February, 1938 57 Do You Make These Mistakes in English? T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Sherwin Cody’s remarkable invention has enabled more than 100,000 people to correct their mistakes in English. Only 15 minutes a day required to improve your speech and writing
M ANY persons use such expressions as “Leave them lay there” and “ Mary was invited as well as myself.” Still others say “ Between you and,I” instead of “ between you and me.” It is astonishing how often “who” is used for “ whom” and how frequently we hear such glaring mis pronunciations as “ for M ID able,” “ ave NOO,” and “K EW pon.” Few know whether to spell certain words with one or two “c’s” or “m’s” or “ r’s” or with “ ie’jjB or “ ei,” and when to use commas in order to make their meaning absolutely clear. Most persons use only common words— colorless, flat, ordinary. Their speech and their letters are lifeless, monotonous, hum drum. Why Most People Make Mistakes What is the reason so many of us are de ficient in the use of English and find our careers stunted in consequence? Why is it some cannot spell correctly and others can not punctuate ? Why do so many find them selves at a loss for words to express their meaning adequately? The reason for the deficiency is clear. Sherwin Cody discov ered it in scientific tests, which he gave thousands of times. Most persons do not write and speak good English simply be cause they never formed the habit of doing so. What Cody Did at Gary The formation of any habit comes only from constant practice. Shakespeare, you may be sure, never studied rules. No one who writes and speaks correctly thinks of rules when he is doing so. Here is our mother-tongue, a language that has built up our civilization, and with out which we should all still be muttering savages! Yet our schools, by wrong meth ods, have made it a study to be avoided— the hardest of tasks instead of the most fascinating of games! For years it has been a crying disgrace. In that point lies the real difference be tween Sherwin Cody and the schools! Here is an illustration: Some years ago Mr. Cody was invited by the author of the fa mous Gary System of Education to teach English to all upper-grade pupils in Gary, Indiana. By means of unique practice exer cises Mr. Cody secured more improve ment in these pupils in five weeks than previously had been obtained by similar pupils in two years under old methods. There was no guesswork about these results. They were proved by scientific comparisons. Amazing as this improvement was, more interesting still was the fact that the chil dren were “ wild” about the study. It was like playing a game! The basic principle of Mr. Cody’s new method is habit-forming. Any one can learn to write and speak correctly by constantly
Obviously, if one could learn to spell, use, and pronounce these words correctly, one would go far toward eliminating incorrect spelling and pronunciation. Similarly, Mr. Cody proved that there were no more than one dozen fundamental principles of punctuation: If we mastered these principles there would be no bugbear of punctuation to handicap us in our writ ing. Finally, he discovered that twenty-five typical errors in grammar constitute nine- tenths of, our everyday mistakes. When one has learned to avoid these twenty-five pitfalls, how readily one can obtain that facility of speech which denotes the per son of breeding and education! When the study of English is made so simple it becomes clear that progress can be made in a very short time. No more than fifteen minutes a day required. F if teen minutes, not of study, but of fascinat ing practice! Mr. Cody’s students do their work in any spare moment they can snatch. They do it riding to work or at home. They take fifteen minutes from time usual ly spent in profitless reading or amuse ment. The results really are phenomenal. FREE— Book on English It is impossible, in this brief review, to give more than a suggestion of the range of subjects covered by Mr. Cody’s new method and of what his practice exercises consist. But those who are interested can find a detailed description in a fascinating little book called “ How You Can Master Good English in 15 Minutes a Day.” This book is published by the Sherwin Cody School of English in Rochester. It can be had by any one, free, upon request. There is no obligation involved in writing for it. The book is more than a prospectus. Un questionably it tells one of the most inter esting stories about education in English th*t ever has been written. If you are interested in learning more in detail of what Sherwin Cody can do for you, send for the book, “ How You Can Master Good English in 15 Minutes a Day.” Merely mail the coupon, a letter or postal card for it now. SHERWIN CODY SCHOOL OF ENGLISH, 732 Searle Build ing, Rochester, N. Y. SHERWIN CODY SCHOOL of ENGLISH 732 Searle Building, Rochester, N. Y. Please send me, without any obligation on my part, your new free book “ How You Can Master Good English in 15 Minutes a Day.”
SHERWIN CODY
using the correct forms. But how is one to know in each case what is correct? Mr. Cody solves this problem in a simple, unique, sensible way. 100% Self-Correcting Device Suppose he himself were standing for ever at your elbow. Every time you mis pronounced or misspelled a word, every time you violated correct grammatical usage, every time you used the wrong word to express what you meant, suppose you could hear him whisper: “That’s wrong, it should be thus and so.” In a short time you would habitually use the correct form and the right words in speaking and writing. If you continued to make the same mis takes over and over again, each time pa tiently he would tell you what was right. He would, as it were, be an everlasting mentor beside you— a mentor who would not laugh at you, but who would, on the contrary, support and help you. The 100% Self-Correcting Device does exactly this thing. It is Mr. Cody’s silent voice behind you, ready to speak out whenever you com mit an error. It finds your mistakes and concentrates on them. You do not need to learn anything you already know. There are no rules to memorize. Only 15 Minutes a Day Nor is there very much to learn. In Mr. Cody’s years of experimenting he brought to light some highly astonishing facts about English. For instance, statistics show that a list of sixty-nine words (with their repetitions) make up more than half of all our speech and letter writing.
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