THE

INSTITUTES

OF

ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

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

It is divided into four parts; namely, Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody.

Orthography treats of letters, syllables, separate words, and spelling.

Etymology treats of the different parts of speech, and -their classes and modifications.

Syntax treats of the relation, agreement, government, and arrangement, of words in sentences.

Prosody treats of punctuation, utterance, figures, and versification.

PART I.

ORTHOGRAPHY.

Orthography treats of letters, syllables, separate words, and spelling.

OF LETTERS.

A Letter is a character used in printing or writing, to represent an articulate sound.

An articulate sound, is a sound of the human voice, used in speaking.

The letters in the English alphabet, are twenty-six; A a, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, G g, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, LI, Mm, Nn, Oo, P p, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy, Z z.

*

* For the names and powers of the letters, see Appendix L.

16.

ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

CLASSES OF LETTERS.

The letters are divided into two general classes, vowels and consonants.

A vowel is a letter which forms a perfect sound when uttered alone.

A consonant is a letter which cannot be perfectly uttered till joined to a vowel.

The vowels are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes w and y. All the other letters are consonants.

W and y are consonants when they precede a vowel heard in the same syllable; as in wine, twine, whine, ye, yet, youth in all other cases, they are vowels; as in newly, dewy, eyebrow.

CLASSES OF CONSONANTS.

The consonants are divided into mutes and semivowels.

A mute is a consonant which cannot be sounded at all without a vowel. The mutes are b, d, k, p, q, t, and c and g hard.

A semivowel is a consonant which can be imperfectly sounded without a vowel. The semivowels are ƒ, h, j, l, m, n, T, S, Vg X, Z, and c and g soft.

Four of the semivowels, l, m, n, and r, are termed liquids, on account of the fluency of their sounds.

FORMS OF THE LETTERS.

In the English language, the Roman characters are generally employed; sometimes, the Italic; and occasionally, the Old English.

The letters have severally two forms, by which they are distinguished as capitals and small letters.

Small letters constitute the body of every work; and capitals are used for the sake of eminence and distinction.

RULES FOR THE USE OF CAPITALS.

RULE I.-TITLES OF BOOKS.

The titles of books, and the heads of their principal divisions, should be printed in capitals. When books are merely mentioned, the chief words in their titles begin with capitals, and the other letters are small; as, "Pope's Essay on Man."

RULE II.-FIRST WORDS.

The first word of every distinct sentence, should begin with a capital.

RULE III.-NAMES OF DEITY.

Ail names of the Deity should begin with capitals; as, God, Jehovah, the Almighty, the Supreme Being.

RULE IV.-PROPER NAMES.

Titles of office or honour, and proper names of every description, should begin with capitals; as, Chief Justice Hale, William, London, the Park, the Albion, the Spectator, the Thames.

RULE V.-OBJECTS PERSONIFIED.

The name of an object personified, when it conveys an idea strictly individual, should begin with a capital; as,

"Come, gentle Spring, ethereal mildness, come."

RULE VI.-WORDS DERIVed.

Words derived from proper names of persons or places, should begin with capitals; as, Newtonian, Grecian, Roman.

RULE VII-I AND 0.

The words I and O, should always be capitals.

RULE VIII.-IN POETRY.

Every line in poetry should begin with a capital.

RULE IX.-EXAMPLES.

The first word of a full example, of a distinct speech, or of a direct quotation, should begin with a capital; as, "Remember this maxim: ''Know thyself.""_" Virgil says, 'Labour conquers all things.'"

RULE X.--CHIEF WORDS.

Other words of particular importance, and such as denote the principal subjects of discourse, may be distinguished by capitals. Proper names frequently have capitals throughout.

OF SYLLABLES AND WORDS.

A Syllable is one or more letters pronounced in one sound, and is either a word or a part of word; as, a, an, ant. A Word is one or more syllables spoken or written as the sign of some idea.

In every word there are as many syllables as there are distinct sounds; as, gram-ma-ri-an.

A word of one syllable is called a monosyllable; a word of two syllables, a dissyllable; a word of three syllables, a trissyllable; and a word of four or more syllables, a polysyllable.

DIPHTHONGS AND TRIPHTHONGS.

A diphthong is two vowels joined in one syllable; as, ea in beat, ou in sound.

A proper diphthong, is a diphthong in which both the vowels are sounded; as, oi in voice.

An improper diphthong, is a diphthong in which only one of the vowels is sounded; as, oa in loaf.

A triphthong is three vowels joined in one syllable; as, eau in beau, iew in view.

A proper triphthong, is a triphthong in which all the vowels are sounded; as, uoy in buoy.

An improper triphthong, is a triphthong in which only one or two of the vowels are sounded; as, eau in beauty, iou in anxious.

SPECIES AND FIGURE OF WORDS.

Words are distinguished as primitive or derivative, and as simple or compound. The former division is called their species; the latter, their figure.

A primitive word is one that is not formed from any simpler word in the language; as, harm, great, connect.

A derivative word is one that is formed from some simpler word in the language; as, harmless, greatly, connected.

A simple word is one that is not compounded; as, watch,

man.

A compound word is one that is composed of two or more simple words; as, watchman, nevertheless.

Permanent compounds are consolidated; as, bookseller, schoolmaster: others are formed by the hyphen; as, glasshouse, negro-merchant.

SYLLABICATION.

In dividing words into syllables, we are chiefly to be directed by the ear; it may however be proper to observe the following rules. I. The consonants should generally be joined to the vowels or diphthongs which they modify; as, ap-os-tol-i-cal.

II. Derivative and grammatical terminations should generally be separated from the radical word; as, harm-less, great-ly, connect-ed.

III. Compounds should be divided into the simple words which compose them; as, watch-man, never-the-less.

ry;

IV. At the end of a line, a word may be divided, if necessabut a syllable must never be broken.

OF SPELLING.

Spelling is the art of expressing words by their proper letters.