PREFACE.

GRAMMAR is like Arithmetic. It is based on scientific principles, and for advanced students it deals mainly with theoretical and abstract discussions. But for beginners, it requires positive rules and definitions, and above all things, clear and copious examples. Examples are to the youthful student of Grammar what the sums are in Arithmetic. Without them, rules and definitions are apt to be a mere form of words. It is the examples and the practical exercises which give real life to the study for young minds.

In this new and revised edition of my Grammar, besides availing myself of whatever new light the last seventeen years have thrown upon the principles of the science, I have given much greater prominence than before to the practical exercises. The examples, both those for illustration and those for practice, are more numerous than in the original edition; and they are in each case brought into immediate connection with the rule or the definition which they are intended to illustrate. A child of ordinary capacity can hardly go through these exercises without becoming thoroughly familiar with the principles which they exemplify.

In a Grammar intended mainly as a school-book, all parade of learning is eminently out of place. The matured fruits of study should appear, but not its mere foliage. What the beginner requires is definite practical results, not the methods by which the author has reached them. Yet Grammar is, of all subjects, the one on which it is neither safe nor modest to dogmatize. The man must be strangely ignorant of the whole

subject, who can assume to be an infallible authority in language. No one knows so thoroughly, as he who has studied most profoundly, that on many points the science of Grammar is indeterminate, and that there may be fair grounds for differences of opinion among authors. While, on such points, an author will give for the use of beginners plain, practical rules, he cannot but desire occasionally to state the different views entertained by others, and the reasons which have led to the adoption of his own method. Some few discussions of disputed points, therefore, have necessarily found their way into this work. But, instead of being printed, as before, in immediate connection with the text, where they were found to distract the attention of the learner, they are all now placed by themselves in an Appendix. Such discussions are of course intended mainly for teachers, and for such a purpose are all the more available for being separated from the text and brought together in one body.

Besides this book, which is complete in itself, I have issued another, which is introductory to it, called PART FIRST. The Rules and Definitions in that book, so far as they are given, are the same as in this. But it contains only a small portion of the matter, and that the most elementary part, being intended for the use of those who begin the study while quite young. The exercises are entirely distinct from those in this book, and it has besides numerous explanations which are not deemed necessary here. Those who begin by studying Part First, will have nothing to unlearn in entering upon the study of the main work, and will find their progress in it much facilitated. At the same time, this main work is complete in itself, especially for those who do not begin the study of Grammar until they have arrived at some maturity of judgment, or until they have made some considerable progress in their other studies.

ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

1. GRAMMAR is the science which treats of Language.

2. Grammar is divided into four parts; namely, ORTHOGRAPHY, ETYMOLOGY, SYNTAX, and PRO

SODY.

3. Orthography treats of LETTERS, Etymology of WORDS, Syntax of SENTENCES, and Prosody of VERSIFICATION.

FIRST PART.

ORTHOGRAPHY.

4. The first part of Grammar is called ORTHO

GRAPHY,

5. Orthography treats of LETTERS,

NOTE.

The treatment of the Points and of the other characters used in writing, embracing the rules of Punctuation, belongs

properly to Orthography. But the most important of these rules cannot be understood by the pupil until he is familiar with the general principles of Grammar, particularly of Syntax. For convenience in teaching, therefore, this part of Orthography is treated of under the head of Prosody, although at some expense of logical accuracy.

6. Letters are written characters or signs used to represent certain sounds of the human voice.

7. The letters of any Language are called its ALPHABET.

8. The English Alphabet contains twenty-six let

ters.

DIVISIONS OF THE LETTERS.

9. Letters are divided into VOWELS and CONSONANTS. Consonants are subdivided into MUTES and SEMI-VOWELS.

10. A VOWEL may be fully sounded by itself.

11. A CONSONANT cannot be fully sounded unless in connexion with a vowel.

NOTE 1.-A MUTE is the mere commencement or termination of the sound, on opening or closing the organs; a SEMI-VOWEL is a partial interruption or modification of the sound, caused by changing the position of the organs during utterance; and a VOWEL is the very sound itself prolonged without change. (For a fuller explanation, see Appendix 1.)

NOTE 2.-The nature of the mute or semi-vowel in each case depends upon the particular part of the mouth or throat used to intercept the current of sound. Thus, if the sound is intercepted chiefly by the teeth, the letter is called a dental, &c. The nature of the vowel in like manner depends upon the shape of the aperture while the sound is coming out. Thus, when the aperture is circular, or nearly so, we form the sound of o, &c.

Vowels.

12. The VOWELS are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes w and y. All the other letters are CONSONANTS.

NOTE.-W and y are consonants when they begin a word or a syllable.

13. A DIPHTHONG is the union of two vowels in one sound. 14. A Proper diphthong is one in which both the vowels are sounded. The Proper Diphthongs are two, namely, oi and ou, as in loin, loud.

15. An Improper diphthong is one in which only one vowel is sounded; as, oa in boat.

16. The Improper diphthongs are numerous, and need not be repeated. Strictly speaking, they are not diphthongs, but merely single vowel sounds preceded or followed by other vowels that are not sounded.

17. A TRIPHTHONG is the union of three vowels in one sound; as, ieu in adieu.

18. The triphthongs are three in number, eau, ieu, iew; as in beauty, lieutenant, review. Like the improper diphthongs, they contain only one vowel sound.

NOTE.-U after q is never counted as part of a diphthong, or triphthong.

Consonants.

19. The Consonants are divided into MUTES and SEMI-Vowels. 20. The Mutes and Semi-vowels may be distinguished both by the name and the sound.

First, in naming the mutes, the accompanying vowel generally follows; as, pe, be; in naming the semi-vowels, the accompanying vowel precedes; as, ef, el.

Secondly, in sounding the mutes, the voice is stopped short, as in ap; in sounding the semi-vowels, the voice may be prolonged, as in al.

21. The mutes are p, b, t, d, k, q, and c and 9 hard.

22. The semi-vowels are ƒ, h, j, l, m, n, r, s, v, x, z; c and g soft; and w and y when they are not vowels.