Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, by S. BARRETT, JR., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States PRINTED BY GEORGE C. RAND & AVERY. is. Herbert Russel? A KEY TO THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR; BEING A PRACTICAL AND NATURAL ILLUSTRATION OF ORTHOGRAPHY, BY A PROCESS OF REASONING. "STUDY things, not words. Use your brains more, and your books less." To reason and form correct conclusions without a comparison, is an impossibility. We can never know for a certainty that we have a pound of coffee or a yard of cloth, without first comparing the one with the pound weight, and the other with the yard measure. And in all cases, the measure and the thing measured are called the premises, or the premised propositions, the measure being the known, and the thing to be measured, the unknown quantity; and the comparing of these premises is called reasoning, by which we conclude that the premises, or terms premised, either agree or disagree. Now, in grammar, the standard for measuring words is the Table given on the 28th page; and the business of parsing, or ascertaining the part of speech, is effected by instituting a comparison between the words in the sentence about to be parsed, and the word or words having a corresponding relation in the Table. That is to say: an equation is formed by making the unknown term equal (=, mathematical sign) the known; thus, the expression, "WHITE1 paper" equals (=) "COLD1 day," in the Table of Relations; or "MOON2 Smiles " = (equals) "MAN2 walks." Hence we have: first, Analysis, or the separating of words; second, Syntax, or the uniting of words; third, Equations, or the comparison of words with the Table of Relations (page 28); and fourth, the Conclusions, naturally formed by the comparison, which shows us at once the true classification (or etymology) of the word about to be parsed. 334359 NOTE.-In the Blackboard Exercises, the words are analyzed as they stand in columns. Let the student himself produce the Syn- page 28, before commencing these Exercises; otherwise you will find yourself attempting to measure without a standard of measure. vi = John is9 sun went down nor16 the carnage ceased = he may stay or16 he may go. nor, a conjunction. down, an adverb. went down12 moves slowly12 murder murder2 shook man2 walks cold1 day carnage, a noun, nom. tumultuous, an adj. murder, a noun, nom. Scott conquered10 Mexico 'shook, a verb trans. the, an adjetive. low'ring1 cloud cloud2 obscures cloud obscures10 sky the sky obscures sky man's horse cold' day to man' cold1 day cold1 day man2 walks CONCLUSIONS. Classifying. therefore, The, an adjective. Scott conquered1o Mexico cold1 day saw man® midnight, an adjective. moon, a noun, nom. o'er, a preposition nature's, a noun, poss. sky, a noun, objective. He may stay or he may go nor, a conjunction. cold1 day ruffling, an adjective. blows. still. the heart throbbing1 heart heart2 lies heart lies? still heart smiles o'er1 repose to man' cold day cold' day man2 walks = John is = cold1 day CONCLUSIONS. therefore, Now, an adverb. every, an adjective. passion, a noun, nom. sinks, a verb intrans. to, a preposition. rest, a noun, objective. A PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATION OF THE FOUR PARTS OF GRAMMAR. ORTHOGRAPHY. SYNTAX. ETYMOLOGY. war, noun, nominative. that, pronoun. for, preposition. a, adjective. space, noun, objective. PROSODY. |