French Conversation and Composition

Wann, Harry Vincent, 1887-Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.3

Word count: 378K words
Chapters: 38

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.French Conversation and Composition by Harry Vincent WannAuthor: Wann, Harry Vincent, 1887-,Language: French, Class: PC: Language and Literatures: Romance languages: Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Mar 1, 2004

Editor's review

This book is an early twentieth-century French conversation and composition textbook for learners, made available as a free electronic edition by Project Gutenberg. Its value lies not in fashionable pedagogy but in offering an authentic early French teaching text: readers can see how French expression was trained through dialogue scenarios and graduated writing exercises. The conversation topics are close to daily life, and the exercises emphasize the transition from oral imitation to written expression. It can be read as a slice of the history of French language learning or used as supplementary practice material. Because it was written early, some vocabulary and expressions may seem formal or outdated, and learners should consult modern French resources alongside it. For readers studying the evolution of foreign language teaching methods or wanting to understand what French textbooks looked like a century ago, the book has unique reference value. It is best read as a combination of historical document and workbook, attending both to language points and to teaching approaches.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Learners with some French foundation who want supplementary conversation and writing practice
Readers interested in the history of foreign language teaching methods and old textbooks
Scholars or teacher trainees studying early twentieth-century language education texts
People who like self-study through short dialogues and writing tasks

Not a good fit for

Absolute beginners who need modern pronunciation introduction and immediate correction
Learners seeking contemporary spoken expressions and up-to-date vocabulary
Readers who read only Chinese and do not intend to engage with the French original

Reading tips

Read through the table of contents first and prioritize conversation units related to daily life.
After reading each dialogue, close the book and retell it in your own words, then compare with the original and revise.
Treat the writing exercises as weekly tasks and have someone or a tool check the grammar afterward.
Mark outdated expressions and consult a modern French dictionary to confirm current usage.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for absolute beginners in French?

Not very. The book assumes some French foundation, and the conversation and writing exercises build on basic grammar and vocabulary. Absolute beginners would lack pronunciation introduction and step-by-step explanation and could easily get stuck on sentence comprehension. It is advisable to build a foundation with a modern beginner textbook first, then use this book as supplementary practice or historical reading.

Are the French expressions in the book still usable today?

Some expressions remain current, but because the book was written early, some vocabulary and sentence patterns seem formal or outdated today. Read it as material for understanding French ways of expression while checking current usage with modern dictionaries and corpora; do not copy without discrimination.

Is the content different between the electronic and print editions?

This book is organized and released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain electronic text. The content is mainly the original text and usually does not include notes, audio, or exercise answers added by modern publishers. If a print edition is reprinted by another publisher, it may add an introduction or notes; refer to the description of the edition you purchase.

How can I use this book to practice both speaking and writing?

First read the conversation passages aloud, imitating the tone and rhythm; then cover the original and retell the dialogue in your own words; finally complete the writing exercises, turning oral expression into written sentences. After writing, check vocabulary and structure against the original to form a cycle of speaking, writing, and revising.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Wann, Harry Vincent, 1887- Author · 1887

Harry Vincent Wann (born 1887) is an author about whom relatively little biographical information survives; publicly available sources are limited, and his nationality, education, and professional career are not clearly documented. One work by him is held in the collection, French Conversation and Composition. Judging from its title, it is a textbook for learners of French, focusing on everyday conversational practice and written composition, and belongs to the practical genre of language-teaching materials. Such textbooks typically center on situational dialogues, pattern drills, and model compositions, helping learners turn grammatical knowledge into practical ability. Since further information about his life and other writings is unavailable, his influence rests mainly on the practical classroom use of this textbook, and a fuller assessment of his overall scholarly standing is not possible on the present evidence.