THE

INSTITUTES

OF

ENGLISH GRAMMAR,

METHODICALLY ARRANGED;

WITH

EXAMPLES FOR PARSING, QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION,
SYNTAX FOR CORRECTION, EXERCISES

FALSE

FOR WRITING, OBSERVATIONS FOR

THE ADVANCED STUDENT,

AND

A KEY TO THE ORAL EXERCISES:

TO WHICH ARE ADDED

FOUR APPENDIXES.

Designed for the use of Schools, Academies, and Private Learners.

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, ss.

BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the Thirtieth day of June, A. D 1825, in the forty-ninth year of the Independence of the United States of America, Goold Brown, of the said District, hath deposited in this office, the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as author, in the words following, to wit:

"THE INSTITUTES OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, methodically arranged; with examples for parsing, questions for examination, false syntax for correction, exercises for writing, observations for the advanced student, and a key to the oral exercises to which are added four appendixes. Designed for the use of schools, academies and private learners. By Goold Brown. Ne quis igitur tanquam parva fastidiat Grammatices elementa.—Quintilian. Second Edition, revised and enlarged."

In conformity to the Act of Congress of the United States, entitled," AD Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the time therein mentioned." And also to an Act, entitled, "An Act, supplementary to an Act, entitled an Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints."

JAMES DILL,

Clerk of the Southern District of New York..

"Neque enim aut aliena vituperare, aut nostra jactantiùs prædi». care, animus est.-DESPAUTer.

LANGUAGE is the principal vehicle of thought; and so numerous and important are the ends to which it is subservient, that it is difficult to conceive in what manner the affairs of human society could be conducted without it. Its utility, therefore, will ever entitle it to a considerable share of attention in civilized communities, and to an important place in all systems of education. For, whatever we may think in relation to its origin,-whether we consider it a special gift from Heaven, or an acquisition of industry,-a natural endowment, or an artificial invention,-certain it is, that, in the the present state of things, our knowledge of it depends, in a great measure, if not entirely, on the voluntary exercise of our faculties, and on the helps and opportunities afforded us. One may indeed acquire, by mere imitation, such a knowledge of words, as to enjoy the ordinary advantages of speech; and he who is satisfied with the dialect he has so obtained, will find no occasion for treatises on grammar: but he who is desirous either of relishing the beauties of literary composition, or of expressing his sentiments with propriety and ease, must make the principles of language his study.

It is not the business of the grammarian to give law to language, but to teach it, agreeably to the best usage. The ultimate principle by which he must be governed, and with which his instructions must always accord, is that species of custom which critics denominate GOOD USE; that is, present, reputable, general use. This principle, which is equally opposed to fantastic innovation, and to a pertinacious adherence to the quaint peculiarities of ancient usage, is the only proper standard of grammatical purity. Those rules and modes of speech, which are established by this authority, may called the Institutes of Grammar.

be

To embody, in a convenient form, the true principles of the English Language, to express them in a simple and perspicuous style, adapted to the capacity of youth, to illustrate them by appropriate examples and exercises, and to give to the whole all possible advantage from method in the arrangement, are the objects of the following work. The author has not deviated much from the principles adopted in the most approved grammars already in use; nor has he acted the part of a servile copyist. It was not his design to introduce novelties, but to form a practical digest of established rules. He has not laboured to subvert the general system of gram