The Richly or Poorly Show
Show Transcript
shdawson-20261006.mp3
Episode 10/06/2026
10/06/2026
Hello! Welcome to The Richly or Poorly Show!
My name is Dr. Stephen Dawson, and I am your show host.
Thank you for joining me.
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The show's motto is unmistakable: RICHLY IS GOODLY!
Please consider how you define the term good as we journey through life together in your pursuit of defining the term richly in your life.
Last week, I shared the Relevance of the first skill in The Five Academic Skills Necessary for Success in your life as a member of my intended audience. I did so by explaining why learning the Reed & Kellogg System alone is not the answer to your understanding of how Grammar empowers you to use The Five Academic Skills Necessary for Success. I also said this statement during the September 22nd, 2026, episode. I maintain this position. The reason I hold this position is that you will not understand fully how to use Grammar in The Five Academic Skills Necessary for Success until I present all five of the skills to you.
Today, I will present the two resources necessary for you to learn the Reed & Kellogg System. The first one is the source itself. The second one is a book about the source. The second one will hurt a bit to read. It will hurt because you will experience firsthand how learning Grammar by learning too much at once is not the way to learn Grammar. You will read how the topic of Grammar is presented out of order compared to the source book. It is an important lesson for you to learn. Learning this lesson now will help you understand that there is a fast and painful way to learn, and a slow and painless way to learn. The saying no pain, no gain has relevance in all things. It is not helpful to learn any concept concisely at the beginning of studying it. This constraint includes learning Grammar.
THE FIRST RESOURCE:
Higher Lessons in English: A work on English grammar and composition
by Brainerd Kellogg & Alonzo Reed
The book is about three hundred pages with 168 lessons to teach their system. Please do not be overwhelmed by the page count. The lessons are only a few pages each. The design is to learn a bit at a time. The learning sinks into your mind, then the process goes to the next thing to learn. I suspect you will enjoy the learning process designed by Reed & Kellogg to the extent that you have great joy about it.
It is reasonable to accomplish one lesson a day. You will have mastered the entire book in less than six months using this minimal learning pace. It is reasonable to do four or five lessons per day and not be strained in learning. Four lessons per day has you finishing the book in 41 days. Five lessons per day has you finishing the book in 33 days. Going fast or slow in your learning journey is not the priority. The priority is going as fast as you need to go to be effective in your learning. Effectiveness is the priority in all learning efforts.
THE SECOND RESOURCE:
A Sentence Diagramming Primer: The Reed & Kellogg System Step-By-Step
by Dr. Judith Coats
The book is just over one hundred pages. Please do not be overwhelmed by the page count. There is no reason to believe anyone will master any topic simply by having either fewer or more pages to read.
I do not know Dr. Coats. This book is reputable because it teaches Grammar and the Reed & Kellogg System at the same time. I like the book, as I already knew Grammar and the Reed & Kellogg System. I urge you to get this book and read it AFTER you read the source book, Higher Lessons in English: A work on English grammar and composition.
You will read in the Coats book how the Grammar topic is handled in comparison to the Reed & Kellogg System. You will see easily how there is too much coming at the reader at once in the Coats book to learn Grammar and then the Reed & Kellogg System. The Coats reading experience will not be of any value to you until you have finished reading the Reed & Kellogg book. Then, the Coats book will be priceless to you in understanding how to learn any topic based on your understanding of the material presented in Reed & Kellogg in relation to the material presented in Coats.
The primary lesson you will learn is how not to be confused when you are learning a concept. You will learn how to stay focused as you learn a concept. The concept, in this case, is learning Grammar by way of the Reed & Kellogg System. Another way to explain the lesson you will learn is that distractions do not contribute to learning. They contribute to confusion. It is essential, outright vital, to understand that missing a single point in learning a concept pollutes the learning of the concept.
Pollution of the learning process is like adding black paint to white paint. It does not matter how much black is added to the white. The white paint becomes some amount of gray the instant any amount of black is added to it. You are learning white, not gray. It is best to keep all black out of white when learning. A distraction is a form of black. The pain I shared with you during the September 22nd, 2026, episode is the example I provide to you now about how a distraction can cascade forward into misunderstandings that cause serious damage to you as a person, and anyone you supply with your work that is flawed based on incorrect learning of a concept. Please rest assured, I cannot overemphasize to you the need to finish the FIRST RESOURCE before you read the SECOND RESOURCE to grasp all of the concepts of how US English uses Grammar.
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Now, where does one get these two resources? Anywhere you want to get them.
I use Amazon for my electronic book application. Their application is called Kindle. I have used many electronic book applications over the years. Amazon Kindle, hands down, has the most features that matter to me, and it is free. It is the only electronic book application I use today, and the only electronic book application I recommend to anyone today. I urge you to go to the Amazon DOT COM web site and open a free Amazon account. I recommend you install the Amazon Kindle application on your smartphone. You then have access to Amazon Kindle in your web browser on your computer and your smartphone. Then, get your first free book at Amazon Kindle. Take a guess now what free book I am about to recommend to you.
YOU GUESSED IT!
Amazon provides the Reed & Kellogg book Higher Lessons in English: A work on English grammar and composition for free to anyone in the world who wants the book. I suggest to you now that you add the Amazon Kindle version of Higher Lessons in English: A work on English grammar and composition to your free Amazon account.
Now, a printed version of the Reed & Kellogg book is about fifteen US Dollars for a new copy. I leave it to you to decide whether to purchase a printed copy of the Reed & Kellogg book.
The Coats book is also available as an Amazon Kindle book. It is not free. The Amazon Kindle version of the book is about ten US dollars. Please, do not let ten bucks stop you from living your life more richly by learning The Five Academic Skills Necessary for Success.
There is no need to add the Coats book to your Amazon Kindle account until you have finished the Reed & Kellogg book. I suggest you do not add the Coats book to your Amazon Kindle account so you are not tempted to read it while you are still working on the Reed & Kellogg book. I leave it to you to decide your self-discipline. I urge you to trust my suggestion on this matter.
Now, here is how to use the Reed & Kellogg System.
You need:
200 blank sheets of paper from a printer or copy machine;
A folder to hold your blank paper that closes with a zipper so the papers do not fall out of it; and
A pen or pencil.
First, put a single sheet of blank paper in front of you on a table where you will do your work where it is placed in landscape position. The landscape position is where the paper is wider on the sides than it is taller at the top and bottom when you face the blank piece of paper.
Second, write the lesson number in the upper right-hand corner of the paper. Draw a circle around the number.
Third, write the lesson sentence text at the top of the page, in the upper third of the paper. This leaves the other two-thirds of the blank sheet for where you will draw the sentence diagram.
Fourth, diagram the sentence as instructed in each lesson in the other two-thirds of the blank sheet. Place a check mark above each word of the lesson sentence text at the top of the page where you wrote the lesson sentence at the top third of the blank sheet of paper. Do this slowly so you account for each word in the sentence as it is placed into the sentence diagram.
The results of this effort are your ability to accomplish each lesson as instructed, have your work captured so you can reference it in the future, and be able to lay out selected lessons on the table as you complete them so you can study them by comparing them.
Trust me on this process.
You will realize after a few dozen or so lessons how you will never accomplish learning the Reed & Kellogg System by trying to learn this and that in part by not capturing your work in a structured manner.
So, there you have it. How the rest of humanity that has learned the Reed & Kellogg System went about learning it with excellence so they can use US English with excellence and press on to learn other topics.
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There is a test known globally for measuring English language literacy. The Test of English as a Foreign Language, acronym T-O-E-F-L, is a standardized test to measure the English language ability of non-native speakers wishing to enroll in English-speaking universities. The work you are doing now with your Grammar study not only positions you to pass the TOEFL with flying colors, but you are also expanding your understanding of the English language as a whole, regardless of how many years you have used the English language. Can anyone say with confidence they know all there is to know about any language? Can anyone say with confidence they know all they want to know about their preferred language?
I urge you to have some type of celebration within the next 24 hours. You have one-fifth, 20%, of the information about The Five Academic Skills Necessary for Success. This is a huge milestone in your life. I doubt you will ever forget this empowerment you have received to live your life more richly. I expect you will look back on this day in the years to come with great joy. How do I know this is The Truth? Simple. I am repeating my 1983 experience with you in 2026. Rest assured, I would be telling you something else were it not for the magnitude of the impact the Reed & Kellogg System brought to me 43 years ago. I hope you enjoy your celebration!
Next week, we will begin the second skill of The Five Academic Skills Necessary for Success. A hint: It is not the skill of reading. It is doing something you have been doing since your kindergarten days.
Well, that's it for today.
RICHLY IS GOODLY!
Thank you for joining me for this episode of The Richly or Poorly Show!
I have enjoyed presenting to you today.
Until the next episode, I hope you will be safe and join me next week.
Until then.
© 2026 SH Dawson. All rights reserved.