The Modern Hindustani Scholar

It is true in the course of the following pages I have traversed a much-beaten track. I found, however, during my experience as a teacher for the last ten years that the track was not yet sufficiently straight and smooth. Most of the students’ difficulties have been simply and lucidly explained in this book, its sole object being to facilitate further the task of the reader. In short, it claims to have removed most of the stumbling-blocks which still stood in the way of rapid and easy progress of the student in the language.

It is divided into three parts and five appendices. The first part treats of grammar in graduated lessons, most of which are followed by two exercises (one from English into Hindustani and the other from Hindustani into English) and a set of useful colloquial sentences. The exercises are, of course, on the rules in the lesson immediately preceding them, but the colloquial sentences have a free run over all the rules and words given before, thus keeping the student in constant touch with what has preceded them.

The second part consists of miscellaneous advanced exercises (51 from English into Hindustani and 50 from Hindustani into English) which have been very carefully selected and arranged. They have been introduced by a short essay on paraphrasing and simplification which are so essential in translations from one language into another.

The third part is meant to provide the student with a nice and substantial collection of Idiomatic and Military Sentences, while the appendices contain some common proverbs and a fund of little odds and ends.

In the whole book no word that is not commonly used, finds any place, and many knotty points have been unflinchingly approached and amply elucidated.