The Grammar of English Grammars

Goold Brown

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• Publié par: erde
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 52
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

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Project Gutenberg's The Grammar of English Grammars, by Goold Brown
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Title: The Grammar of English Grammars
Author: Goold Brown
Release Date: March 17, 2004 [EBook #11615]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH GRAMMARS ***
Produced by Karl Hagen and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
Transcriber's Notes: Despite the severity with which the author of this work treats those who depart from his standard
of correctness, the source text does contain a small number of typographical errors. Missing punctuation has been
supplied silently, but all other errors have been left uncorrected. To let the reader distinguish such problems from any
inadvertent transcription errors that remain, I have inserted notes to flag items that appear errors by Brown's own
standard. Spellings that are simply different from current practice, e.g., 'Shakspeare' are not noted. Special
characters: vowels with macrons are rendered with an equals sign (=) before the vowel. Vowels with breve marks are
rendered with tildes (~) before the vowels.—KTH.
THE
GRAMMAR
OF
ENGLISH GRAMMARS,
WITH
AN INTRODUCTION
HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL;
THE WHOLE
METHODICALLY ARRANGED AND AMPLY ILLUSTRATED;
WITH
FORMS OF CORRECTING AND OF PARSING, IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION, EXAMPLES FOR PARSING, QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION,
EXERCISES FOR WRITING, OBSERVATIONS FOR THE ADVANCED STUDENT, DECISIONS AND PROOFS FOR THE SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTED
POINTS, OCCASIONAL STRICTURES AND DEFENCES, AN EXHIBITION OF THE SEVERAL METHODS OF ANALYSIS,
AND
A KEY TO THE ORAL EXERCISES:
TO WHICH ARE ADDED
FOUR APPENDIXES,
PERTAINING SEPARATELY TO THE FOUR PARTS OF GRAMMAR.
BY GOOLD BROWN,
AUTHOR OF THE INSTITUTES OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, THE FIRST LINES OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, ETC.
"So let great authors have their due, that Time, who is the author of authors, be not deprived of his due, which is,
farther and farther to discover truth."—LORD BACON.
SIXTH EDITION—REVISED AND IMPROVED.
ENLARGED BY THE ADDITION OF A COPIOUS INDEX OF MATTERS.BY SAMUEL U. BERRIAN, A. M.PREFACE
The present performance is, so far as the end could be reached, the fulfillment of a design, formed about
twentyseven years ago, of one day presenting to the world, if I might, something like a complete grammar of the English
language;—not a mere work of criticism, nor yet a work too tame, indecisive, and uncritical; for, in books of either of
these sorts, our libraries already abound;—not a mere philosophical investigation of what is general or universal in
grammar, nor yet a minute detail of what forms only a part of our own philology; for either of these plans falls very far
short of such a purpose;—not a mere grammatical compend, abstract, or compilation, sorting with other works
already before the public; for, in the production of school grammars, the author had early performed his part; and, of
small treatises on this subject, we have long had a superabundance rather than a lack.
After about fifteen years devoted chiefly to grammatical studies and exercises, during most of which time I had been
alternately instructing youth in four different languages, thinking it practicable to effect some improvement upon the
manuals which explain our own, I prepared and published, for the use of schools, a duodecimo volume of about three
hundred pages; which, upon the presumption that its principles were conformable to the best usage, and well
established thereby, I entitled, "The Institutes of English Grammar." Of this work, which, it is believed, has been
gradually gaining in reputation and demand ever since its first publication, there is no occasion to say more here,
than that it was the result of diligent study, and that it is, essentially, the nucleus, or the groundwork, of the present
volume.
With much additional labour, the principles contained in the Institutes of English Grammar, have here been not only
reaffirmed and rewritten, but occasionally improved in expression, or amplified in their details. New topics, new
definitions, new rules, have also been added; and all parts of the subject have been illustrated by a multiplicity of new
examples and exercises, which it has required a long time to amass and arrange. To the main doctrines, also, are
here subjoined many new observations and criticisms, which are the results of no inconsiderable reading and
reflection.
Regarding it as my business and calling, to work out the above-mentioned purpose as circumstances might permit, I
have laid no claim to genius, none to infallibility; but I have endeavoured to be accurate, and aspired to be useful; and
it is a part of my plan, that the reader of this volume shall never, through my fault, be left in doubt as to the origin of any
thing it contains. It is but the duty of an author, to give every needful facility for a fair estimate of his work; and,
whatever authority there may be for anonymous copying in works on grammar, the precedent is always bad.
The success of other labours, answerable to moderate wishes, has enabled me to pursue this task under favourable
circumstances, and with an unselfish, independent aim. Not with vainglorious pride, but with reverent gratitude to
God, I acknowledge this advantage, giving thanks for the signal mercy which has upborne me to the long-continued
effort. Had the case been otherwise,—had the labours of the school-room been still demanded for my support,—the
present large volume would never have appeared. I had desired some leisure for the completing of this design, and
to it I scrupled not to sacrifice the profits of my main employment, as soon as it could be done without hazard of
adding another chapter to "the Calamities of Authors."
The nature and design of this treatise are perhaps sufficiently developed in connexion with the various topics which
are successively treated of in the Introduction. That method of teaching, which I conceive to be the best, is also there
described. And, in the Grammar itself, there will be found occasional directions concerning the manner of its use. I
have hoped to facilitate the study of the English language, not by abridging our grammatical code, or by rejecting the
common phraseolgy [sic—KTH] of its doctrines, but by extending the former, improving the latter, and establishing
both;—but still more, by furnishing new illustrations of the subject, and arranging its vast number of particulars in such
order that every item may be readily found.
An other important purpose, which, in the preparation of this work, has been borne constantly in mind, and judged
worthy of very particular attention, was the attempt to settle, so far as the most patient investigation and the fullest
exhibition of proofs could do it, the multitudinous and vexatious disputes which have hitherto divided the sentiments
of teachers, and made the study of English grammar so uninviting, unsatisfactory, and unprofitable, to the student
whose taste demands a reasonable degree of certainty.
"Whenever labour implies the exertion of thought, it does good, at least to the strong: when the saving of labour is a
saving of thought, it enfeebles. The mind, like the body, is strengthened by hard exercise: but, to give this exercise all
its salutary effect, it should be of a reasonable kind; it should lead us to the perception of regularity, of order, of
principle, of a law. When, after all the trouble we have taken, we merely find anomalies and confusion, we are
disgusted with what is so uncongenial: and, as our higher faculties have not been called into action, they are not
unlikely to be outgrown by the lower, and overborne as it were by the underwood of our minds. Hence, no doubt, one
of the reasons why our language has been so much neglected, and why such scandalous ignorance prevails
concerning its nature and history, is its unattractive, disheartening irregularity: none but Satan is fond of plunging into
chaos."—Philological Museum, (Cambridge, Eng., 1832,) Vol. i, p. 666.
If there be any remedy for the neglect and ignorance here spoken of, it must be found in the more effectual teaching
of English grammar. But the principles of grammar can never have any beneficial influence over any person's manner
of speaking or writing, till by some process they are made so perfectly familiar, that he can apply them with all the
readiness of a native power; that is, till he can apply them not only to what has been said or written, but to whatever
he is about to utter. They must present themselves to the mind as by intuition, and with the quickness of thought; so
as to regulate his language before it proceeds from the lips or the pen. If they come only by tardy recollection, or are
called to mind but as contingent afterthoughts, they are altogether too late; and serve merely to mortify the speaker or
writer, by reminding him of some deficiency or inaccuracy which there may then be no chance to amend.But how shall, or can, this readiness be acquired? I answer, By a careful attention to such exercises as are fitted to
bring the learner's knowledge into practice. The student will therefore find, that I have given him something to do, as
well as somethin