PART I. THE PARTS OF SPEECH.
NOUNS.
PRONOUNS.
ADJECTIVES.
ARTICLES.
VERBS AND VERBALS..
Verbs.
Verbals.
How To Parse Verbs And Verbals.
ADVERBS.
CONJUNCTIONS.
PREPOSITIONS..
WORDS THAT NEED WATCHING.
INTERJECTIONS.
PART II.
ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES.
CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO FORM.
CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO NUMBER OF STATEMENTS.
Simple Sentences.
Contracted Sentences.
Complex Sentences.
Compound Sentences.
PART III.
SYNTAX
INTRODUCTORY.
NOUNS.
PRONOUNS.
ADJECTIVES.
ARTICLES.
VERBS.
INDIRECT DISCOURSE.
VERBALS.
INFINITIVES.
ADVERBS.
CONJUNCTIONS.
PREPOSITIONS
INDEX
INTRODUCTION.
So many slighting remarks have been made of late on the use of teaching grammar as compared with teaching science,
that it is plain the fact has been lost sight of that grammar is itself a science. The object we have, or should have, in
teaching science, is not to fill a child's mind with a vast number of facts that may or may not prove useful to him hereafter,
but to draw out and exercise his powers of observation, and to show him how to make use of what he observes.... And
here the teacher of grammar has a great advantage over the teacher of other sciences, in that the facts he has to call
attention to lie ready at hand for every pupil to observe without the use of apparatus of any kind while the use of them
also lies within the personal experience of every one.—Dr Richard Morris.
The proper study of a language is an intellectual discipline of the highest order. If I except discussions on the
comparative merits of Popery and Protestantism, English grammar was the most important discipline of my boyhood.—
John Tyndall.
INTRODUCTION.
What various opinions writers on English grammar have given in answer to the question, What is grammar? may be
shown by the following—
English grammar is a description of the usages of the English language by good
Definitions of grammar.
speakers and writers of the present day.—Whitney
A description of account of the nature, build, constitution, or make of a language is called its
grammar—Meiklejohn
Grammar teaches the laws of language, and the right method of using it in speaking and writing.—
Patterson
Grammar is the science of letter; hence the science of using words correctly.—Abbott
The English word grammar relates only to the laws which govern the significant forms of words, and
the construction of the sentence.—Richard Grant White
These are sufficient to suggest several distinct notions about English grammar—
(1) It makes rules to tell us how to use words.
Synopsis of the above.
(2) It is a record of usage which we ought to follow.
(3) It is concerned with the forms of the language.
(4) English has no grammar in the sense of forms, or inflections, but takes account merely of the nature and the uses of
words in sentences.
Fierce discussions have raged over these opinions, and numerous works have been written
The older idea and its origin.
to uphold the theories. The first of them remained popular for a very long time. It originated
from the etymology of the word grammar (Greek gramma, writing, a letter), and from an effort to build up a treatise on
English grammar by using classical grammar as a model.
Perhaps a combination of (1) and (3) has been still more popular, though there has been vastly more classification than
there are forms.
During recent years, (2) and (4) have been gaining ground, but they have had hard work to
The opposite view.
displace the older and more popular theories. It is insisted by many that the student's time
should be used in studying general literature, and thus learning the fluent and correct use of his mother tongue. It is also
insisted that the study and discussion of forms and inflections is an inexcusable imitation of classical treatises.
Which view shall the student of English accept? Before this is answered, we should decide
The difficulty.
whether some one of the above theories must be taken as the right one, and the rest
disregarded.
The real reason for the diversity of views is a confusion of two distinct things,—what the definition of grammar should be,
and what the purpose of grammar should be.
The province of English grammar is, rightly considered, wider than is indicated by any one of
The material of grammar.
the above definitions; and the student ought to have a clear idea of the ground to be covered.
It must be admitted that the language has very few inflections at present, as compared with
Few inflections.
Few inflections.
Latin or Greek; so that a small grammar will hold them all.
It is also evident, to those who have studied the language historically, that it is very
Making rules is risky.
hazardous to make rules in grammar: what is at present regarded as correct may not be so
twenty years from now, even if our rules are founded on the keenest scrutiny of the "standard" writers of our time. Usage
is varied as our way of thinking changes. In Chaucer's time two or three negatives were used to strengthen a negation;
as, "Ther nas no man nowher so vertuous" (There never was no man nowhere so virtuous). And Shakespeare used
good English when he said more elder ("Merchant of Venice") and most unkindest ("Julius Cæsar"); but this is bad
English now.
If, however, we have tabulated the inflections of the language, and stated what syntax is the most used in certain
troublesome places, there is still much for the grammarian to do.
Surely our noble language, with its enormous vocabulary, its peculiar and abundant idioms,
A broader view.
its numerous periphrastic forms to express every possible shade of meaning, is worthy of
serious study, apart from the mere memorizing of inflections and formulation of rules.
Grammar is eminently a means of mental training; and while it will train the student in subtle
Mental training. An æsthetic
and acute reasoning, it will at the same time, if rightly presented, lay the foundation of a keen
benefit.
observation and a correct literary taste. The continued contact with the highest thoughts of
the best minds will create a thirst for the "well of English undefiled."
Coming back, then, from the question, What ground should grammar cover? we come to
What grammar is.
answer the question, What should grammar teach? and we give as an answer the definition,
—
English grammar is the science which treats of the nature of words, their forms, and their uses and relations in the
sentence.
This will take in the usual divisions, "The Parts of Speech" (with their inflections), "Analysis,"
The work it will cover.
and "Syntax." It will also require a discussion of any points that will clear up difficulties, assist
the classification of kindred expressions, or draw the attention of the student to everyday idioms and phrases, and thus
incite his observation.
A few words here as to the authority upon which grammar rests.
Authority as a basis.
The statements given will be substantiated by quotations from the leading or "standard"
literature of modern times; that is, from the eighteenth century on. This literary English is
Literary English.
considered the foundation on which grammar must rest.
Here and there also will be quoted words and phrases from spoken or colloquial English, by
Spoken English.
which is meant the free, unstudied expressions of ordinary conversation and communication
among intelligent people.
These quotations will often throw light on obscure constructions, since they preserve turns of expressions that have long
since perished from the literary or standard English.
Occasionally, too, reference will be made to vulgar English,—the speech of the uneducated
Vulgar English.
and ignorant,—which will serve to illustrate points of syntax once correct, or standard, but
now undoubtedly bad grammar.
The following pages will cover, then, three divisions:—
Part I. The Parts of Speech, and Inflections.
Part II. Analysis of Sentences.
Part III. The Uses of Words, or Syntax.
PART I.
THE PARTS OF SPEECH.
NOUNS.
In the
1.more simple state of the Arabs, the nation is free, because each of her sons disdains a base submission to the
will of a master.—Gibbon.
By examining this sentence we notice several words used as names. The plainest name is
Name words
Arabs, which belongs to a people; but, besides this one, the words sons and master name
objects, and may belong to any of those objects. The words state, submission, and will are evidently names of a
different kind, as they stand for ideas, not objects; and the word nation stands for a whole group.
When the meaning of each of these words has once been understood, the word naming it will always call up the thing or
idea itself. Such words are called nouns.
A noun
2. is a name word, representing directly to the mind an object, substance, or idea.
Definition.
Nouns
3
. are classified as follows:—
Classes of nouns.
(1) Proper.
(2) Common. (a) CLASS NAMES: i. Individual.
ii. Collective.
(b) MATERIAL.
(3) Abstract. (a) ATTRIBUTE.
(b) VERBAL
A prop
4. er noun is a name applied to a particular object, whether person, place, or thing.
Names for special objects.
It specializes or limits the thing to which it is applied, reducing it to a narrow application. Thus,
city is a word applied to any one of its kind; but Chicago names one city, and fixes the attention upon that particular city.
King may be applied to any ruler of a kingdom, but Alfred the Great is the name of one king only.
The word proper is from a Latin word meaning limited, belonging to one. This does not imply, however, that a proper
name can be applied to only one object, but that each time such a name is applied it is fixed or proper to that object.
Even if there are several Bostons or Manchesters, the name of each is an individual or proper name.
A com
5. mon noun is a name possessed by any one of a class of persons, animals, or things.
Name for any individual of a class.
Common, as here used, is from a Latin word which means general, possessed by all.
For instance, road is a word that names any highway outside of cities; wagon is a term that names any vehicle of a
certain kind used for hauling: the words are of the widest application. We may say, the man here, or the man in front of
you, but the word man is here hedged in by other words or word groups: the name itself is of general application.
Besides considering persons, animals, and things separately, we may think of them in
Name for a group or collection of
groups, and appropriate names to the groups.
objects.
Thus, men in groups may be called a crowd, or a mob, a committee, or a council, or a congress, etc.
These are called COLLECTIVE NOUNS. They properly belong under common nouns, because each group is
considered as a unit, and the name applied to it belongs to any group of its class.
The d
6e
. finition given for common nouns applies more strictly to class nouns. It may, however,
Names for things thought of in
be correctly used for another group of nouns detailed below; for they are common nouns in
mass.
the sense that the names apply to every particle of similar substance, instead of to each
individual or separate object.
They are called MATERIAL NOUNS. Such are glass, iron, clay, frost, rain, snow, wheat, wine, tea, sugar, etc.
They may be placed in groups as follows:—
(1) The metals: iron, gold, platinum, etc.
(2) Products spoken of in bulk: tea, sugar, rice, wheat, etc.
(3) Geological bodies: mud, sand, granite, rock, stone, etc.
(4) Natural phenomena: rain, dew, cloud, frost, mist, etc.
(5) Various manufactures: cloth (and the different kinds of cloth), potash, soap, rubber, paint, celluloid, etc.
7. NOTE.—There are some nouns, such as sun, moon, earth, which seem to be the names of particular individual
objects, but which are not called proper names.
The reason is, that in proper names the intention is to exclude all other individuals of the
Words naturally of limited
same class, and fasten a special name to the object considered, as in calling a city
application not proper.
Cincinnati; but in the words sun, earth, etc., there is no such intention. If several bodies like
the center of our solar system are known, they also are called suns by a natural extension of the term: so with the words
earth, world, etc. They remain common class names.
Abstra
8. ct nouns are names of qualities, conditions, or actions, considered abstractly, or
Names of ideas, not things.
apart from their natural connection.
When we speak of a wise man, we recognize in him an attribute or quality. If we wish to think simply of that quality
without describing the person, we speak of the wisdom of the man. The quality is still there as much as before, but it is
taken merely as a name. So poverty would express the condition of a poor person; proof means the act of proving, or
that which shows a thing has been proved; and so on.
Again, we may say, "Painting is a fine art," "Learning is hard to acquire," "a man of understanding."
There
9 .are two chief divisions of abstract nouns:—
(1) ATTRIBUTE NOUNS, expressing attributes or qualities.
(2) VERBAL NOUNS, expressing state, condition, or action.
The A
1 T
0. TRIBUTE ABSTRACT NOUNS are derived from adjectives and from common nouns.
Attribute abstract nouns.
Thus, (1) prudence from prudent, height from high, redness from red, stupidity from stupid,
etc.; (2) peerage from peer, childhood from child, mastery from master, kingship from king, etc.
II. The VERBAL ABSTRACT NOUNS Originate in verbs, as their name implies. They may be
Verbal abstract nouns.
—
(1) Of the same form as the simple verb. The verb, by altering its function, is used as a noun; as in the expressions, "a
long run" "a bold move," "a brisk walk."
(2) Derived from verbs by changing the ending or adding a suffix: motion from move, speech from speak, theft from
thieve, action from act, service from serve.
(3) Derived from verbs by adding -ing to the simple verb. It must be remembered that these
Caution.
words are free from any verbal function. They cannot govern a word, and they cannot
express action, but are merely names of actions. They are only the husks of verbs, and are to be rigidly distinguished
from gerunds (Secs. 272, 273).
To avoid difficulty, study carefully these examples:
The best thoughts and sayings of the Greeks; the moon caused fearful forebodings; in the beginning of his life; he
spread his blessings over the land; the great Puritan awakening; our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; a wedding or a
festival; the rude drawings of the book; masterpieces of the Socratic reasoning; the teachings of the High Spirit; those
opinions and feelings; there is time for such reasonings; the well-being of her subjects; her longing for their favor;
feelings which their original meaning will by no means justify; the main bearings of this matter.
Some
1
2. abstract nouns were not derived from any other part of speech, but were framed
Underived abstract nouns.
directly for the expression of certain ideas or phenomena. Such are beauty, joy, hope, ease,
energy; day, night, summer, winter; shadow, lightning, thunder, etc.
The adjectives or verbs corresponding to these are either themselves derived from the nouns or are totally different
words; as glad—joy, hopeful—hope, etc.
Exercises.
1. From your reading bring up sentences containing ten common nouns, five proper, five abstract.
NOTE.—Remember that all sentences are to be selected from standard literature.
2. Under what class of nouns would you place (a) the names of diseases, as pneumonia, pleurisy, catarrh, typhus,
diphtheria; (b) branches of knowledge, as physics, algebra, geology, mathematics?
3. Mention collective nouns that will embrace groups of each of the following individual nouns:—
man
horse
bird
fish
partridge
pupil
bee
soldier