" In this, however, he is mistaken.
Language which expresses the thought with strict logical accuracy is
correct language, and language which is sufficiently rich in its resources
to express thought fully, in all its lights and bearings, is effective
language. If the writer or speaker has a sufficient stock of words and
forms at his disposal, he has only to use them in a strictly logical way
and with sufficient fulness to be both correct and effective. If his mind
can always be trusted to work accurately, he need not know a word of
grammar except what he has imbibed unconsciously in getting his stock of
words and expressions. Formal grammar is purely for critical purposes.
It is no more than a standard measuring stick by which to try the
work that has been done and find out if it is imperfect at any point.
Of course constant correction of inaccuracies schools the mind and
puts it on its guard so that it will be more careful the next time
it attempts expression; but we cannot avoid the conclusion that if
the mind lacks material, lacks knowledge of the essential elements
of the language, it should go to the original source from which it got
its first supply, namely to reading and hearing that which is acknowledged
to be correct and sufficient---as the child learns from its mother.
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