspires. This is a classic reference that belongs on every writer's shelf. Get Your Copy Now.
This classic volume from American education icon, Sherwin Cody, is among the most essential books ever written on the subject of improving general written and spoken the English language. Cody cites works from the greats of writing and diplomacy including Stephen Crane, Charles Dickens and Abraham Lincoln and employs these examples as a means of teaching the reader supreme English skill.
The Art of Writing & Speaking the English Language Word-Study and Composition & Rhetoric Sherwin Cody If there is a subject of really universal interest and utility, it is the art of writing and speaking one's own language effectively We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.
