thought being the same for all nations, the logical analysis of the
sentence is the same for all languages. When a student who has acquired a
knowledge of the English sentence comes to the translation of a foreign
language, he finds his work greatly simplified. If in a sentence of his own
language he sees only a mass of unorganized words, how much greater must be
his confusion when this mass of words is in a foreign tongue! A study of
the parts of speech is a far less important preparation for translation,
since the declensions and conjugations in English do not conform to those
of other languages. Teachers of the classics and of modern languages are
beginning to appreciate these facts.

+The Study of the Sentence for Discipline+.--As a means of discipline
nothing can compare with a training in the logical analysis of the
sentence. To study thought through its outward form, the sentence, and to
discover the fitness of the different parts of the expression to the parts
of the thought, is to learn to think. It has been noticed that pupils
thoroughly trained in the analysis and the construction of sentences come
to their other studies with a decided advantage in mental power. These
results can be obtained only by systematic and persistent work. Experienced
teachers understand that a few weak lessons on the sentence at the
beginning of a course and a few at the end can afford little discipline and
little knowledge that will endure, nor can a knowledge of the sentence be
gained by memorizing complicated rules and labored forms of analysis. To
compel a pupil to wade through a page or two of such bewildering terms as
"complex adverbial element of the second class" and "compound prepositional
adjective phrase," in order to comprehend a few simple functions, is
grossly unjust; it is a substitution of form for content, of words for
ideas.

+Subdivisions and Modifications after the Sentence.+--Teachers familiar