The Roots of a Dynasty: The Rise of Warriner's "Grammar and Composition.".

Noting the popularity and wide use of John Warriner's series of English grammar and composition textbooks and workbooks for high school students (first published in 1948) , this paper argues that rhetorical theory informs the series, despite Warriner's claims that his approach was based on axioms of writing instruction. The paper also speculates on how teacher training in the 1940s and 1950s may have contributed to the series' market success. After a brief review of related research, the paper first analyzes the nature and development of late 19th century current-traditional rhetorical theory. The paper next shows how the Warriner text is based on current-traditional rhetorical theory. The paper also compares the Warriner text with three popular competing textbooks of the day, in terms of their theoretical basis of language and composition and their treatment of the paragraph, a key feature of current-traditional rhetoric and Warriner's approach. The paper examines teacher training, preparation for teaching of writing, and how an absence of any real knowledge in rhetoric and composition may have contributed to the initial success of the Warriner text. The paper concludes with a discussion of how teacher training, competing texts, Warriner's current-traditional rhetoric, and rhetorical theory and 'practice in secondary schools contributed to the initial success of Warriner's text. Contains 52 references. (RS) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. * ***********************************************************************