PREFACE. THE following work consists of three parts--Accidence, Syntax, and Analysis of Sentences. Part I. contains three sections:-1st. Classification of Words; 2nd. Definition and Subdivision of the Parts of Speech; and 3d., Inflection. In Part II. the Rules of Syntax are given in detail, with numerous Exercises, consisting of sentences some of which are correct and others faulty, the pupil being left to discover for himself those which violate the rule, and to make the necessary correction. The Parsing Exercises appended to the rules are so constructed as still further to test the pupil's intelligence of the principle involved. To this division of the work are added a few pages explaining and illustrating the more common Figures of Speech. In Part III. the Analysis of Sentences-a department of Grammar now regarded as of great and growing importance is treated at considerable length. It has been the aim of the author to meet the special difficulties of the subject by systematic arrangement of principles, clear and precise definitions, and copious illustrative examples and exercises; and it is hoped that the method adopted will tend greatly to lighten the labour both of the teacher and of the pupil, ENGLISH GRAMMAR. PART I.-ACCIDENCE. 1. English Grammar is divided into three parts ;— (1.) Orthography, which treats of sounds and letters; (2.) Etymology, which treats of the classification, inflection, and derivation of words; and (3.) Syntax, which treats of the right arrangement of words in a sentence, and the relation that sentences or parts of sentences bear to each other. ORTHOGRAPHY. 2. Language is made up of words. A primitive word is one which is not derived from any other word; as, Good, run. A derivative word is one which is derived from another word; as, Goodness, runner. A compound word is one which is made up of two or more words; as, Town-clerk, bookseller. 3. A word consists of one or more syllables or distinct sounds. A word of one syllable is called a monosyllable; as, Just. A word of two syllables is called a dissyllable; as, Justice. A word of three syllables is called a trisyllable; as, Justify. A word of four or more syllables is called a polysyllable; as, Justification. 4. There are twenty-six letters in English, and these, taken as a whole, are called the Alphabet. 5. Letters are divided into Vowels and Consonants. A Vowel makes a full and complete sound by itself. The Vowels are a, e, i, o, u; also w and y when they do not begin a word or syllable. The rest of the letters are called Consonants, because, to make a distinct syllable, they must be sounded along with a vowel. |