THE EDINBURGH HIGH SCHOOL FRENCH CONVERSATION-GRAMMAR ARRANGED ON AN ENTIRELY NEW PLAN, WITH QUESTIONS For the Use of Schools and Private Students BY CHARLES HENRI SCHNEIDER, F.E.I.S. FRENCH MASTER IN THE HIGH SCHOOL, THE SCHOOL OF ARTS, AND WATT'S EDINBURGH A. & C. BLACK, AND BELL & BRADFUTE MDOCCLXI. 4.73. From Dr SCHMITZ, Rector of the High School of Edinburgh. 9 REGENT TERRACE, July 24, 1861. MY DEAR SIR-I beg to state that I have been very much PREFACE. WE already possess so many good French Grammars, that a new one may appear superfluous. The daily increasing intercourse, however, between England and France, and the greater necessity, not only of understanding, but also of speaking French, will perhaps justify the publication of a Grammar which offers more practicable methods of instruction than any previous works of the same nature. In the teaching of modern languages, a Conversational System is best adapted for attaining the desired result; and it is a great error when pupils are allowed to learn the language by the eye, without the aid of the ear. In the study of modern languages, But if the pupils the foreign idiom presents the chief difficulty. be accustomed, from the very beginning, to understand the easy questions which the teacher addresses to them in French, and if they be required to answer in the same language, op subjects already known to them, they will, in a very short time, be enabled, by the combined exercise of ear and tongue, to express their thoughts fluently and correctly in the foreign idiom. To aid me in carrying out this system in all my classes, I published my High School Reader. In this work nearly every lesson is followed by a questionnaire, which enables both master and pupil to converse in French upon the subject of the lesson they have just read. The Reader has succeeded far beyond my expectations; it has been introduced into some of the principal schools, not only of Scotland, but of England, and has already reached the seventh edition. The Grammar now published contains three distinct Parts. In the First, all the different parts of speech, except the Verb, are treated at some length; all the rules are stated in as simple terms as possible, and are illustrated by suitable examples. The new feature in this Grammar is the questionnaire, which, along with the answers, will enable the master to converse with his pupils in French, on the rules which they have already learned in English, and in this way to imprint these rules indelibly on the minds of his pupils. The Exercises are also arranged on the conversational system in each lesson there are three; the first to be translated from French into English in the class; the second, from English into French; and the third to be written at home. The Second Part contains all the Verbs, both Regular and Irregular.* Here also a questionnaire is subjoined to each lesson, but no answers are supplied, as pupils at this stage of progress ought to answer the questions without any such assistance. The Syntax forms the Third Part. Pupils who have mastered the preceding two sections, can have no difficulty in understanding the rules contained in this part, though they are all stated in French. The Exercises are also entirely in French, with errors left on purpose, which the pupil will have to correct according to the rules prefixed. With this prefatory explanation, I submit my work to the candid judgment of my professional brethren and of the public. HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH, * The Verbs contained in the Second Part must be learned by the pupils along with the lessons contained in the First Part. |