FIRST YEAR'S FRENCH COURSE; COMPREHENDING GRAMMATICAL EXERCISES, WITH RULES; READING LESSONS, WITH NOTES; DICTATION; AND A VOCABULARY OF ALL THE WORDS IN THE BOOK. BY CHARLES HENRI SCHNEIDER, M.C.P., F.E.I.S.; SENIOR FRENCH MASTER IN THE EDINBURGH HIGH SCHOOL, THE MERCHANT OF ARTS AND WATT INSTITUTION; FRENCH EXAMINER TO THE OLIVER AND BOYD, TWEEDDALE COURT. LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL 1870. AND CO. M. SCHNEIDER'S OTHER CLASS-BOOKS. THE EDINBURGH HIGH SCHOOL FRENCH CONVERSATION-GRAMMAR, arranged on an entirely New Plan, with Questions and Answers in French. 20th Edition. Dedicated, by permission, to Professor Max Müller. 3s. 6d. KEY, 2s. 6d. Letter from PROFESSOR MAX MÜLLER, University of Oxford, May 1867. "MY DEAR SIR,-I am very happy to find that my anticipations as to the success of your Grammar have been fully realized. Your work does not require any longer a godfather; but if you wish me to act as such, I shall be most happy to have my name connected with your prosperous child. Yours very truly, MAX MULLER. "To Mons. C. H. Schneider, Edinburgh High School." THE EDINBURGH HIGH SCHOOL FRENCH MANUAL of CONVERSATION and COMMERCIAL 9th Edition. 2s. 6d. CORRESPONDENCE. THE EDINBURGH HIGH SCHOOL FRENCH CONVERSATION-READER, arranged on an entirely New Plan, with Questions and Answers. 18th Edition. 3s. 6d. ÉCRIN LITTÉRAIRE; or, Collection of LIVELY ANECDOTES, JEUX DE MOTS, ENIGMAS, CHARADES, POETRY, etc., to serve as Readings, Dictation, and Recitation. 3s. 6d. PREFACE. A GREAT mistake, into which I have myself fallen, is to expect too much from pupils learning a new language. I have now the experience of thirty years' teaching, and I can safely say that out of one hundred pupils learning French, there are only ten who can be carried on by means of the cramming system. The plan I have endeavoured to carry out in compiling this "First Year's French Course" will, I hope, be approved of by teachers. My chief aim has been to provide a Complete French Course for Beginners, and also for pupils who may not have time or opportunity to study the language in all its details, but who at the same time wish to be able to read French with a good pronunciation, and to understand what they are reading. To attain these ends I have divided the book into three parts. The first is a complete compendium of the rules. to be observed in pronouncing French; the second consists of a vocabulary of simple words, of easy lessons in translating French into English and English into French, and of exercises illustrative of the peculi arities of pronunciation; and the third contains grammatical questions amply sufficient to give a pretty good knowledge of French syntax, a vocabulary of words and familiar phrases, and exercises for translation and re-translation and repetition. The grammar of the language is explained from stage to stage, the forms of the verb and the other parts of speech being introduced as required. In addition, all the principal idiomatic phrases in the lessons are given in foot-notes appended to the advanced exercises, which consist principally of selections from the best French authors. Suitable provision is also made for the thorough revision of everything that has been done in each stage. As an appendix, a vocabulary is provided, containing all the words used in the work. The book is thus a Complete Course for Beginners, containing grammatical exercises with rules, reading lessons with notes, and exercises in dictation and conversation. In using it no dictionary or any other work is required. C. H. SCHNEIDER. NEUCHÂTEL VILLA, October 1870. |