Sherwin Cody
Encyclopedia
Alpheus Sherwin Cody was an American writer and entrepreneur who developed a long-running home-study course in speaking and writing and a signature series of advertisements asking “Do You Make These Mistakes in English?”
A critic of traditional English education, Cody advocated colloquial style and grammar. His course, presented in a patented workbook format which he described as self-correcting, was purchased by over 150,000 students from its inception in 1918. He published essays, books and articles virtually nonstop from 1893 through 1950.
, Sherwin Cody was orphaned at an early age and raised by relatives in New England
. He attended the Canterbury
district school in New Hampshire
, Waltham
High School in Massachusetts
, and in 1885 to Amherst College
, where he studied with John Franklin Genung and worked as a secretary to Amherst President Julius Hawley Seelye.
After graduating from Amherst, Cody worked at various jobs trying to establish himself as a writer. After the failure of a Horatio Alger-style novel called In the Heart of the Hills, he moved to Chicago
in 1896. Cody worked at the Chicago Tribune
as correspondence education was being initiated at the University of Chicago
, and he was assigned to writing a home study course English for the Tribune. In 1903 Cody produced a version of his course in pocket-sized book form as The Art of Writing and Speaking the English Language which he advertised in the business magazine The System and elsewhere.
Historians of business communication list Cody among those establishing modern business communication based on the notions of clarity, correctness, courtesy, and colloquial style.
Marketing his own books and giving personalized correspondence courses in business writing connected Cody with Chicago business leaders and the school reform movement in Chicago and he developed a series of ability tests which became the basis of the Sherwin Cody 100% Self-correcting Course in English Language.
Working with the Ruthrauff and Ryan Advertising Agency and copywriter Maxwell Sackheim, Cody patented his course, franchised it to two Rochester New York businessmen, Walter Paterson and Charles Lennon, and worked with Sackheim to develop an ad campaign that ran for more than 40 years.
Cody’s ad, headlined Do You Make These Mistakes in English? led with class-conscious examples of mistakes in English and concluded its leading paragraph by noting that “Every time they talk or write” many people “show themselves lacking in the essential points of English.” Later Cody’s account was managed by Sackheim protégé Victor Schwab, who treated it as an example of the scientific approach to advertising. Schwab referred to it as “An Advertisement That is Never Changed,” and he gave a ten-year comparison of responses to two different headlines—Do You Make These Mistakes in English? and How to Speak and Write Masterly English, showing that the response rate was near three times better for the ad asking speakers about their mistakes.
Cody’s ads ran in pulp magazines, slick magazines, comic books and newspapers, and while not literally an advertisement that never changed, it remained remarkably consistent and was even featured in an ad for the Schwab and Beatty in the 1950s. Do You Make These Mistakes in English? is routinely listed among the twentieth centuries best advertisements.
Cody and his wife Marian lived near Chicago until the 1920s when they moved to the community of Dobbs Ferry, New York
. They had one son, Edward Morrill Cody
(1901–1987), who served in the U.S. Foreign Service from 1941 through 1976, serving as the Deputy Director of the U.S. Information Agency under Edward R. Murrow and as a bureau manager for Radio Liberty from 1965 to 1976.
The course was a homestudy course in which students identified and corrected individual weaknesses, with Cody selecting issues of spelling, pronunciation, grammar and word usage that were most commonly troublesome. As a business writer, he emphasized practical life goals such as sales, advertising and letter writing.
Cody marketed his course on the English language from 1918 until his illness and death in the late 1950s, when it was sold to the US School of Music and later discontinued. The course was revised in the 1930s with an increased emphasis on speaking (perhaps in reaction to Dale Carnegie
’s How to Win Friends and Influence People).
A critic of traditional English education, Cody advocated colloquial style and grammar. His course, presented in a patented workbook format which he described as self-correcting, was purchased by over 150,000 students from its inception in 1918. He published essays, books and articles virtually nonstop from 1893 through 1950.
Biography
Born in MichiganMichigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, Sherwin Cody was orphaned at an early age and raised by relatives in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
. He attended the Canterbury
Canterbury, New Hampshire
Canterbury is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,352 at the 2010 census. Canterbury is home to Ayers State Forest and Shaker State Forest. On the last Saturday in July, the town hosts the annual .- History :...
district school in New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
, Waltham
Waltham, Massachusetts
Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, was an early center for the labor movement, and major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, the city was a prototype for 19th century industrial city planning,...
High School in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, and in 1885 to Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
, where he studied with John Franklin Genung and worked as a secretary to Amherst President Julius Hawley Seelye.
After graduating from Amherst, Cody worked at various jobs trying to establish himself as a writer. After the failure of a Horatio Alger-style novel called In the Heart of the Hills, he moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in 1896. Cody worked at the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
as correspondence education was being initiated at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, and he was assigned to writing a home study course English for the Tribune. In 1903 Cody produced a version of his course in pocket-sized book form as The Art of Writing and Speaking the English Language which he advertised in the business magazine The System and elsewhere.
Historians of business communication list Cody among those establishing modern business communication based on the notions of clarity, correctness, courtesy, and colloquial style.
Marketing his own books and giving personalized correspondence courses in business writing connected Cody with Chicago business leaders and the school reform movement in Chicago and he developed a series of ability tests which became the basis of the Sherwin Cody 100% Self-correcting Course in English Language.
Working with the Ruthrauff and Ryan Advertising Agency and copywriter Maxwell Sackheim, Cody patented his course, franchised it to two Rochester New York businessmen, Walter Paterson and Charles Lennon, and worked with Sackheim to develop an ad campaign that ran for more than 40 years.
Cody’s ad, headlined Do You Make These Mistakes in English? led with class-conscious examples of mistakes in English and concluded its leading paragraph by noting that “Every time they talk or write” many people “show themselves lacking in the essential points of English.” Later Cody’s account was managed by Sackheim protégé Victor Schwab, who treated it as an example of the scientific approach to advertising. Schwab referred to it as “An Advertisement That is Never Changed,” and he gave a ten-year comparison of responses to two different headlines—Do You Make These Mistakes in English? and How to Speak and Write Masterly English, showing that the response rate was near three times better for the ad asking speakers about their mistakes.
Cody’s ads ran in pulp magazines, slick magazines, comic books and newspapers, and while not literally an advertisement that never changed, it remained remarkably consistent and was even featured in an ad for the Schwab and Beatty in the 1950s. Do You Make These Mistakes in English? is routinely listed among the twentieth centuries best advertisements.
Cody and his wife Marian lived near Chicago until the 1920s when they moved to the community of Dobbs Ferry, New York
Dobbs Ferry, New York
Dobbs Ferry is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 10,875 at the 2010 census.The Village of Dobbs Ferry is located in, and is a part of, the town of Greenburgh...
. They had one son, Edward Morrill Cody
Morrill Cody
Morrill Cody was an American diplomat, literary editor, and author. Cody served with the United States Foreign Service for more than two decades and was a former deputy director of the United States Information Agency from 1961 to 1963 under Edward R. Murrow...
(1901–1987), who served in the U.S. Foreign Service from 1941 through 1976, serving as the Deputy Director of the U.S. Information Agency under Edward R. Murrow and as a bureau manager for Radio Liberty from 1965 to 1976.
Cody’s English Language Course
The Sherwin Cody 100% Self-correcting Course in English Language arrived in 25 weekly booklets, each divided into five sections. Composition was on Mondays, spelling on Tuesdays, punctuation on Wednesdays, grammar on Thursdays, and conversation and literature on Fridays. The daily lessons were tied to other reference books published by Cody including his Nutshell Library, a collection of pocket books excerpting the works of great writers, supplemented the literary studies.The course was a homestudy course in which students identified and corrected individual weaknesses, with Cody selecting issues of spelling, pronunciation, grammar and word usage that were most commonly troublesome. As a business writer, he emphasized practical life goals such as sales, advertising and letter writing.
Cody marketed his course on the English language from 1918 until his illness and death in the late 1950s, when it was sold to the US School of Music and later discontinued. The course was revised in the 1930s with an increased emphasis on speaking (perhaps in reaction to Dale Carnegie
Dale Carnegie
Dale Breckenridge Carnegie was an American writer, lecturer, and the developer of famous courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills...
’s How to Win Friends and Influence People).
Selected Works of Sherwin Cody
- 1893 Life’s Philosophy. Privately printed book of poems.
- 1894 How to Write Fiction, Especially the Art of Short Story Writing. New York: The Riverside Literary Bureau, C. T. Dillingham & Co.
- 1896 In the Heart of the Hills. London: J. M. Dent.
- 1903 The Art of Writing & Speaking the English Language. Chicago: The Old Greek Press.
- 1904 Good English Form Book in Business Letter Writing. Chicago: School of English.
- 1911 How to Do Business by Letter, and Advertising; A Practical and Scientific Method of Handling Customers by Written Salesmanship. London, Constable and Company, Ltd.
- 1912 “Scientific Principles in the Teaching of Composition,” English Journal 1, 161-172.
- 1913 How to be a Private Secretary; Or, Business Practice Up to Date, with Commercial Map of the United States. Chicago: School of English.
- 1914 “The Ideal Course in English for Vocational Students,” English Journal 3.5, 263-81, continued in 3.6, 371-80.
- 1914 English for Business Uses and Commercial Correspondence. Chicago: School of English.
- 1915 How to Deal with Human Nature in Business; A Practical Book On Doing Business by Correspondence, Advertising, and Salesmanship. New York & London: Funk & Wagnalls Company, also Chicago: School of English.
- 1916 “Tests to Use When You Hire,” System (August), 122-30.
- 1918 The Sherwin Cody 100% Self-Correcting Course in English Language. Rochester, NY: The Sherwin Cody School of English [revised 1936].
- 1918 How You Can Master Good English – in Just 15 Minutes a Day. Rochester, NY: The Sherwin Cody School of English.
- 1918 Course in the New Business Efficiency, Or, How to Make Money in Business. New York: B.C. Forbes Publishing Company.
- 1919 Commercial Tests and How to Use Them. Yonkers-on-Hudson, NY: World Book Company.
- 1944 Coaching Children in English. New York: Good English Publishers.
- 1950 Greatest Stories, and How They Were Written; selected by W. E. Henley with a series of introductions on the art of short story writing by Sherwin Cody. New York: Sherwin Cody Associates.
- 1950 Letters: Writing to Get People to Do Things. Rochester, NY: Sherwin Cody Course in English.