An English Grammar Part 1

An English Grammar.

by W. M. Baskervill and J. W. Sewell.

PREFACE.

Of making many English grammars there is no end; nor should there be till theoretical scholars.h.i.+p and actual practice are more happily wedded. In this field much valuable work has already been accomplished; but it has been done largely by workers accustomed to take the scholar's point of view, and their writings are addressed rather to trained minds than to immature learners. To find an advanced grammar unenc.u.mbered with hard words, abstruse thoughts, and difficult principles, is not altogether an easy matter. These things enhance the difficulty which an ordinary youth experiences in grasping and a.s.similating the facts of grammar, and create a distaste for the study. It is therefore the leading object of this book to be both as scholarly and as practical as possible. In it there is an attempt to present grammatical facts as simply, and to lead the student to a.s.similate them as thoroughly, as possible, and at the same time to do away with confusing difficulties as far as may be.

To attain these ends it is necessary to keep ever in the foreground the _real basis of grammar_; that is, good literature. Abundant quotations from standard authors have been given to show the student that he is dealing with the facts of the language, and not with the theories of grammarians. It is also suggested that in preparing written exercises the student use English cla.s.sics instead of "making up" sentences. But it is not intended that the use of literary masterpieces for grammatical purposes should supplant or even interfere with their proper use and real value as works of art. It will, however, doubtless be found helpful to alternate the regular reading and aesthetic study of literature with a grammatical study, so that, while the mind is being enriched and the artistic sense quickened, there may also be the useful acquisition of arousing a keen observation of all grammatical forms and usages. Now and then it has been deemed best to omit explanations, and to withhold personal preferences, in order that the student may, by actual contact with the sources of grammatical laws, discover for himself the better way in regarding given data. It is not the grammarian's business to "correct:" it is simply to record and to arrange the usages of language, and to point the way to the arbiters of usage in all disputed cases. Free expression within the lines of good usage should have widest range.

It has been our aim to make a grammar of as wide a scope as is consistent with the proper definition of the word. Therefore, in addition to recording and cla.s.sifying the facts of language, we have endeavored to attain two other objects,--to cultivate mental skill and power, and to induce the student to prosecute further studies in this field. It is not supposable that in so delicate and difficult an undertaking there should be an entire freedom from errors and oversights. We shall gratefully accept any a.s.sistance in helping to correct mistakes.

Though endeavoring to get our material as much as possible at first hand, and to make an independent use of it, we desire to express our obligation to the following books and articles:--

Meiklejohn's "English Language," Longmans' "School Grammar," West's "English Grammar," Bain's "Higher English Grammar" and "Composition Grammar," Sweet's "Primer of Spoken English" and "New English Grammar," etc., Hodgson's "Errors in the Use of English," Morris's "Elementary Lessons in Historical English Grammar," Lounsbury's "English Language," Champney's "History of English," Emerson's "History of the English Language," Kellner's "Historical Outlines of English Syntax," Earle's "English Prose," and Matzner's "Englische Grammatik." Allen's "Subjunctive Mood in English," Battler's articles on "Prepositions" in the "Anglia," and many other valuable papers, have also been helpful and suggestive.

We desire to express special thanks to Professor W.D. Mooney of Wall & Mooney's Battle-Ground Academy, Franklin, Tenn., for a critical examination of the first draft of the ma.n.u.script, and to Professor Jno. M. Webb of Webb Bros. School, Bell Buckle, Tenn., and Professor W.R. Garrett of the University of Nashville, for many valuable suggestions and helpful criticism.

W.M. BASKERVILL.

J.W. SEWELL.

NASHVILLE, TENN., January, 1896.

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--

[Sidenote: _Definitions of grammar._]

English grammar is a description of the usages of the English language by good speakers and writers of the present day.--WHITNEY

A description of account of the nature, build, const.i.tution, 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--

[Sidenote: _Synopsis of the above._]

(1) It makes rules to tell us how to use words.

(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.

[Sidenote: _The older idea and its origin._]

Fierce discussions have raged over these opinions, and numerous works have been written 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 cla.s.sical grammar as a model.

Perhaps a combination of (1) and (3) has been still more popular, though there has been vastly more cla.s.sification than there are forms.

[Sidenote: _The opposite view_.]

During recent years, (2) and (4) have been gaining ground, but they have had hard work to 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 cla.s.sical treatises.

[Sidenote: _The difficulty_.]

Which view shall the student of English accept? Before this is answered, we should decide 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.

[Sidenote: _The material of grammar_.]

The province of English grammar is, rightly considered, wider than is indicated by any one of the above definitions; and the student ought to have a clear idea of the ground to be covered.

[Sidenote: _Few inflections_.]

It must be admitted that the language has very few inflections at present, as compared with Latin or Greek; so that a small grammar will hold them all.

[Sidenote: _Making rules is risky_.]

It is also evident, to those who have studied the language historically, that it is very 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 Caesar"); 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.

[Sidenote: _A broader view_.]

Surely our n.o.ble language, with its enormous vocabulary, its peculiar and abundant idioms, 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.