AN ENGLISH SCHOOL GRAMMAR, WITH VERY COPIOUS EXERCISES, AND A SYSTEMATIC VIEW OF THE FORMATION AND DERIVATION OF WORDS, COMPRISING ANGLO-SAXON, LATIN, & GREEK LISTS, WHICH EXPLAIN THE ETYMOLOGY OF ABOVE SEVEN THOUSAND ENGLISH WORDS. BY ALEXANDER ALLEN, PH. D., AND JAMES CORNWELL. NINTH EDITION. LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & Co., STATIONERS' COURT. 1845. Price 1s. cloth; 9d. stiff cover. GRAMMAR FOR BEGINNERS: "As good a book as can be used."-Spectator. 'We have never seen a more desirable elementary work."-Court Journ. SIMPKIN & MARSHALL, Stationers' Court. ABBREVIATIONS. 1. The Numbers in brackets, as (25), refer to the numbered 2. The Numbers with S., or L., or G., as (L. 19), refer to the 3. fr. means from. 4. w. means with. 5. P. N. means Proper Name Entered at Stationers hall. Printed by J. L. Cox & Sons, 75, Great Queen Street, PREFACE. THE following Work differs in many important respects from most others bearing a similar title. Its main peculiarities are these : 1. The Etymology has been treated much more fully than is usual; and the formation of the primary, Saxon, and purely English Derivatives is now, perhaps, for the first time, taught in a School Grammar. 2. The Verbs, commonly called Irregular, are arranged in regular classes; and the Plurals, commonly called Irregular, are classified and explained. 3. The arrangement of the Tenses of the Verb, usually very complicated and perplexing, has been much simplified. 4. The Potential Mood, which, singularly enough, some grammarians have confounded with the Subjunctive, has been retained as a Mood, in order to avoid introducing a new term into English Grammar. The Auxiliaries of the Potential might be called, as in German, Verbs of Mood. 5. The Rules of Syntax have been distributed under certain main divisions or headings (RULES 1, 2, 3, 4, &c.), and subdivisions (RULES 1. A.-1. B.-1. C.-&c.). This arrangement, it is believed, will be found very conducive to perspicuity, and a considerable aid to the memory. 6. Almost every paragraph is numbered throughout the book, so that any remark or rule can be easily and quickly referred to. 7. Almost every fresh Definition, Rule, Observation, Caution, &c., has an Exercise upon it. As soon as any information is imparted, the pupil is called on to act upon it. The Instructions and the Exercises, so to speak, keep pace with one another. By thus limiting the object, the judgment may be exercised upon it more correctly. 8. None of the Exercises contain bad English to be put into good. The exclusion of that pernicious practice, which has become almost universal in School Grammars, forms an important feature of the work. 9. Many usages and phrases, purely idiomatic and sanctioned by our best writers, which, however, have been condemned as bad in some School Grammars, probably from want of acquaintance, or from a deficient acquaintance, with the older forms of the language, and with the genius of the whole family of tongues to which ours belongs, have been regarded as genuine English, and reduced to rule. (See Sections 294, 297, 352, 370.) 10. A Form of Parsing will be found at the end of the book (p. 160). No separate Parsing Exercises have been given, since all the Exercises in the book may be used for this purpose; and they contain every requisite variety of construction. 11. A word or two may be added touching the way of using the Exercises. The directions prefixed to them (after the ), suppose the pupil to write them out on paper, or on a slate; but they may also be done orally, or on the black board, or otherwise, with a slight alteration of the directions. 12. While the Authors have sought to state things in a way consistent with sound views of language, they have, when forced to choose between the two, preferred a practical to a scientific arrangement or explanation. For young learners it would have been out of place to follow any other plan. As illustrations of what is meant, reference may be made to Sections 259, 367, 377, 380, 394. On the importance of a knowledge of Grammar generally, it is unnecessary to say more, than that an ignorance of it is a disgrace, and an evil for which hardly any thing can make up. A person who does not understand Grammar can scarce think correctly, for he cannot speak correctly; and correct speaking generally accompanies (logically) correct thinking. The study of Grammar, too, has been shewn, by an overwhelming amount of experience, to be the very best instrument for calling out and strengthening the powers of the mind. English Grammar, in particular, it is necessary to study, distinctly from other Grammar, because of its peculiarities in genius and structure. It is sometimes said that English is learnt well enough by hearing good English spoken. If only good English were heard by children, the argument might be worth something; but as long as they hear so much bad English spoken, as they often do, it can have no weight at all. Besides, to know what is right is not the same thing as to know why it is right; and Grammar teaches not only how to speak correctly, but also why one mode of speaking is right and another wrong. Without a knowledge of some of the kindred languages, the Authors would not have ventured on the composition of this work; well knowing, that a Grammar of any language, written independently of a comparison with others of the same family, must inevitably fall into ridiculous mistakes. The Authors intend shortly to publish an Introduction to English Composition, the object of which will be, in the first place, to teach the accurate construction of sentences, as sentences (not as exemplifying this or that Rule of government, agreement, &c.), and in the next place to lead the pupil gradually on to expressing his own thoughts on any given subject, in his own words, with facility and precision, and to the practice of what is commonly called writing themes. In this work constant reference will be made to the Grammar. |