葛传椝，嘉定人，光绪三十二年（1906年）出生，父亲是光绪年间的秀才，以教书为生。他幼年时在家中接受启蒙教育，他的母亲用他们夫妻二人自制的字块教他识字。后来，由于家境贫困，葛传椝在读了七年小学和一年半初中后被迫辍学。他在读小学时便对英语感兴趣，此后开始自学。辍学后，他在民国10年（1921年）考进北洋政府交通部属下上海电报传习所学习无线电报，第二年到崇明县中学任教，民国14年（1925年）至1937年淞沪会战期间，他在商务印书馆任英语编辑一职，[2]负责审阅书稿和助理编辑《英文杂志》等工作。民国31年（1942年），葛传椝编写的《英语习惯用法词典》出版，这本词典是中国人编写的第一本英语词典。

《葛传椝英文学习法》为全英文书写，是对葛先生针对中国人的英文学习写的文章的汇编，行文简洁流畅，几乎没有复杂的语法和用词，读起来非常顺畅且自然。书中提出的学习方法、技巧、中国人学英文常入的误区，即使放到今时今日依然实用。但由于是文章汇编，系统性不足。本文是我对这本书整理的笔记，多是我个人英文学习中需要注意的事项，并非涵盖本书全部内容。

How to read the dictionary?

To read, from time to time, a page or two in The Concise Oxford Dictionary or The Pocket Oxford Dictionary. 

To read the dictionary, I mean such common words as the prepositions， the conjunctions， the pronouns， and simple verbs and nouns like “get” and “put”， “head” and “way”.

Good prononciation

The pronunciation of the average educated Englishman or American, though they do not pronounce alike. 

The best way is to study under an Englishman or American and imitate him. 

What to read 

The chief reading matter 

——must have been written far less than a hundred years ago, a few weeks ago if possible,

——must have been written in simple English by an Englishman or American. 

——need not be a literary masterpiece

——nor need it be written by a famous wuthor

——A value of short pieces of narration or exposition is better than a novel or a long argumentative essay 

——Reading to learn the art of expression 

Besides, also read something else, which may be little more difficult, but which still had better not be a classic of more than a hundred years ago. 

阅读中会发现native speaker常犯的错误：例如“Would of come”，Substitute “have” for the “of”; common mistakes among Englishmen and Americans; we ought to understand them, but we ought not to adopt them as ornaments of style. 

No! > No! > NO! 

Italics are often used to emphasize a word or two in the body of a roman-type passage. A word printed in italics usually wants thinking over and emphatic reading to yield its full meaning. 

Capitals indicate more emphasis than italics. They are less used than italics, and are usually used to denote a higher degree of emphasis than a word in italics going before. Sometimes, however, a capitalized word is used without reference to any italicized word (I am very happy where I am, for it is HOME. )

In handwriting, words that should be italicized in printing are underlined once and those that should be capitalized in printing are underlined three times.

Headings in newspapers  

While news items are written in ordinary English, their headings usually consist of apparently incomplete and ungrammatical group of words. 

The present tense is usually used to express a past action or state；for example, “Student Escapes from Bandits”. 

The present participle is usually used to express a present action or state；for example， “Troops Moving Northwards”. 

The infinitive is usually used to express a future action or state；for example， “A.B.C. Bank to Have New Building”. 

The articles are usually omitted；for example， “Professor Elopes with Nurse”. 

The conjunction “and” is often omitted；for example， “Li， Chang Discuss Unemployment Problem”.

The verb to be in the passive voice is usually omitted；for example， “3000 Rendered Homeless by Flood”. 

The verb to be as a copula is usually omitted；for example， “Parents Anxious about Missing Baby”. 

The preposition “on” is usually used in the sense of speak on， writing on， or lecturing on ；for example， “DrO. F. Lay on Modernization of China”.

The conjunction “and” joining two nouns is usually used to mean that the item tells about an event concerned with the things denoted by the two nouns；for example， “Chinese Doctor and American Patient”. 

Prepositions are often omitted；for example， “Local Authorities Protest Atrocities”. 

How to overcome the difficulty of reading news items 

By reading and reading. I used to buy a copy of a paper and read all its items carefully for ten or more days. When I had got through with several copies in this way， I began to find the task much easier.

Leader and leaderettes in English newspaper

A leader is the expression of the newspaper’s opinion on some subject of general and immediate interest, usually consisting of several paragraphs printed in large type.

A leaderette is a similar thing that consists of only one paragraph. 

Leaders and leaderettes, as a rule, contain long words, long sentences, and long paragraphs. I would advise you not to try to read them till you can read news items easily. 

Advertisements are usually written in a very concise style, so concise that they do not as a rule contain any complete sentence. 

Composition 

Principle: you should use no construction, no form of expression, no combination of words that you have not seen in your reading. 

Do not translate them. 

Aim at simplicity at all events. But do not forget the equally important quality of naturalness. 

The excessive use of compound prepositions is responsible for much of what is flaccid, diffuse, and nerveless, in modern writing, especially in journalism. 典型例子：“A Resolution was moved and carried in factor of giving facilities to the public vaccination officers of the Metropolis to enter the schools of the Board for the purpose of examining the arms of the children with a view to advising the parents to allow their children to be vaccinated.” It is really quite clear, but may require a second reading before it is full understood. 

Not to aim at a special style. Take care to write correct, simple, idiomatic, and clear English. 

Where personal style is out of place, imitation is the only means by which correctness may be secured. e.g. the writing of advertisements, formal invitations, announcements, receipts, IOUs, business contracts, etc. 

Paraphrase is a useful exercise in composition. 

English letter-writing

The best way to learn English letter-writing is to correspond with Englishmen or Americans. 

Never mind the shortness. One-sentence or two-sentence letters are quite common. In writing a letter in English，the important thing is to say what has to be said and then stop.

I am much surprised to find in your bill dated June 5 that the amount payable for the current month is as large as $8.35. Short as it is, this letter contains three that- clauses. In letters, especially in business letters, that- clauses abound, and they form one of the distinguishing features of what we call epistolary style.

The form of letters: 

 “6489 Angel Street， Shanghai” is the address of the writer of the letter， and “May 2， 1934” is the date of the letter， Note that the address comes first and the date comes next， and not otherwise.

Note that there is no comma after “May”， “May 2， 1934” may be written in other forms， such as “May 2nd， 1934”， but “May 2， 1934” is now the most popular form.

“Dr Herbert A. Cooper … Peiping” is called the inside address. The inside address is not usually given in friendly and familiar letters.

Note that there is a colon after “Dear Dr Cooper”. A comma will also do， however.

“Yours very truly” is a common complimentary close in business letters and letters between slight acquaintances. Note that only the first word begins with a capital letter， and that there is a comma after the phrase （the comma， however， may be omitted）.

“Francis J. Shen” is the full name of the writer of the letter， and is called the signature. The signature may or may not be followed by a period.

Notes on common words in letters

“receive”. The action of receiving is confined to a single moment， so that a letter may have been received some time ago but may not have been received for some time. It is incorrect to say “I have received your letter for a long time”.

“pleasure”. It is very impolite to say “It is my pleasure to read your letter”；for this sentence implies that in reading your letter I do you a favour . Say， instead， “It is a pleasure to me to read your letter”， or “I have the pleasure of reading your letter”， or “I take pleasure in reading your letter”.

“thank”， The verb is “thank”， and the noun is “thanks.” There are， as you must know， the adjective “thankful” and the noun “thankfulness”. But neither word should be used in letters. 

“oblige”. To express gratitude， this verb must be used of the first person in the passive voice， as in “I shall be much obliged”. “I shall oblige” is nonsense.

“hope”. “I hope to see you” is correct；“I hope you will come” is also correct；but “I hope you to come” is incorrect. In plain English， “hope” cannot take an object with an infinitive.

“inquire”. This verb， unlike “ask”， cannot take a person as its object. While we may say “I ask him …”， we must say “I inquire of him …”.

“kindly”. “You are kindly requested to …” is a common but very bad expression. In the active voice， it would be “I kindly request you to …”. Well， I may be very kind in making the request， but I should not boast of my own kindness.

“reply”. While “answer a letter” is correct， “reply a letter” is incorrect. We should always say “reply to a letter”.