1. A dictionary is not a language; and a foreign language is not just a heap of2 thousands of strange words. Languages certainly consist of3 words, but they4 employ those words in sentences in very different ways. The English teacher must study very carefully the ways in which English words are used; and to learn the meanings of the word is not sufficient5... the first principle used in English for fitting words into sentences6 is word order. (oil lamp, lamp oil; A saw B, B saw A; a foot long, a long foot)
2. The second principle in English is the use of structural words. English uses small helping words7 like do, will, to, at, from etc. These are called structural words because they are necessary to the structure of the English sentence.
3. The third principle in English is the use of a small number of inflections8. (In verbs like I go, she goes; in nouns like one boy, two boys, a boy＇s book; in adjectives and adverbs like quick, quicker, quickest)
4. The bones of the English language are of the three kinds given above. Of the three, by far the most important9 is word order, because word order in English is fixed, and upon it depends the plan of each standard sentence10. The models for the different kinds of sentences are also fixed, and having formed the model, the pupil is able to make up11 at once many hundreds of sentences.
5. After word order and sentence patterns, the next important thing is structural words， like the pronouns, the prepositions, the helping verbs, and structural adjectives and adverbs (the, this, that, all,each and others; ago, again, also, even, ever, no, not and others)． These structural words are used very frequently in English than any other words. In 100 ordinary sentences there may be as many as 300 prepositions, 200 pronouns, and 100 other structural words—a total of 600 structural words in 100 sentences. Structural words must be taught as early as possible and must be constantly practiced, because of their great frequency12 and high importance...
1． 字典并不是语言；一门外语不只是一大堆千奇百怪的单词的集合。语言肯定是由单词组成的，但语言是以不同的方式把这些词用在句子里的。英语教师必须仔细研究使用英语单词的各种方式，只了解词义是不够的。……在英语里把单词用于句子的第一条原则就是词序（油灯，灯油；A看见B，B看见A；一英尺长，一大步）。
2． 英语的第二条原则涉及到结构词的使用。英语使用了一些小小的辅助词，像do, will, to, at, from等。这些词之所以被称为结构词，是因为它们是英语句子结构所必需的。
3． 英语的第三条原则是少量屈折变化的使用。（在动词中有I go,和she goes的变化；在名词中有one boy, two boys和 a boy＇s book的变化；在形容词和副词中有quick, quicker和quickest的变化）
4． 英语的骨架就是由上述三条原则构成的。在这三者中，最最重要的是词序，因为英语中的词序是固定的， 而每个标准的句型结构都取决于词序。不同种类句子的句型也是固定的，而且正因为形成了这种句型，学生才能够立即据此编造出许许多多的句子来。
5． 在词序和句型之后，下一个重要的东西就是结构词（如代词、介词、助动词、结构形容词和副词：the, this, that, all, each等；ago, again, also, even, ever, no, not等）。这些结构词在英语中使用的频率比任何其他词使用的频率都要高。在100个普通的句子中可能有多达300个介词，200个代词和100个其他的结构词——也就是在100外句子中总共有600个结构词。由于结构词的使用频率高，因而非常重要，所以结构词必须尽早地教给学生，并且经常地加以练习。
1．F．G．French英国语言学家兼教科书作者。他编的教科书叫Reader（《读本》）。