PREFACE The present volume is a revised edition of myA Textbook of English Compositionfirst published in 1941. The revising has been done in accordance with the same strongly held beliefs as those that I acted upon in writing the original work. These beliefs are as follows: 1. Such a book ought never to lose sight of the fact that it is intended forChinesestudents, who have their special difficulties and therefore need special advice and warning. Since they have not been brought up in English-speaking families and since they study English chiefly as something written rather than spoken, they are ignorant of a great many everyday expressions that are only too common on the lips of those whose mother tongue is English. On the other hand, they are quite safe from a great many faults in dicti…