Steps To English Composition Tom Thumb Essays Book 1

These miniature or “Tom Thumb” essays have been written for younger children who are just beginning to do a bit of English composition. They are, therefore, very short, and are written in a very simple language. They are not made to be copied or learnt by heart, but are intended as models for short essays or paragraph-writing; for they may be regarded either as tiny essays or short single paragraphs. To prevent mere parrot-like copying, the teacher can give one of the essays to be read and studied, and then set an essay to be written on a different but similar subject. For example, the essay on ‘The Tiger’ or ‘The Lion’ could be read as a model for an essay on ‘The Bear’; the essay on ‘The Carpenter’ would serve as a model for one on ‘The Tailor’; and an essay on “Waste Not, Want Not” could be written on the model of the essay on ‘Thrift’; and so on. These tiny essays are too short to be divided into paragraphs, each being itself an average paragraph; but the line of thought in each can easily be detected. The Essays have not been classified as Descriptive Essays, Reflective Essays and Biographical Essays. However, half of the total number are descriptive (mainly of common objects), this type of essay is the easiest for children. Some fifty are Reflective, on general subjects. Proverbs form good subjects for this type of essay, and some are included. The smallest number are Biographical.