THE HABIT OF GOOD ENGLISH.

The work of the instructors of English composition in the University is made exceedingly difficult and more or less futile by the fact that outside of the courses actually devoted to composition, little or no emphasis is laid upon the quality of the English used. It is frequently so completely ignored that the grade of A is given on a paper in which the sense is almost obscured by the fine scorn of the first elements of composition. The only way in which a man may hope to write good, clear English is by acquiring the habit of so doing. And it is perfectly useless to put him through a year or more of training in composition if he loses the habit as soon as he completes the course, for the mere reason that respectable English is not insisted upon in his later work. That it is not insisted upon is the almost universal testimony of instructors who have had much to do with theses and reports.

We do not appear to be in a position to apply the unwritten standards of the English universities, which consider faulty expression a breach of decency. We must, therefore, find some mechanical means for checking the continued use of incorrect English. The system, in vogue in some other colleges, whereby a man who consistently uses poor English in his reports and theses is remanded to an elementary course in composition which does not count for a degree, offers a practicable and, on the whole, an effective solution.