The Grammar of English Grammars

I. Names of the Letters II. Classes of the Letters III. Powers of the Letters IV. Forms of the Letters Rules for the use of Capitals Errors concerning Capitals Promiscuous Error...

Classes of Verbs Modifications of Verbs Moods Tenses Persons and Numbers The Conjugation of Verbs I. Simple Form, Active or Neuter First Example, the verb _LOVE_ Second Example,...

Rule II. Of Nominatives Observations on Rule II False Syntax under Rule II Rule III. Of Apposition Observations on Rule III False Syntax under Rule III Rule IV. Of Possessives O...

Rule X. Pronoun and Antecedent Observations on Rule X Notes to Rule X; 16 of them False Syntax under Rule X Rule XI. Pronoun and Collective Noun Observations on Rule XI Notes to...

Rule XIV. Verb and Nominative Observations on Rule XIV Notes to Rule XIV; 10 of them False Syntax under Rule XIV Rule XV. Verb and Collective Noun Observations on Rule XV Note t...

Obs. on Pauses, Points, Names, &c. Section I. The Comma; its 17 Rules Errors concerning the Comma Section II. The Semicolon; its 3 Rules Errors concerning the Semicolon Mixed Ex...

Section I. Of Articulation Article I. Of the Definition Article II. Of Good Articulation Section II. Of Pronunciation Article I. Powers of Letters Article II. Of Quantity Articl...

Section I. Of Verse Definitions and Principles Observations on Verse Section II. Of Accent and Quantity Section III. Of Poetic Feet Critical Observations on Theories Section IV....

Cor. under Rule II; of Nominatives Cor. under Rule III; of Apposition Cor. under Rule IV; of Possessives Cor. under Rule V; of Objectives Cor. under Rule VI; of Same Cases Cor....

Cor. under Rule XV and its Note Cor. under Rule XVI and its 7 Notes Cor. under Rule XVII and its 15 Notes Cor. under Rule XVIII; of Infinitives Cor. under Rule XIX; of Infinitives

Section I. The Comma; Corrections under its 17 Rules Section II. The Semicolon; Corrections under its 8 Rules Mixed Examples Corrected Section III. The Colon; Corrections under...

THE FOUR APPENDIXES. Appendix I. (To Orthography.) Of the Sounds of the Letters Appendix II. (To Etymology.) Of the Derivation of Words Appendix III. (To Syntax.) Of the Qualiti...

BOLLES, WILLIAM; (1.) "A Spelling-Book;" 12mo, pp. 180: Ster. Ed., N. London, 1831. (2.) "An Explanatory and Phonographic Pronouncing Dictionary of the English Language;" royal...

1. Language, in the proper sense of the term, is peculiar to man; so that, without a miraculous assumption of human powers, none but human beings can make words the vehicle of t...

"Respondeo, dupliciter aliquem dici grammaticum, arte et professione. Grammatici vera arte paucissimi sunt: et hi magna laude digni sunt, ut patuit: hos non vituperant summi vir...

"Non is ego sum, cui aut jucundum, aut adeo opus sit, de aliis detrahere, et hac viâ ad famara contendere. Melioribus artibus laudem parare didici. Itaque non libenter dico, quo...

"Tot fallaciis obrutum, tot hallucinationibus demersum, tot adhuc tenebris circumfusum studium hocce mihi visum est, ut nihil satis tuto in hac materia præstari posse arbitratus...

it is clear and emphatical, both parts of our question would seem to be resolved. But this great rhetorician either forgot his own doctrine, or did not mean what he here says. F...

1. The peculiar _power_ of language is another point worthy of particular consideration. The power of an instrument is virtually the power of him who wields it; and, as language...

"Non mediocres enim tenebræ in sylva, ubi hæc captanda: neque eon, quo pervenire volumus semitæ tritæ: neque non in tramitibus quædam objecta, quæ euntem retinere possent."--VAR...

1. In the use of language, every one chooses his words from that common stock which he has learned, and applies them in practice according to his own habits and notions. If the...

"Grammatica quid est? ars rectè scribendi rectèque loquendi; poetarum enarrationem continens; omnium Scientiarum fons uberrimus. * * * Nostra ætas parum perita rerum veterum, ni...

"Quomodo differunt grammaticus et grammatista? Grammaticus est qui diligenter, acutè, scienterque possit aut dicere aut scribere, et poetas enarrare: idem literatus dicitur. Gra...

1. "The first and highest philosophy," says Puffendorf, "is that which delivers the most accurate and comprehensive _definitions_ of things." Had all the writers on English gram...

1. The _history_ of grammar, in the proper sense of the term, has heretofore been made no part of the study. I have imagined that many of its details might be profitable, not on...

An elementary sound of the human voice, or an element of speech, is one of the simple sounds which compose a spoken language. The sound of a letter is commonly called its _power...

An _improper triphthong_ is a triphthong in which only one or two of the vowels are sounded; as, _eau_ in _beauty, iou_ in _anxious_. The diphthongs in English are twenty-nine;...

A _Word_ is one or more syllables spoken or written as the sign of some idea, or of some manner of thought. Words are distinguished as _primitive_ or _derivative_, and as _simpl...

_Spelling_ is the art of expressing words by their proper letters. This important art is to be acquired rather by means of the spelling-book or dictionary, and by observation in...

[Fist][The student ought to be able to answer with readiness, and in the words of the book, all the following questions on grammar. And if he has but lately commenced the study,...

[Fist] [The following examples of false orthography are inserted here, and not explained in the general Key, that they may he corrected by the pupil _in writing_. Some of the ex...

The Parts of Speech, or sorts of words, in English, are ten; namely, the Article, the Noun, the Adjective, the Pronoun, the Verb, the Participle, the Adverb, the Conjunction, th...

_An_ and _a_, being equivalent in meaning, are commonly reckoned _one and the same_ article. _An_ is used in preference to _a_, whenever the following word begins with a vowel s...

OBS. 1.--All words and signs taken _technically_, (that is, independently of their meaning, and merely as things spoken of,) are _nouns_; or, rather, are _things_ read and const...

OBS. 1.--Adjectives have been otherwise called attributes, attributives, qualities, adnouns; but none of these names is any better than the common one. Some writers have classed...

OBS. 1.--The word for which a pronoun stands, is called its _antecedent_, because it usually precedes the pronoun. But some have limited the term _antecedent_ to the word repres...

A Verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_: as, I _am_, I _rule_, I _am ruled_; I _love_, thou _lovest_, he _loves_. VERBS are so called, from the La...

A Participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the ve...

OBS. 1.--Adverbs briefly express what would otherwise require several words: as _Now_, for _at this time_;--_Here_, for _in this place_;--_Very_, for _in a high degree_;--_Dilig...

A Conjunction is a word used to connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected: as, "Thou _and_ he are happy, _because_ you are...

A Preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun: as, "The paper lies _bef...

inconsistent with each other, as they are severally absurd. Had the author explained the second example according to his notion of the first, he should have made it to mean, '_H...

OBS. 1.--Of pure interjections but few are admitted into books. Unimpassioned writings reject this part of speech altogether. As words or sounds of this kind serve rather to ind...

[Fist] [The following questions refer almost wholly to the main text of the Etymology of this work, and are such as every student should be able to answer with readiness and acc...

[When the pupil has become familiar with the different parts of speech, and their classes and modifications, and has been sufficiently exercised in etymological parsing and corr...

The _principal parts_ of a sentence are usually three; namely, the SUBJECT, or nominative,--the attribute, or finite VERB,--and the case put after, or the OBJECT[322] governed b...

In this chapter, and those which follow it, the Rules of Syntax are again exhibited, in the order of the parts of speech, with Examples, Exceptions, Observations, Notes, and Fal...

The rules for the construction of Nouns, or Cases, are seven; hence this chapter, according to the order adopted above, reviews the series of rules from the second rule to the e...

Fall of Jerusalem_. "Search through all the most flourishing era's of Greece."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 16. "The family of the Rudolph's had been long distinguished."--_The Frie...

An adjective sometimes relates to a _phrase_ or _sentence_ which is made the subject of an intervening verb; as, "_To insult the afflicted_, is _impious_"--_Dillwyn_. "_That he...

The rules for the agreement of Pronouns with their antecedents are four; hence this chapter extends from the tenth rule to the thirteenth, inclusively. The _cases_ of Pronouns a...

"The sound of _e_ and _o_ long, in their due degrees, will be preserved, and clearly distinguished."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 242. "If any person should be inclined to think,"...

In this work, the syntax of Verbs is embraced in six consecutive rules, with the necessary exceptions, notes, and observations, under them; hence this chapter extends from the f...

expression," a repetition of Dr. Bullions's erroneous assumption, that the name of a particular number, as being "a singular noun," must "convey the idea of unity," though the n...

with or without the _to_; but the last one would be still better thus: "_Dare_ you _prosecute_ such a creature as Vaughan?" Dr. Priestley thinks the following sentence would hav...

The true or regular syntax of the English Participle, as a part of speech distinct from the verb, and not converted into a noun or an adjective, is twofold; being sometimes that...

The syntax of an Adverb consists in its simple relation to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or whatever else it qualifies; just as the syntax of an English Adjective, (except...

The syntax of Conjunctions consists, not (as L. Murray and others erroneously teach) in "their power of determining the mood of verbs," or the "cases of nouns and pronouns," but...

The syntax of Prepositions consists, not solely or mainly in their power of governing the objective case, (though this alone is the scope which most grammarians have given it,)...

Interjections, being seldom any thing more than natural sounds or short words uttered independently, can hardly be said to have any _syntax_; but since some rule is necessary to...

This twelfth chapter of Syntax is devoted to a series of lessons, methodically digested, wherein are reviewed and reapplied, mostly in the order of the parts of speech, all thos...

The following comprehensive canon for the correction of all sorts of nondescript errors in syntax, and the several critical or general notes under it, seem necessary for the com...

upon these things."--H. C. WRIGHT: _Liberator_, Vol. xiv, p. 22. "I shall take leave to make a few observations upon the subject."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. iii. "His loss I have end...

[Fist][The following questions, which embrace nearly all the important particulars of the foregoing code of Syntax, are designed not only to direct and facilitate class rehearsa...

[Fist][When the pupil has been sufficiently exercised in _syntactical parsing_, and has corrected _orally_, according to the formulas given, all the examples of false syntax des...

_stand_, to _distinguish it_ from an adjective, which cannot, like the noun, stand alone."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 11. "They have two numbers, _like nouns_, the singular and plural...

OBS. 1.--The word _prosody_, (from the Greek--[Greek: pros], _to_, and [Greek: dæ], _song_,) is, with regard to its derivation, exactly equivalent to _accent_, or the Latin _acc...

Punctuation is the art of dividing literary composition, by points, or stops, for the purpose of showing more clearly the sense and relation of the words; and of noting the diff...

Articulation differs from pronunciation, in having more particular regard to the elements of words, and in not embracing accent[470]. A recent author defines it thus: "ARTICULAT...

A Figure, in grammar, is an intentional deviation from the ordinary spelling, formation, construction, or application, of words. There are, accordingly, figures of Orthography,...

Verse, in opposition to prose, is language arranged into metrical lines of some determinate length and rhythm--language so ordered as to produce harmony, by a due succession of...

[Fist][The following questions call the attention of the student to the main doctrines in the foregoing code of Prosody, and embrace or demand those facts which it is most impor...

[Fist] [When the pupil can readily answer all the questions on Prosody, and apply the rules of punctuation to any composition in which the points are rightly inserted, he should...

"Many a reader of the _Bible_ knows not who wrote the _Acts_ of the _Apostles_"--G. B. "The sons of Levi, the chief of the fathers, were written in the book of the _Chronicles_....

1. Correction of _Murray_, in words of two syllables: civ-il, col-our, cop-y, dam-ask, doz-en, ev-er, feath-er, gath-er, heav-en, heav-y, hon-ey, lem-on, lin-en, mead-ow, mon-ey...

"Professing to imitate Timon, the _manhater_."--_Goldsmith corrected_. "Men load hay with a _pitchfork._"--_Webster cor._ "A _peartree_ grows from the seed of a pear."--_Id._ "A...

"He _will_ observe the moral law, in _his_ conduct."--_Webster corrected_. "A _cliff_ is a steep bank, or a precipitous rock."--_Walker cor._ "A needy man's budget is _full_ of...

The first chapter of Etymology, as it exhibits only the distribution of words into the ten Parts of Speech, contains no false grammar for correction. And it may be here observed...

"Honour is _a_ useful distinction in life."--_Milnes cor._ "No writer, therefore, ought to foment _a_ humour of innovation."--_Jamieson cor._ "Conjunctions [generally] require a...

"All the ablest of the Jewish _rabbies_ acknowledge it."--_Wilson cor._ "Who has thoroughly imbibed the system of one or other of our Christian _rabbies_."--_Campbell cor._ "The...

"I have the real excuse of the _most honest_ sort of bankrupts."--_Cowley corrected_. "The _most honourable_ part of talk, is, to give the occasion."--_Bacon cor._ "To give him...

"_While_ we attend to this pause, every appearance of _singsong_ must be carefully avoided."--_Murray cor._ "For thou shalt go to all _to whom_ I shall send thee."--_Bible cor._...

"In speaking on a matter which _touched_ their hearts."--_Phil. Museum cor._ "Though Horace _published_ it some time after."--_Id._ "The best subjects with which the Greek model...

"Many of your readers have _mistaken_ that passage."--_Steele cor._ "Had not my dog of a steward _run_ away."--_Addison cor._ "None should be admitted, except he had _broken_ hi...

"We can much _more easily_ form the conception of a fierce combat."--_Blair corrected_. "When he was restored _agreeably_ to the treaty, he was a perfect savage."--_Webster cor....

"A _Verb_ is so called from the Latin _verbum_, a word."--_Bucke cor._ "References are often marked by letters _or_ figures."--_Adam and Gould cor._ (1.) "A Conjunction is a wor...

"Nouns are often formed _from_ participles."--_L. Murray corrected_. "What tenses are formed _from_ the perfect participle?"--_Ingersoll cor._ "Which tense is formed _from_ the...

"Of chance or change, _O_ let not man complain."--_Beattie's Minstrel_, B. ii, l. 1. "O thou persecutor! _O_ ye hypocrites!"--_Russell's Gram._, p. 92. "_O_ thou my voice inspir...

The first chapter of Syntax, being appropriated to general views of this part of grammar, to an exhibition of its leading doctrines, and to the several forms of sentential analy...

"I have seen _a_ horrible thing in the house of Israel."--_Bible cor._ "There is _a_ harshness in the following sentences."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 152. "Indeed, such _a_ one...

"The whole need not a physician, but _they_ that are sick."--_Bunyan cor._ "He will in no wise cast out _whosoever_ cometh unto him." Better: "He will in no wise cast out _any t...

"I am not recommending _this_ kind of sufferings to your liking."--_Sherlock cor._ "I have not been to London _these_ five years."--_Webster cor._ "_Verbs of this kind_ are more...

"The subject is to be joined with _its_ predicate."--_Wilkins cor._ "Every one must judge of _his_ own feelings."--_Byron cor._ "Every one in the family should know _his or her_...

"Before you left Sicily, you _were reconciled_ to Verres."--_Duncan cor._ "Knowing that you _were_ my old master's good friend."--_Spect. cor._ "When the judge _dares_ not act,...

"In forming his sentences, he was very exact."--_L. Murray_. "For not believing which, I condemn them."--_Barclay cor._ "To prohibit his hearers from reading that book."--_Id._...

"_Not_ all that is favoured by good use, is proper to be retained."--_L. Murray corrected._ "_Not_ everything favoured by good use, is on that account worthy to be retained."--_...

"The first proposal was essentially different _from_ the second, and inferior _to it._"--_Inst_. "A neuter verb _expresses_ the state _which_ a subject is in, without acting upo...

"You have bestowed your favours _upon_ the most deserving persons."--_Swift corrected._ "But, to rise _above_ that, and overtop the crowd, is given to few."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "T...

"Such _a_ one, I believe, yours will be proved to be."--_Peet and Farnum cor._ "Of the distinction between the imperfect and the perfect _tense_, it may be observed," &c.--_L. A...

"And they took stones, and made _a_ heap."--ALGER'S BIBLE: _Gen._, xxxi, 46. "And I do know many fools, that stand in better place."--_Shak. cor._ "It is a strong antidote to th...

(1.) "_The_ article is a part of speech placed before nouns." Or thus: "_An_ article is a _word_ placed before nouns."--_Comly cor._ (2.) "_The_ article is a part of speech used...

"A short simple _sentence_ should _rarely_ be _divided_ by _the_ comma."--_Felton cor._ "A regular and virtuous education is an inestimable blessing."--_L. Mur. cor._ "Such equi...

In the third chapter of Prosody, the several Figures of speech are explained; and, as the illustrations embrace no errors for correction, nothing here corresponds to the chapter...

In the first chapter of Part I, the powers of the letters, or the elementary sounds of the English language, were duly enumerated and explained; for these, as well as the letter...