This book aims principally at remedying four defects noted in students—paucity of vocabulary, inability to spell correctly, carelessness in pronunciation and inexactness in sentence construction.
Some of the methods employed to overcome these defects deserve comment.
Since it is incontestable that the majority of our students possess a limited vocabulary, such lists as “Verbs and their Nouns,” “Nouns and their Adjectives” and “Adjectives and their Opposites” have been included. If these are treated as directed, linguistic knowledge should be expanded, and at the same time spelling accuracy assured.
Word lists, graded for various stages of the secondary course, have been given. These are resultant from personal investigation of the words commonly misspelt, and from a consideration of errors which have been found persistent in English and American schools. …
An attempt to summarize the principal rules of syntax has been made. .. [W]e feel that the study of the rules, and the correction of the faulty sentences, will enable the student to avoid many of the careless expressions which are heard so frequently.
Foster, W. and H. Bryant. c.1952. A Graded Word-Book for Australian Schools: Junior and Senior Classes. Newcastle: Davis and Cannington, pp.2-3, 69-72. 103-107.