What this book is

This book is designed to help you read and write better. Many students who have used it before found it helped them to read much better. Some students improved their reading level by as many as five years in just one semester. This book uses very special methods and information to help you to learn. This kind of book is often called a program. This kind of learning is often called programmed learning, though this book is a new improvement of that idea.

How this book works

This book will teach you skills in very small steps. These steps are sometimes called frames. Each step or frame has its own number. Each step will let you use what you know by asking you to write a short answer. As you work further and further into the program, your knowledge about the subject will greatly increase. This increasing knowledge base is what brings about improved reading skill and improvement in all academic learning. Your knowledge of the subjects presented in this book may grow to be so great that you will know more about your language than most educated adults.

How to find the answer

Most of the time you will know the answer. The question will ask you something you know already, or it may ask you something about what you have just learned. If you do not know the answer, read the step that comes before the one you are doing. Many times the word you need for your answer is used in the step ahead of the one you are on. If you do not find the word you need in the step before, then read the next step. Most of the time the word you need to know will be found in the step before or the step after the one you are on.

What you must do

• The author suggests that you use a separate worksheet to record your answers.

• Number your answers on your paper the same as you find them in this program.

• Place the exercise number at the top of your page. It is best to number your answers as you do each step. Do not number ahead, because some answers take more than one line.

• Make only one column of answers on each side of your answer page. When you get to the bottom of your paper, please turn it over and put the rest of your answers on the back.

• DO NOT SKIP ANY ANSWERS. Answer every step. If you experience difficulty, you may get help BEFORE you go on to the next step. Please answer each frame as you come to it. Do not leave any answers blank. Do not skip ahead and come back to a hard frame later. Follow each direction carefully and completely—don’t take shortcuts! Get the help you need each time you get stuck before you go on with the program. If you are not under the guidance of a parent or teacher, you may get the help you need from the answer key.

• If you get an answer wrong, and want to change it, please circle the wrong answer and write your new answer beside it. Do not erase an answer. The author, after long experience, suggests this procedure to help you track your progress through the program.

• Work all the material in this program in order, starting from the very beginning and working straight through to the end. Careful testing by the author shows that it is not possible to skip any material or work material out of order and still work the program successfully.

You will do very well

This program is not like other books. This book has been tested on many students. They used it when it was only hand written. This book has been changed many times to make it better. It has been changed until it was found to work exactly right. Many students helped make this book possible. This present book is the result of their work, their ideas and their suggestions.

Most of you will find this book very easy. It was planned that way. This book is so easy that you can do it all by yourself. You will need little or no help from a teacher. You will be able to learn at your own speed.

This book is not a test. You will get most of your answers right. And, most important, you will learn to read and write with greater skill.

An easy program is not elementary

Some students think that if what they are learning is easy, they are not learning anything. The very opposite is closer to being true. This book was written to be easy to understand so that you would learn without help from a teacher. The information in this program seems easy because it is taught in very small steps. Some ideas are repeated on purpose so you will learn them well. But much of what you will learn is not usually taught until college. When you finish this book, you may be very far ahead of your grade level. That is just what we want, because then you will do much better in all of your classes at school or any other personal or job-related academic setting.

What to do next

You have now read the introduction to this program. On your own answer paper, number your answers from 1-14 straight down your paper. Now answer the following multiple-choice questions about what you read by writing only the letter of the answer on your answer paper.

I. HOW WELL DID YOU READ?

1. The purpose of this book is to (A) save you time in school, (B) teach you to read and write better, (C) use very special methods and information.

2. Students who used this book before (A) improved their reading level by as many as five years in one semester, (B) found out they were not very good readers, (C) took almost five years to read it all.

3. The kind of learning used in this book is sometimes called (A) ancient history, (B) programmed learning, (C) practice and review.

4. This book teaches its ideas (A) in very small steps, (B) in paragraphs with multiple-choice questions, (C) in just one semester.

5. Another name for the small steps in this program is (A) frames, (B) pictures, (C) boxes, (D) short answers.

6. As you read each step, you will be asked to (A) copy it on to your paper, (B) write a short answer for each question, (C) find the answers in the dictionary.

7. For most of the frames in the program, you will find that (A) you will know the answer already, (B) the answer must be learned from the teacher, (C) you will have to ask a friend to help you find the answer.

8. If you do not know the answer to a frame, the first thing to do is (A) see if the word you need is in the step before the one you are on, (B) go on to the next frame and come back to this one later, (C) ask the teacher for help.

9. If you cannot find the right answer word in the frame just before the one you are on, (A) see if the word you need is in the following frame, (B) look for the word in the dictionary, (C) ask the teacher for help.

10. If you do not find the answer word in the frame before or after the one you are on, then (A) go on to the next frame and come back to this one later, (B) check the answer key provided or ask the teacher for help, (C) find the word in the dictionary.

11. When you head your answer paper, always remember to (A) put your name and the exercise number on every page, (B) put down all the answer numbers before you start, (C) spell all of the answer words right.

12. This program is different from many other books because (A) it is easier to read, (B) it was carefully tested on many students to be sure it works, (C) it was handwritten instead of typed.

13. The main reason for making this program seem easy is (A) to let students learn without needing a lot of help from the teacher, (B) to help students read and write better, (C) to make it possible for the younger students to read it.

14. When what you are learning seems too easy, (A) you should ask to use the next unit, (B) you need to ask the teacher for more advanced material, (C) it is very likely that you are learning very well from the material, (D) you probably know all of the material already.

WHAT TO READ NEXT

This program is continued in Introductory Chapter Exercise A. As you do the work, it is very important that you read and follow all of the directions that are given. That way, you will learn what this program is designed to teach, and benefit greatly from your increased reading ability.

Introductory Chapter

Exercise A

1. Here is a word:

dog

Write this word the way it should be if you were talking about two of them.

2. Here is another word:

cat

Write this word the way it should be if you were talking about more than one of them.

3. Here is a word:

hats

Write the word the way it should be if you were talking about just one of them.

4. The word dog has a form that is spelled to mean just one.

It also has a form that means _________ than one.

5. The word dogs is used when you are talking about __________ than one dog.

6. The word dog is used to talk about just __________ dog.

7. Any word that has a form that can mean one, or has a form that means more than one, is a noun. Since the word “hat” has a form which means just one, and a form (hats) which means more than one, the word hat must be a __________.

8. A word that is a noun can mean one, or it can mean ________ ____________ ____________.

9. A word that means just one is called singular. A word that means more than one is called plural. The word ball is a (singular/plural) word.

10. The word “clock” is a singular noun. The word “clock” refers to (just one/more than one) clock.

11. The word “clocks” is a (singular/plural) noun because it talks about two or more.

12. A noun can be singular or ____________.

13. When a noun is singular, it talks about (one/more than one).

14. When a noun is plural, it talks about (one/more than one).

15. Look at this word:

tree

This word talks about (one/more than one).

16. The word “tree” must be (singular/plural).

17. Look at this word:

birds

This word talks about (one/more than one).

18. The word “birds” must be a (singular/plural) noun.

19. Any word which can be singular or plural must be a ____________.

20. DIRECTIONS: Copy the whole sentence that is given below on to your answer paper. Fill in the missing words needed to make the sentence true and complete.

A word which can mean just ____________ or can mean ____________ than ____________ is a ____________.