John H. Bechtel

Slips of Speech: a Helpful Book for Everyone Who Aspires to Correct the Everyday Errors of Speaking (Dodo Press) John H. Bechtel

"Homer, in all probability, knew no rules of rhetoric, and was not tortured with the consideration of grammatical construction, and yet his verse will endure through time. If everybody possessed the genius of Homer, rules and cautions in writing would be unnecessary. To-day all men speak, and most men write, but it is observed that those who most closely follow Homer's method of writing without rules are most unlike Homer in the results. The ancient bard was a law unto himself; we need rules for our guidance."