Of nouns of multitude. : : :

Page.

: :: : 147

Of one noun governing another in the possessive

case. : : : :: :: : : ::: 16

Of the syntax of the pronoun.

Of pronouns agreeing with their antecedents.

: 148

Of the relative being nominative to the verb. : 153

Of the relative preceded by nominatives of diffe-

rent persons. : : : ::

Of the syntax of the adjective.

Of the syntax of the verb.

: : : : : 155

:

: : : 156

Of the verb's agreement with the nominative case. 139
Of verbs active requiring the objective case.
Of one verb governing another in the infinitive

mood. : : : : : : : :
Of verbs related in point of time.

Of the syntax of the participle.
Of the rules respecting adverbs.
Of the position of adverbs.
Of two negatives.

:

: :

:

.: 175

: : : 178

:

:

:

: 179

:

:

: 183

Of conjunctions connecting the same moods,

tenses, and cases. :

Of conjunctions requiring the subjunctive mood,
&c. :: : : : : : : : : : : 195

Of the syntax of interjections. : : : : 153

Of comparisons by the conjunction than or as. 205

Directions respecting the ellipsis. : : : : 207

General rule of syntax.

tion, exclamation, capitals,

&c.

:::: ::: 267

APPENDIX.

RULES AND OBSERVATIONS FOR PROMOTING PERSPI-

CUITY AND ACCURACY IN WRITING.

PART I.

Of perspicuity and accuracy of expression, with respect to

CHAP. 1.

CHAP 2.

Of perspicuity and accuracy of expression, with respect to

the construction of sentences.

Of the clearness of a sentence.

Of the unity of a sentence.

287

: 293

ENGLISH GRAMMAR is the art of speaking and
writing the English language with propriety.

It is divided into four parts, viz. ORTHOGRAPHY,
ETYMOLOGY, SYNTAX, and PROSODY.

This division may be rendered more intelligible to the

student, by observing, in other words, that Grammar treats,

first, of the form and sound of the letters, the combination

of letters into syllables, and syllables into words; secondly,

of the different sorts of words, their various modifications,

and their derivation; thirdly, of the union and right order

of words in the formation of a sentence; and lastly, of the

just pronunciation, and poetical construction of sentences.

PART I.

ORTHOGRAPHY.

CHAPTER I. Of the LETTERS.

SECTION 1. Of the nature of the letters, and of a perfect

alphabet.

Orthography teaches the nature and powers of

letters, and the just method of spelling words.

A letter is the first principle, or least part, of a

word.

The letters of the English language, called the

English Alphabet, are twenty-six in number.

These letters are the representatives of certain
articulate sounds, the elements of the language.
An articulate sound, is the sound of the human
voice, formed by the organs of speech.

B

The following is a list of the Anglo-Saxon, Roman, Italic, and Old English Characters.

A perfect alphabet of the English language, and, indeed, of every other language, would contain a number of letters, precisely equal to the number of simple articulate sounds belonging to the language. Every simple sound would have its distinct character; and that character be the representative of no other sound. But this is far from being the state of the English alphabet. It has more original sounds than distinct significant letters; and, consequently, some of these letters are made to represent, not one sound alone, but several sounds. This will appear by reflecting, that the sounds signified by the united letters th, sh, ng, are elementary, and have no single appropriate characters, in our alphabet: and that the letters a and u represent the different sounds heard in hat, hate, hall; and in but, bull, mule.

To explain this subject more fully to the learners, we shall set down the characters made use of to represent all the elementary articulate sounds of our language, as nearly in the manner and order of the present English alphabet, as the design of the subject will admit; and shall annex to each character the syllable or word, which contains its proper and distinct sound. And here it will be proper to begin with the vowels.