THE TEACHING OF
ENGLISH GRAMMAR
HISTORY AND METHOD ·

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BY

F. A. ~ARBOµR, AB._
P R O FESSO R OF E NG LI SH t N THB M1 C HIGA • STATB NORMAL CoLLBGB
Y PSILANTI , MICHIGAN

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BOSTON, U.S.A.

GINN & COMP ANY, PUBLISHERS
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l!tbenreum l!lnuu
1901

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PREFACE

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THE author of the following lectures upon the history
and method of teaching English grammar has for years
found it necessary, in his training of teachers, to supplement an academic review of the subject by some
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systematic instruction in the science of teach~ng as
applied to grammar. The history of such teaching in ·
the past centuries presents almost a melancholy picture,
and perhaps no subject in the school curriculum to-day
stands more in need of the .!'1-Pplication of sound principles of pedagogy. It has b~ deemed advisable, therefore, to publish these lectures as a ~ort of monograph
upon the teaching of English grammar.
The lecture upon the " History of English Grammar
Teaching" contains subject-matter of historical interest

NOV, 22 1901
CoPvwtGHT !.NTftY

)t~ . i-f--'qor

CL.ASS Q..,X)(c. No.

'2.DB8'
OOPY El.

COPYRIG HT, tc/O l ·

llv F. A. BAR BOUR
A LL R I GH T S RRSBRVBD

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not easily accessible to the ordinary student, and for
much of the purely historical information I am indebted
to the courtesy of Professor Hempl of Michigan Uni·
versity, who kindly loaned me a series of old gramman;
running back some two hundred years or more.
The lecture denominated "Descriptive Grammar and
Scientific Grammar," while not strictly professional ~
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Preface

Preface

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character, should serve to awaken an interest in the

Whenever information has been knowingly taken

historical study of the English language and to empha-

from other texts, due acknowledgment has b~en made

size the fact th at accurate scholarship in the grammar

in appended notes, but the lectures have been prepared

of modern English is impossible without such historical

from many years of experience in teaching English

study.

The attempt here has been to bring a few

grammar, and it would be difficult to acknowledge fully

important facts within brief and simple statement.

my obligations to various writers upon language and

Those who, without specializing in this direction,

grammar.

wish to extend th eir knowledge somewhat will find the

colleague, Dr: B. L.:-, D'Ooge, and to Miss Abigail

following brief works both scholarly and readable: A

Pearce, Assistant

Brief

History of

tlte Englz'slt Languag e, by 0. F.

1.

I am especially indebted, however, to my
Professor of English, who have

allowed me to draw freely upon their experience, and

Emerson (The Macmillan Company, 1900) ; Hz"story

who have kindly read parts of the lectures in manu-

of E nglz'sh, by A. C. Ch"ampn eys (Macmillan, 1893);

script and in proof.

and · Lounsbury 's Englz'slt Language (Henry Holt &
Co.,

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894).

While all t.he st atements of fact in this

lecture are made upon my own r esponsibility, I am
again ind ebt ed to Professor Hemp! for a critical
reading of it in manuscript and for numerous kindly
suggestions.
It is hoped also that the lectures upon "Pu:J)OSe and
Method " and upon " False Syntax" will contribute
som ethin g toward making the teaching of grammar
less mechanical; less a matter of memorizing rules,
and more a matter of inductive reasoning.

I have

appended, ind eed, a few test questions at the close of
each lecture, whi ch will serve to emphasize the more
important principles of teaching.

YPSI-LANTI, MI CH.,

Oct. r,

1 9 01.

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F. A. BARBOUR.

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THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH
GRAMMAR

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LECTURE*
HISTORY OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR
TEACHING
THE derivatic ~ of the word "grammar" is significant
in connection with the methods of teaching which prevailed for centuries. The Greek word rypaµµa, from
which it is derived, signifying first that which is graven
or writt en, a written character or letter, comes naturally
to include in its widest sense written language as a
whole ; all the peculiarities in form or construction
which belon g to language as man's highest instrument
of expressing his thought. WouUl you learn to speak
or write a language, therefore ? Commit its grammar
to memory, page by page and rule by rule - this is the
inheritance of the English race for a thousand years.
Historically it could not have been otherwise. Without any literature of their own, conquered by a foreign
people, whose speech became the language of the nobility and the courts, the English looked down upon as
the harsh dialect of an uncultivated people - it was
inevitable that there should be grafted upon the Eng- ·
lish grammar schools from · the earliest times the
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The Teaching o/ Engl£sh Grammar

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study of the French and Latin languages as the main
source of linguistic and literary culture.
An interesting statute of James IV of Scotland in
1494, said to be the earliest Scottish legislation upon
the subject of education, refers to the grammar school
especially in th e following language: "It is statute and
ordained through all the Realme that all Barrounes
and Freeholders that are of substance put their eldest
sonnes and aires t o the schules fra they be sex or nine
yeires of age, and till they remain at the Grammar
Schules quhill they be competentlie founded, and have
perfect La tine. "
In the g rammar schools of England from the foundation of Winchester, I 37 3, or even earlier, down to the
present time, Latin has been the central and all-important school subject - sometimes the only one; and the
early grammar scho0 1 ; of New England, howsoever
endowed, were in all cases designed especially for
instruction in Latin and Greek. It is not surprising,
th erefore, th at the first att empt to write an English
grammar is found in Dr. John Colet's I ntroduction to
L £!y' s L atin Grammar. The Introduction itself, known
as Paul's Acc£dence, from Colet, D ean of St. Paul's, and
the entire book, som etim es called K £ng Henry's Grammar because it received th e royal sanction and was commanded to be tau ght throughout th e realm, became th e
standard of g rammatical reference in England for over
two hundred years. The significant fact is, as Goold
Brown t ells us, that Paul's Accid ence and other English
manuals emanating from it were not properly English

History of English Grammar Teaching

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grammars at all ; they were mere .t ranslations of the
Latin accidence and were designed to aid the pupil in
the acquisition 'of Latin.
The exclusive study of a foreign language and the
fact that grammar, among the ancients, was studied
with a view to reading, writing, and interpreting the
language, had much to do, doubtless, with the current
definition of English grammar which has prevailed for
several centuri~s . ·Lily writes: Grammatz'ca est recte
scr£bendi atque loquendi ars; that is, in the sixteenth
century he adopts the definition of Quintilian in the
first century, that " Grammar is the art of speaking
and writing a language with correctness and propriety."
It is interesting to note the uniform agreement of
European writers in the sixteenth century upon this
fundamental idea of grammar as an art. Lily in En gland, Despautere, the noted Flemish grammarian, over
whose Commentarii grammatici the boys of France are
said to have shed so many tears, Melanchthon in Germany ·and Sanchez, 't.~e eminent Spanish scholar, all ~ith slightly varyi~ phraseology and differing
emph asis upon the relation of grammar to speaking,
writing, and reading, - all practically agree upon it as
an art, the art of writing, speaking, and interpretation.
In passing it should be remarked that great stress was
laid by the Latin and Greek grammarians upon the
relation of grammar ·to exegesis, the. explanation of
obscure passages in the classics.
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The treatment of grammar as the art of language
naturally arranged itself sy&tematicaliy under the four

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The Teaching o/ Englz"sh Grammar

topics : orthography, dealing with letters, with syllables, and th eir combination into words; etymology,
word forms ; syntax, sentence structure; and prosody,
versifi cation. This stereotyped arrangement continued
to burden English grammars from the time of Ben Jonson almost to the present time. With this inheritance
of definition and topical treatment th e further lamentable
fact is that we borrowed also our method of teaching
th e vernac ular from the reprehensible method of teaching Latin in th e Middle Ages . The earlier Englis;
manuals owed th eir origin to the prevalent belief that
the study of Latin did not give the English-speaking
boy a ready and effective command of his mother
ton gue. L ook in g over the prefaces, the arrangement,
and th e subject-matter of a dozen grammars from the
time of Ben J onson to the middle of the present century, one fin ds a practically uniform agreement upon
the followin g points: English grammar is the art of
speaking and writing the English lan guage with correctness and propriety. This art cannot be acquired by
readin g good lit erature, or by studying foreign. languages, or by conversing in polite society; the only
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sure means is to add to such read ing and conversation
~ a systeri1alic study of the grammaticaL pnQQ I~
the English s eech~methodical study is _m ade
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easy by a beautifu system. Under orthography come
the rul es of spelling, to be committed to memory;
under etymology, all th e forms of the various parts of
speech; under syntax, twenty odd rules of agreement
illustrated by numerous examples and fixed in the mind

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History o/ E nglish Grammar T eaching

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by practice in correcting false syntax. Grammar,
defined to be ~ art upon the first page, is developed
throughout the books without any practice in comP,osition
whatsoever. The whole system, moreover, was rende; ed absurdly artificial by applying the syntactical
rules of a highly inflected language like the Latin to
an almost wholly uninflected speech like the English.
What confusion of mind has reigned in many a grammar school over the unnatural union ! What hazy
n ,iticms of verbal agreem ent, as tens of thousands of
children have sought to parse the universal sentiment
of the human heart and found it inconsistently clinging
t o its original form as well as meaning, whether it was
I love, we love, you love, or they love !
It is both amusing and pedagogically instructive to
glance over the prefaces and rules of some of these
earlier grammars. Sir Richard Steele, in his Grammar
of the Englz'sh Tongue for Use of the Schools of Great
Britain and Jre:.?1!-d (r7r2), recognized the mechanical
drudgery of com'illitting rules to memory and sought
to simplify their acquisition by writing them in verse.
Out of many pages of inspiring poetry one 'or two
stanzas may be of interest to the reader.
DEFI NITION

Grammar do's all the Arts and knowledge teach
According to the Use of every Speech,
How we o~r Thoughts most justly may express
In Words together joined in Sentences. ·

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The Teach£ng o/ Englz'sh Grammar

· H£story of.English Grammar T each£ng

PLURAL OF NOUNS

To Singular Nouns we always add an (s)
When we the Plural Number wou'd express;
Or (es) for more delightful easie sound
Wh ene'er the Singular to end is found
In (ex), or (ze), (c h), (sh), or (s),
(Ce) , (ge), wh en they th eir softer sound confess.
The fo llowing Exceptions ye t are seen,
Wh en for th e (s) the Plural ends in (en);
As Oxen, Women , Chicken, Brethren, Men,
Cow has th e Plural Cows, or Keen, or Kine ;
And so has Sow the .P lural Sows or Swine.

Th e Grammar is dedicated to the Queen and fittingly
has in its introduction a eulogistic poem by Mr. Tate,
poet laureate of the time.
In his preface Steele
mod est ly enjoins upon all his Female correspondents
that th ey Buy, R ead, and Study this particular Grammar th at th eir letters be som ething less enigma.tic.
Mr. J am es Buchanan, in his Regular English Syntax ,
London (I 767), makes th e following suggestion :
"Young gentlemen ought daily to write two or more
Sentences, according to their years or Progrss, from
some good English Classic ; or every other Da.1 if they
have Latin Exercises to write. Let them first spell
this exercise off, giving the Rules for Spelling; next
the va rious significations of each Word, as they find
them in their Dictionary; by which they will soon
acquire a copious vocabulary, and be.come acquainted
not with Words only but Things themselves. Let
them n ext g ive an account of the parts of speech one

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by one, and apply thf, Rules of Syntax in the Construction. Lastly let the~ resolve each Sentence supplying
everywhere the Ellipsis. To proceed thus will soon
refl ect Honor on a Master, give the highest satisfaction
to a sensible Parent, and entail on the Scholar a pleasing and lasting Advantage."
After suggesting a series of similar exercises concerning tautology, redundancy, etc., interspersed, as he
suggests, with exercises upon false syntax, he also
expre•..,ses nis grammatical interest in the ladies of the
realm in the following complaint: "It is greatly to be
lam ented that the fair Sex have been so shamefully
n eglected with regard to a proper English Ec!ucation;
without which I cannot see how a young Lady can be
Company eve n to herself."
In seeking to trace the history of instruction in
grammar through the hints, arrangement, and subjectmatter of various ~xt-books, no single book is so valuable as the gramm~f Lindley Murray, published in
England in 1795. Not that Murray suggested either
in method or subject-matter anything new. He is
confessedly a mere compiler and copied from the works
that had preceded him with a free hand, especially from
Drs. Lowth and Priestley. But the book became popular, owing perhaps to its author's effort to simplify his
lan guage and to adapt the statement of abstract rules
to th e comprehension of young stu ents .
u tshed
--;rrrhe' opening of t he nineteent h century, through its
various editions and its influence upon other authors
and publishers it served to fix upon the grammar

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History of En;.rlz'sh Grammar Teaching

T he Teacln'ng of English Grammar

schools of Eng 1 ~nd and America the methods of the
preceding century. In the introduction to his first
edition (1795 ), he remarks with reference to definitions
and rul es that he has been careful to state them with
such smoothness of terms and harmony of expression
that th ey may be readily committed to memory and
easily retain ed, wh ile the stress laid upon parsing is
seen in th e preface to his ninth ed ition (1804). He
h ~ hat this ed ition will be found great~~~e d
·o as to rend er th e study of grammar bo ~[ e~~Lnd
interest'- · 5 , a nd in this connection sugges·~ s
at it
c
ms a new and enlarged system of parsing, together
with copious lists of nouns arranged according to their
g ender and numbe r. In definition, arrangement of
topics, and subj ect-matt er, his book corresponds with
the general plan already outlined.
The system of parsing is most clearly seen by comparing Murray's gramm ar with that of Kirkham, which,
, published in 1823, g radually displaced Murray's text in
) this country. Kirkh am imitated Murray closely, but
calls attention t o th e superior excellence of his grammar in two respects : first, that by a series of familiar
t alks he has simplified its statements and brought them
more n early within the comprehension of youn g students; and secondly, that it contains a new systematic
order of parsing . For 160 pages of his text Murray
deals with etymology and rules of syntax. At this
point parsing is taken up and correction of exercises
in false syntax, as a test of the student's und erstanding
of previous rul es. Kirkham, instead of putting off

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parsing to the latter part of his book, introduces it as
soon as an elementary knowledge of nouns and verbs
has ?een acquired and carries it along through etymolog~ m connection with the different parts of speech.
This was unquestionably a decided improvement upon
Murray, to whos e method he objects as requiring the
learner to commit and recite definitions and rul es without any sj multaneous application of them to practical
ex~':ples. He complains of the methods of parsing
which have preceded him in that they require the
teacher to interrogate the pupil as he proceeds, or else
permit him to parse without giving any explanations at
all. In his hints to teach ers he recommends his New
Systematic Order of Parsing as COJTipelling the pupil to
apply every definition and every rule that appertains to
eac h. word he parses, without ~aving a question put
to him by his teacher. In so doing, he adds, the pupil
ex plains every~r£! fully as he goes along, the method
enabling the learner to proceed independently and
proving at the same time a great relief to the instructor.
This Systematic Order of Parsing with reference to the
noun runs as follows : "Noun, and why? common, proper,
or collective, and why? gender, and why? person, and
why? number, and why? case, and why?
Rule:
decline it." The parsing of the three words in" John's
hand trembles" occupies an entire page in his text.
For example: "Hand is a noun, the name of a thing;
common, the name of a sort or species of things; neuter
gender, it denotes a thing without sex; third person,
spoken of; singular number, · implies but , one; and in

The Teacltz"ng of English Grammar

History of Eng/£sh Grammar Teaching

the nominative case, it is the actor and subject of the
verb, trembles, and gove rns it agreeably to Rule 3.
Th e nominative casP _gove rn s the verb : that is, the
nominative determines the numb er and person of th e
verb. D eclined: S ing. nom. hand, poss. hand's, obj.
hand . P lu. nom. hands, poss. h ands', obj. hands."
On e of Kirkham 's methods of simplifying th e difficulties of gramm atical study is to suggest devices for
recognizing th e different parts of speech and their
relations to other words in th e sentence. Any word
that will make sense with "the" before it is a noun;
as th e tree, th e mountain, th e soul, etc. Any word
that will mak e sens e with "to" before it is a verb.
Any verb th at will mak e se nse with the words "a
thin g " or "a person" after it is transitive. Try these
verbs by t he for egoi ng sign : love, h elp, conquer, etc. ;
that is, "a person " makes sense with th e verb loves
before it, loves a person; th erefore love is a tran sitive
verb. Mr. Kirkham see ms to have overlooked the fact
that we may have such a sentence as "He is a person
of excellent habits." In th e copy of hi s book which I
examin'e d it was int eresting t o no te that in a page of
fin e-print ex planat ions of t ransitive ve rbs this device
is inclosed within marks of parenth esis by the student,
as if it were of espec ial value.
In th e public schools t o-day the device method is
seen in such sugges ti ons as ' Th e direct object answers
th e question w liat or w!tom.' I have b een surprised
every year at the number of high-school graduates who
give the verb to be a direct object . In seeking to

learn th e cause of ~he inaccuracy I find that many of
them have been taught this "what " or "whom" t ~ t .
The man is a noble citizen. The man is what? Citizen
~. ells what, therefore it is the obj ect of the verb is.

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Hardly a paper upon th e subj ect of g rammar can
be read before a· meeting of pedagogues in our own
day without the subject of exercises in false syntax
be~ O)g ei!)her mentioned or dragged into th e discussion.
Th eir history is of interest.
The method is one
which we did not borrow. We cannot lay it at the
door of our classical fri ends, although the correction
of the pupil's written exercises in Latin may have
suggested the idea.
Historically it seems worthy of
mention, also, in this conn ection, that Quintilian and
other ancient writers included in the art of grammar
n ot only the explanation of au'thors but the criticism,
th e "stigmatizing " of th e unworthy.
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So far as I have b een able to learn, the plan, as a
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reg ular S}Stem in English grammar, originated with
Dr. Rober~Lowth in his S hort Introduction io English · (J~ ]
Grammar, London (1767).
As has already been
remarked this little book exer.t ed a widespread influ- ~
ence. Both as to scholarship and general plan it was
th e standard for Lindley Murray. In his preface, one
of the most scholarly that had been w:ritten, Dr. Lowth
remarks : "The principal desig n of a Grammar of any
language is to t each us to express ourselves with propriety in that language and to enable us to judge of
every phrase and form of construction, whether it be

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The Teaclting of English Grammar
right or not. Th e plain way of doing this is to lay
down rules, and to illustrate th e n by examples. But
besides showin g what is ri ght th e matter may be
further expla in ed by pointing out what is wrong. I
will not t ake it upon me to say whether we h ave any
Grammar that sufficiently instructs us by rule and
example, but I am sure we have non e that, in the
manner here attempted, teaches us what is right by
showing what is wrong ; though this may perhaps
prove th e more useful and effectual method of instruction." In thi s con nection he falls into th e serious
error which some of the schools and ed itors of to-day
still continue.
"The g rammar of any particular lang uage," he
r emarks, "appli es the common principles of g rammar
to th at particula r lang uage, according t o the established usage and custom of it." H e urges, however,
that much practice in th e polite world and a ge neral
acquaintance with th e best authors are good helps, but
not sufficient. In his n otes he promises to show that
the bes t · authors have committ ed gross mistakes for
want of a due knowledge of English grammar, or at
least a proper attention to th e rul es of it . In one
sentence English g rammar is declared to be an application of the principles of general g~am mar to the
English language according to th e established usage
and custom of it ; in the next sentence the best
authors are held up as violating the very rules which
are derived from their usage. "Some writers have
used Y e," says Dr. L owth, "as th e Objective Case

History of Englz'sh Grammar Teachz"ng

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Plural of the Pronoun of the Second Person, very
improperly, and ungrammatically.

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" ' The more s!:-ame for ye ; holy men I thought ye.'
-SHAKSPERE ,

H enry VIII.

" ' His wrath which will one day destroy ye both.'
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MILTON,

Paradise L ost, ii, 734·

. " It may perhaps be allowed in the Comic and Bur-

lesque style," he adds, "such as :
" • By -~he J..ord, I knew ye, as well as he that made ye.'
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SHAKSPERE, ·-;~··nry

IV.

But in the serious and solemn style no authority is
sufficient to justify so manifest . a solecism." Such
criticism cannot justify the use of you in modern English as a nominative, because originally ye was always
nominative and you objective. ~ven more interesting
are his remarks upon the possessive whose as a relative. I quote directly : "Whose is by some authors
made the Possessive Case of which, and applied to
things as well as persons, I think improperly."
EXAMPLES

The quest;on whose solution I require.
DRYDEN .

Is there any other d~ine ~hose follow ers are punished?
ADDISON.

Of Man's first disobedience and the fruit
Of that forbidden Tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe.
MILTON.

History of English Grammar Teachz"ng

If Addison, Dryden, and Milton use wlzose as a
possessive relative referring to things as well as ; -.::rsons, why does Dr. Lowth r.all it ungrammatical ? . The
fact is that whose was no a relative originally at all;
that it came into use a . >0ut the beginning
the
thirte enth century, and from that time to the present
has been used in standard literature exactly as the
foregoing authors used it. This habit of criticising
the English of standard authors of some preced ing
period according to the usage of later tim es is a most
reprehensible and un scholarly erro r. Dr. Lowth has
many imitators in the present day ; a fact which
emphasizes the absolute necessity of the study of
historical En glish .
Thirty years afte r the publication of Dr. Lowth's
book, L°indl ey Murray justifi ed the use .of numerous
exercises in false sy ntax in the followin<Y lan uage :
" rom t e sentiment generally admitted that a proper
selection of faulty composition is more instructive to
the young grammarian, than any rules and examples of
propriety that can be given, the Compiler has been
induc ed to pay peculiar attention to this part of the
subject ; and though the instances of false grammar
under th e rul es of Syntax are numerous, it is hoped
they will not be found too many, when th eir variety
and usefuln ess are considered." Thirty years later,
Kirkham defends the system in the following paragraph : "To demonstrate the utility, and enforce the
necessity, of exercising the learner in correcting false
Syntax, I n eed no other argument than the interesting

and undeniable fact, that Mr. Murray's labors in this
department have effected a complete revolution in the
Fnglish language, in point of verbal accuracy. Who
does not know that the best writers of this day are
not guilty of one grammatical inaccuracy, where those
auth ors who wrote b efore Mr. Murray flourish ed, are
guilty of five ? And what has produced this important
change for th e better? Ask th e hundreds of thousands
who have studied Mr. Murray's exercises in False
:;yntax."
'it is simple justice to Lowth, l'vf urray, and Kirkham,
however, to say that their exercise;· are free from many
of the absurd examples which are to be found in many
a modern text-book. Some writers of grammars in
the last twenty-five years must have caught their inspiration, I judge, from Allen H. Weld 's little English
grammar, published in Boston, I 8 56. I select at random a few examples to be corrected by Rule III with
reasons for each correction. "I goes. I walks. I is.
I art. He, she or it desire. She dress. It rain." Or
possibly some may h;iVe been looking over the pages
of James Buchanan's book, London, 1767. Under the
rule that a verb must agree with its nominative in number and person a long paragraph begins as follows :
"I is going to London and I is to stay a Week. I
rides a very bad Horse but you rides a g<;>od one.
Where is I to ; put up my Horse ? Thou is always
asking Questions," etc., etc.
Th ere have been traced with considerable particularity of detail the main principles which governed the

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teaching of grammar fr om the publication of the ,'rtrlier
English manu als down to about I 8 50, and in so •.'e
schools, possibly, well-ni gh to the pres ent time. F q.r
the last fifty years, how ever, th en :: ;~~:< been a growing
feeling that th e old sys t em is artificial. In practical
results it has been barren. After the forced memorizing of grammatical rul es for years, children have continued to writ e incorrect English . Modern pedagogy
repudiates th e whole scheme of historic instruction,
and the beginning of that repudiation took place about
fifty years ago. I well remember in my boyhood,
about I 868 it was, I think, that B ullion's Grammar,
a book made upon the old plan, was displaced in our /
grammar sch ool by Samuel S. Green's Eng lish Analysis.
\ Green's An alysis deserves especial ment10n Because it
inaugurated a n ew movement.._ Glancing through his
book one finds him clin ging to the old method of parsing, but brin gin g it into conn ection with and laying
emphasis upon sent ence a nalysis accompanied by constant practice in sentence building. A single paragraph from th e prefac e to his first edition, published
in 1847, suggests a n ew departure and has in it the
ring of sound pedagogy. In speaking of the advantage
of language study through the structure of sentences,
he remarks : " r. As a sentence is the expression of a
thought, and as the elem ents of a sentence are expressions for th e element s of thought, the pupil who is
taught to separate a sentence into its elements, is
learning to analyze thought and consequently to think.
2. The relations between different forms of thought

I

I

History of English Grammar Teaching

I

9

and appropriate forms of expression, are seen most
clearly by means of analysis and construction. 3. A
:arge proportion of the elements of sentences are not
single words, but combinations or groups of words .. . .
The pupil who learns to determine the elements of a
sentence must therefore learn the force of these combinations before he separates them into the single
words which compose them. This advantage is wholly
lost rn th e ordinary method of parsing. . . . This system
cannot be pursued with even tolerable success without
requiring the pupil to construct repeatedly the various
forms of sentences and elements. of '.l'. :ntences. Such
exercises afford the teacher an opportunity of correcting all errors in orthography, punctuation, construction,
and the use of words."
With these sound pedagogic <'>pinions in mind, Mr.
Green dropped all routine exercises in false syntax
from his book and substituted numerous and varied
exercises in the contraction, expansion, and composition of sentences. It w~, as has been said, a new and
..----__..,im
.....pg.~ It was the foundation of the
language lessons which have gradually taken the place
of formal grammar in the elementary grades of all our
schools. As an outgrowth of Green's plan we may
sketch in brief outline a few general principles which
have shaped the making of modern English grammars
and which underlie the best practical teaching of the
subject at the present time. I. Grammar does not
contribute directly toward correctness of speech or
writing; it is not, therefore, an art, but the inductive

The T eaching o.f Englz.sh Grammar

H£story o.f Englz"sh Grammar Teach£ng

science of lan g uage. 2. Orthog .-..:. 1~.\Y is to be taught
in connection with composition, and prosody does not
belong to grammar, but is to be treated separately as
the science of poetical forms.
3. Etymology and§·
syntax, constituting the proper subject-mat:,:L .:.~ - .;-.am­
mar, are to be studied inductively through sentence
analysis, a nd are to be made a familiar part of the student's knowledge by constant practice in composition .
The sentence is the point of departure. Rules are
never to be committed to memory before their meaning
has been clearly understood by the obj er.tive study of
sentences . Even th en routine parsing, correction of
false syntax, and mere memorizing of rules are to give
way to such continuous application of the rules in
composition that obedience to them becomes almost a
second nature.
On e extrem e tend ency in conn ection with the latterday movem e nt needs to be mentioned. Recognizing
the utt e r inadequacy of formal grammar to secure correctn ess of speakin g and writing, here and there a
school or state has bee n inclined to drop all technical
gramm ar from its school curriculum. In the Educational J ournal of Virginia, March, 1891, General S. C.
Arm stron g, Pr incipal of th e Hampton Normal and
Agricultural Institute, speaks of grammar as a science
and a difficult one, and expresses his opinion that for
the most part the teaching of it has little to do with
improvin g a pupil's power of using the English language. He affirms that the state of Connecticut has
dropped from its curriculum, both in model and normal

schools, all technical grammar, and that the State
Board of Education of Connecticut, omitting state
examinations in this subject, gave therefor the following reasons: ".r. The study of grammar or analysis
does not help us either to speak or write our language.
2 . As a study technical grammar is hateful to any child,
and belongs to our advanced course, if anywhere. Its
use in an elementary school is contrary to dl approved
pedagogical theories. 3. There is not time for such
work and for other subjects that belong to our civilization. 4. We are convinced that the discipline said to
I
be derived from the study of grammar ca11 be secured
by the study of other subjects: for instance natural
science, which of itself furnishes practical knowledge."
These extreme views lead us to state, as the concluding part of our lecture, wh0;t we conceive to be the
best of modern pedagogical thought upon the educational value of the study of grammar. Naturally we
put first the opinion of the Commi.ttee of Fifteen.
"Grammar," they say, "is the science of language,
and as the first of the seven liberal arts it has long
held sway in school as the disciplinary study par excellence. A survey of its educational value, subjective
and obj ective, usually produces the conviction that it
' is to retain the first place in the future . Its chief
objective advanta~e is that it shows the structure of
language and the log ical forms of subject, predicate,
and modifier, thus revealing the essential nature of
thought itself, the most important of all objects because
it is self-object. On the subjective or psychological

20

2

r

A

J.4i!

t

22

side, grammar demonstrates its title to the first place
by its use as a disciplin e in subtle analysis, in _log.ical
division and classifi cation, in the art of quest10nmg,
and in th e mental accomplishment of making exact
definitions. Nor is this an empty formal disi::ipline,
for its subj ect-matt er, language, is a product •.. f the
reason of a people not as individuals but as a soc ~al
whole, and the vocabulary holds in its store of wo ·ds
the generalized experience of that people, includ.ing
sensuous obs ervation and refl ection, feeling and emot10n,
instinct and volition."
This idea that the proper study of sentence analysis
is really a logical study of the forms of thought is
important and is generally accepted. Bain. expresses
the same idea when he says that "grammar is elementary logic." Professor Hinsdale puts it pithily thus:
"Grammatical facts are mental facts," and then asserting that grammar is the only metaphysical study th~t
a large majority of people ever pursue, he quotes this
pertinent paragraph from John Stuart Mill : "Consider
for a moment what grammar is. It is the most elementary part of logic. It is the beginning of the
analysis of the thinking process. The principles and
rules of grammar are th e means by which the forms of
la ncruacre
are made to correspond with the universal
b
b
forms of thought .. . the structure of every sentence
is a lesson in log ic."
Mr. S. S . Laurie, in his very able chapter upon
"Language as a formal discipline," speaking of
grammar as a Science, as a system of abstractions,
11

I

History o.f Englz'sh Gra1fl,mar Teachz'ng

Tlte Teaching· o.f English Grammar

l
-,

I

23

emphasizes its disciplinary value, " because in contemplating the abstract we are not far from the contemplation of mind itself in its nakedness as a living
process, and are thus making an acquaintance with
the organon of all knowledge ." In his chapter upon
"Language the supreme instrument of education," he
makes a still more significant suggestion. He speaks
here of language as the concrete subject which is best
suited for training the abstract po~'ers. "In language," '~
he says, "you have mind, in all its formal relations
expressed in a substantial form ; as something no~
purely abstract, but concrete and capable of being
grasped and handled. By the analysis of language,
th~n, you introduce the young intellect to the analysis
of its own thinking in its whole "range. While engaged
in this exercise the abstract powers are so involved in a
corn;:rete familiar to all, that the formal discipline is not
made obtrusive and distasteful. A boy who is intelligently analyzing language is a~alyzing the processes of
thought, and is a logician without knowing it. And
this is the reason why the study of language has always
been regarded as the- best preparation for the logician
and philosopher. Hence, too, it is the best preparation
for the study of all or any of the sciences."
In this connection it should be remarked that as a
matter of logical training the grammatical analysis of
our uninflected vernacular is a more severe discipline
•than the translation of a highly inflected foreign language like the Latin. What is meant by the claim of
classical scholars that the Latin language, owing to its

1·.l•ift"

24

- H £story o.f Engl£sh Grammar T eachz"ng

The Teaching o.f E nglz"sh Grammar

inflections, is better adapted to t eaching grammar than
is English? Simply that in Latin the.form of the word
is a direct aid to recognizing its function in the sentence. The mere fact that in English the pupil is
obliged to get th e meanin g of th e sentence from the
order of the words, and from a logical insi ght into the
content of th e thoug ht with little or no aid from
the form of th e words - this very fact makes the study
of Engli sh g ramm ar a more abstract, and difficult, and
disciplin ary s ubj ect th an th e grammar of any highly
infl ect ed speech. For this very reas on, also, it gives
the student a firm er grasp upon grammatical relations
than he can poss ibly acq uire through foreign-language
study. I qu ote from the high authority of Mr. Whitney : " Give me a man who can with full int elligence .
take to pi eces an Engli sh sent ence - brief, and not too
complicated even - and I will welcome him as bett er
prepared for fu rth er study in other lan guages th an if
he had read both Ca:sar and Vergil, a nd could parse
them in the routin e style in which th ey are so often
parsed ."
Closely connected with, indeed quite inseparable
from, this analyt ical insight into th e structure of sente nces, is its educat ional value in givin g the mind power
to interpret al.I thou ght which is diffi cult to understand.
Th e mom ent su ch anal ys is is extend ed beyond simple
sent ences to thos e which are long and complex it is
little else th a n th e formal interpret ation of the th ought. ·
It t ends at onc e to break up all looseness of interpretation, all satisfaction with a half grasp of thought. It

I

25

strengthens the mental grip in its seizure upon ideas,
and so is most intimately connected with all subjects
of study. Whenever a student has but hazy conceptions of a sentence or paragraph, the teacher can frequently do no better th an to strike directly at the root
of his difficulty by a grammatical -question. It will b'B,
remembered that the English Con[erence recommended \
to the Committee of Ten on Secondary-School Studies
a decided reduction of time to be devoted to the formal
text-book study of grammar. Th ey did so, however,
with the express provision that, after an elementary
course in grammar, grammatical analysis was to be
made incidental but constant use of as an instrument
of interpretation and of criticism . It is not uncommon to hear a bit of satiric ridicule offered upon the
teacher of literature who ventures to call for the analysis of a sentence. The wisdom of such questioning
depends altogether upon th e character of the passage.
If a noble sentiment clearly expressed, and of literary
beauty, is needlessly subjected to g rammatical analysis,
that is pedagogical crime; but if an obscure passage is
b eing cleared up by patient analytic process, ! hat may be
the best teachin g possible. In our fear of using inspiring prose and beautiful poe try as mere instruments of
grammatical analysis, we have in many cases gone to
the other extreme of leaving grammar largely out of
consideration in our instruction in literature and composition. As a result many students graduate from
high schools "not only with insufficient grammatical
knowledge, but with correspondingly weak powers of

I

I
/
~·

The Teach z'n g of Englz"sh Grammar
interpretati on. It is not urged that grammatical analysis is any sub stitute for natural ability in interpretation, or for wide a nd exte nd ed readin g, but it is claimed
that it is like putting a sharp ed ge upon good steel
when hard timber is to be cut.
In this conn ection a single point further: It has
already been mentioned that modern pedagogy approves
the teachin g of grammar inductively through sentences.
One fault of our grammars is that these sentences are
taken out of th eir conn ec tion. For that very reason
the meanin g is sometimes obscure, and the exact forc e
of certain words entirely lost. No such interest can be
awaken ed in analyzing disconnected sentences, having
no relation in th ought, as is quite easily aroused in the
analysis of conn ected thought in simple narrative prose
or poetry. If changes in word form, shadings in the
us e of mood, peculiar effectiveness in word order, are
to be clearly gras ped, made a real part of the student's
und erstandin g rath er than simply committed to memory, th e work must be done through the grammatical
study of la ng uage upon the written page. It is in this
sense that gramm ar correlates with literature, history,
or the student' s readin g in any department of knowledge. Th e danger is th at in th e correlation any system ati c and co ntinuous instruction in the analytic
process is lo st sight of altogether.
Th ere remains for consideration a final important
question : What does such gra mm atica~ study as we
have been discussin g contribute toward power of expression ? Are students better able to express themselves

Hz'story of Englz'sh Grammar Teaching

t

27

with clearness and correctness because of systematic
trainin<T in grammatical analysis and a · mastery of the
<:>
•
•
ordinary rules of syntax? In the preface to his admirable Essentials of English Grammar, Professor Whitney
remarks: "That the leading object of the study of
En<Tlish grammar is to teach the correct us e of English
is, in my view, an error, and . one which is gradually
giving way to the sounder opi~ion that grammar is ~\he
reflective study of language, for a variety of purpof es,
of which . correctness in writing is only one, and a secondary or subordinate one - by no m eans unimportant,
but best attained when sought indirectly." He goes
on to say that "it is constant use and practice, under
never-failing watch and correction, that makes good
writers and speakers; that no one ever changed from
a bad speaker to a good one by applying the rules of
g rammar to what he said."
Herbert Spencer in his Plz£losophy of Style refers to
rhetorical rules in language very similar. "Dr. Latham,"
he says, "condemning the usual school-drill in Lindley
Murray, rightly remarks, 'Gross vulgarity is a fault to
be prevented; but the proper prevention is to be got
from habit - not rules.'" "Similarly, there can be
little question that good composition is far less dependent upon acquaintance with its laws, than upon practice
and natural aptitude." On the other hand !\'Ir. Spencer
suggests that some practical results may be expected
from a familiarity with the principles of style, especially
as facilitating revision, and Mr. Whitney qualifies his
statement by remarking that " The rules of good usage

The Teachz'ng of English Grammar

History of English Grammar Teaching

as laid down in grammars, with illustrations and practical exercises, often help and hasten the acquirement
of correctness in speech; especially in the case of those
who have been unfortunate enough to learn, at first, a
bad kinrl of English ."
This final statement of Professor Whitn ey's seems to
us of especial importance. The majority of children
have not had the best models in their hom es, nor have
th ey been train ed by good models in reading. Few
t eachers can counteract the influences of the street, of
playmates, a nd frequently of the home. As the child
grows older, and his logical powers become developed,
it is all-important to lead him to criticise himself, and
this criticism, to be int elligent, must have some stand~
arcl. This standard, of course, is simply the best usage
of one's own day, and grammar, while it does not make
the usage, is a convenient and concise statement of the
facts of th a t usage. But we wish to draw a sharp distinction betwee n grammatical analysis and the memorizing or practice of either rhetorical or syntactical
rules. Rules may be memorized without being understood; their application may be more or less mechanical, and th erefore barren of results. But grammatical
analysis is a very different thing. It not only exemplifi es etymolog ical changes and the rules of syntax, but
it is a critical investigation into the logical structure of
sentences. It cannot be committed to memory; it is
a direct exercise of all the logical faculties . Analysis
is the careful study of the concrete form which thought
assumes in expression ; writing, speaking, composition,

are the putting of our own thought into similar forms;
surely the analytic study of a model will aid in the synthetic process of building. I am convinced that such
study has a marked influence upon the student's ability
to marshal his own phrases and clauses more easily and
clearly and with a firmer hand. I find Mr. Laurie in
his admirable lectures upon Linguistic J/;f ethod everywhere claiming the intimate relation between t~e logical process of analysis and the synthetic process of
building. "Prior to the age of el~ven," he says, "and
indeed very early, a child should, l':iy the help of numerous examples, be taught to recognize the subject and
the predication regarding it - the whole logical subject,
that is to say, and the whole predicate as going to constitute a sentence or proposition. This formal condition of a possible sentence can .not only be taught very
early, but it is for practical reasons desirable to teach
it early. [As early as eight years of age he thinks.]
A recognition of this fundamental fact of both grammar and logic is very helpful in aiding children to
understand what they read, and to express what they
desire to express." Speaking later of more extended
analysis, and of the importance of well-defined purpose
in the instruction, he formally states three distinct purposes : I. disciplinary ; 2. increased power of interpretation; 3. the practical purpose of giving the student a
more exact grasp of the language he himself daily uses,
with the view to his employing it in his set compositions.
The main facts which have been presented thus
far
(
may be briefly summed up as follows : The early

29

.1

I

T he Teachz'ng o/ Englz'sh Grammar

Hz'story o/ Englz'sh Grammar T eachz'ng

English manuals were based upon Latin grammars. For
1 50 years the method of teaching English grammar was
a mere imitat ion of teaching Latin g rammar, and was
absurdly artificial in that it carried over to an uninflected
lang uage the grammatical rules of a highly inflected
speech. Grammar, defined to be an art, was taught
almost alt ogeth er as pure theory. In the middle of
the present century a n important movement began
with th e grad ual displace me nt of routine word-parsing
by sentence analysi s, and the substitution of sentence
construction for correction of exercises in false syntax.
Th e outgrowth of this chan ge has given us our modern
Lang uage Lesson Seri es, and the incorporation into
school g ramma rs of much suggestive practice in compos ition . In the reaction against the barren results
upon speech and writing of form al instruction in grammar, some schools have at tim es dropped instruction in
th e subj ec t alt ogether. In modern pedagogy there is,
however, a co ns ensus of opinion as to its high educational value in three leading respec ts: 1 . It has no
superi or in the school curriculum, and no substitute in
th e school curr iculum, as a discipline of the logical
2 . In a marked degree, it increases the
faculties.
power of interpretation of thought in all subjects of
study. 3. It has an indirect, though important, bearin g upo n express ion of thoug ht in two respect s : (a) in
all cas es of careful revision, and especially in the case
of mature stud ents, who through self-criticism need to
correct bad habits of long standing; and (b) the establishm ent in th e mind of a sort of rough-hewn model of

thought form, - a powerful, though it may be unconscious, aid, whenever the mind is seeking to shape its
own ideas into similar concrete form, -what Mr. Laurie
calls the analytico-synthetic process of mind.

30

31

QUESTIONS
1. What was the central subject of instruction in the .early
g rammar schools · of England and of this country ?

2. What influence did this have upon the definition , topical
treatment, and subject-matter of early English grammars? upon
the early method of teaching?
3. Wh y did Sir Rich ard Steele wri te his grammar in verse?
What was th e general plan of Murr:.~y's gram mar? What was
Kirkham's idea of devices?
\\
4. Who originated exercises in false sy ntax ? What was his I
purpose? what his glaring inconsi.stency?
5. What epithets may be applied to the methods of teaching
thus far traced? Wh a t were the prac tic al results?
6. Why has Green's A nalysz"s an important place in th e
development of g ramm ar teaching?
Wh at was his theory ?
What principles of teaching h ave gradually ·developed from his
suggestions ?
7. Why is the analytic study of language the best preparation
for the study of logic and philosophy? State th e answer as carefull y and as fully as you can.
8. When and why would you ask grammatical questions in
teaching literature?
9. If grammar is not' the art of speaking and writing correctly,
what bearing does. it have upon expression of thought? Give
Spencer's view, Whitney's, S. S. Laurie's.
(

LECTURE II
DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR AND SCIENTIFIC
GRAMMAR

I
I
I

!

Il
I

.I
I
I
I

IT is important that teachers of English grammar
should remember that language, like the people who
speak it, has life, and all the elements of life, - grow ~ '
change, development, de·cay, and death . Words, l ikV
men, are born, pass through various changes, and sometimes, indeed, die to be heard no more. And just as
the child is the father of th~ man, or as one's great
grand-father deterrljjnes somewhat one's voice, gesture,
personal habits, and mann er of thinking, so the language of any generation, to be understood, must be connected with its past history. The study of language,
more·over, has an advantage over the study of individual
biography.
Men's remote family ancestors are forgotten, in most cases their individual characteristics
are not known . L anguage, on the other hand, leaves
a record of its elf in literature, and we may know with
reasonable accuracy how our fathers talked one hundred,
five hundred, even a thousand years ago. The student
of the grammar of modern English spreads out under
his eye the English of King Alfred's time, of Chaucer's,
Shakespeare's, and Tennyson's time, and by comparison
33

34

The Teachz"ng of Engl£sh Grammar

arrives at many conclusions which he is able to demonstrate with mathem atical accuracy. Such historical
and comparative study of language becomes scientific,
and it is in this sense particularly that we may speak
of th e Science of Lan guage, and the scientific study of
lan guage.
Most teach ers of grammar in our public schools will
not find it possible to pursue such special study to any
great extent, it may be, but th ey all desire to accept
only the best authority, and the conclusions of any
grammarian, it should be emphatically asserted, are of
value only as they are supported by historical evidence.
W e should rid ourselves of the notion that accuracy of
scholars hip in gram mar is impossible because one grammar says this, a nd another tha t, the conflict of authorities leavin g us in disagreeable uncertainty. There are
different th eor ies, of cours e, as to the origin of language, and certain pec uliariti es of the modern speech
may be very difficult t o explain or in some cases even
yet a mat t er of doubt, but such difficulties are met in
the study of all sc iences. The fact to be emphasized
is that n early all th e peculiarities of modern English spelling, word-formation, inflections, verb-phras es, syntax, etc., may be eas il y understood by means of such
historical study as has been referred to above.
The purpose, then, of this lecture is to give merely
a hint of this historical method of linguistic study, and
incidentally to e mph as ize the n ecessity for scholarship
as the basis of all effective t eaching. It does not lie
within its scope to treat the subject fully, and a bare

Descr£ptz've and Sc£entific Grammar

35

sketch of the history of the . English language must
answer the purpose.
Many of the languages of modern Europe and Asia
have sprung from one original tongue, the exact
character of which we do not know. The name given
to it, however, is ludo-European, or lnclo-Germanic.
No specimens of this early language are in existence, but the people who spoke it must have lived
together as a great tribal community at some unknown
period in the past. Some writers, indeed, give them a
local habitation, as well as a name, and th ~\ Iranian
table-land near the Hindu-Kush Mountains was formerly thought to be the original dwelling-place of this
primitive people. Later investigations suggest Europe
as the ancient home, possibly near the Baltic Sea or in
the neighborhood of the Black Sea. Concerning th e
exact location, ~10wever, scholars .differ, and what interests us mainly is the Teutonic branch of this great
and ancient family. For convenience of reference the
important branches of the lndo-Europea~ family of
languages are given on the followin g page, together
with their most important subdivisions.
Glancing at the table ti1ere presented, one observes
that English is not an isolat ed tongue, but that technically it belongs to the West Teutonic subdivision of
the Teutonic branch of the lndo-European family.
Many illustrations might be given of the kinship of
English with its sister-tongues and of their comm<;m
descent from the earlier primitive speech. Take our
modern English fatl1er, for instance. The German r

Descrzptz've and Scientific Grammar

The Teaching o/ English Grammar

t

( Sanskrit the literary language, perhaps I 500 B.C.
Dialects of modern India.

a. Indian
I. Aryan
{

b. Iranian

Ancient Pe rsian, beginning of sixth century B.c.
Modern dialects of Persia.

II. Armenian - Old Arme nian; fifth century

A .D.

III. H ellenic - Greek and its various dial ects in
ancient and modern times .
IV. Albanian -

Language of ancient Illyria.
a. Italic dialects including Latin.

I

b. The Later { ::

V. Italic

IndoEuropean

a . Cymric or

Brita nnic
Division
VI. Celtic

~;~~:~·.

3. Spanish.
4 . Portuguese,
etc.

Romance
Dialects

{

(

Welsh .
Cornish.
3· Armorican.
1.

~

2.

l

Erse o r Irish.
Gaelic (Highland s of
~
Scotland).
3· Manx (Isle of
Man) .
( 1.
2.

b. Gadhelic
Division

I

l

VII. Balto-Slavic {
.
.
or Slavonic
Russian the most important.

(
j

a . East Teutonic -

VIII. Te utonic

b. No rth
Teutonic
or Scandi-

l

navian

c W est
·
T eutonic

r

~

l

Gothic.

Icelandic.
z. Norwegian.
3· Swedish .
1.

{ ;:

z.
3.
4.
5.

~~n~~~SH.
Frisian.
Dutch.
Low German.
High German.

37

word is vater, Dutch vader, Danish and Swedishjader,
Anglo-Saxon /{Eder, Greek' 7ran]p, Latin pater, . and
the Sanskrit pitri, - all pointing to an original ~Indo­
Germanic word patar. While the origin of the word
is unknown, the Sanskrit root .../pa means to protect,
and it is interesting to note that an early idea attached
to patar was probably that of protector, or nourisher;
and any father who does not prove the guardian, or
protector, or supporter of his family, has failed to live
up to the dignity of a very early signification of the
name.
As an illustration of the difference between descriptive. grammar and historical or scientific grammar, consider also the suffix ed in the verb loved. Descriptive
grammar says past tense, and stops there; historical
grammar, looking back to Anglo-Saxon, finds the preterite singular of the verb to .love, to be luf-o-de, plural,
luj-o-don. Whence these terminations, de, don? It
finds the ans":er in the preterite of the verb to do,
which is, singular, di-de, plural, di-don - probably mere
reduplications of the de and don above. Perhaps there
was an earlier * luj-o-dide and * lufo-didon in AngloSaxon which were gradually worn down to luf-o-de and
luf-o-don, and finally in modern English to lov-ed.
Theoretically, then, the forms might be written thus:
PLURAL

SINGULAR

* Juf-o-dide

* luf-o-didon

luf-o-de
lov-ed

luf-o-don
lov-ed.

* An

assumed form.
(

Descriptive and Scientific Grammar
The Teachz"ng of Eng /;.ish Grammar

38

Th;,

had occupied the island for about four hundred years,
had been obliged to defend themselves against these
northern pirates, and we read of a Roman military
officer, called the Count of the Saxon Frontier, whor.e
•pedal duty it
to defend the co"'t from the W O•h
to Southampton. But the Roman ,oldiec• eetieed
about the middle of the fifth century, leaving ,\ight
traces upon the language of the islanders in the names
of thei< fo<tihed camp• (ca,tra).' Thi• influence, ,till
seen in the names of English towns,-Chester, Worcester, Lanc"'tee' etc., - i• ,ometim" called the Latin of
the First Period. After their departure the Teutons
found !Jut little difficulty in making permanent .ettlement. . For detail• the •tudent i• ,efee<ed to hi•
Engfah hi•to'Y; but the following bdef ,umma<Y from
Dc Mo<M Engli,k Accidena will be convenient foe

theory I is

weak verb s m
. Gothic,
confirmed
by the
. plural of
d.-d
which
d p.retente
e un, th ey had
Th
en s m dedun . h
.

focm of
.
e dtdun ;, prnb bl
, abman old Gothic verb
. a y a degenerated
.
isappeared I
meanmg d.
.
dnatiom of
plain, then,
finally
from the vecb
' m modem En li•h
tecm>wo d
do, and that th
h g
are derived
rn ow ·
ey ave b
the infl n mto d,
d, whkh i•
een grndually
•ometom" thrnu h
S
uence of the pcecedi
loved i• •imply a
eomonant changed togt
z
ove . w •-ht
r
ened
,
.
an
,
ey a contcaetion f
•form fo< "ve-did
. outgrowth of m ak
or weep-did; and
illustrations are suffi -ed
or
make-did
made
·
· . Th e for egomg
·
emph ·
c<ent
at th '

~ea~ ::~:'.
°'

d~dthlat

Engli:~"e
.

the impo<tance of

°'

th~ ~~•tnt,.
perhaps,
IS oncal
study

to
of

As the
al I n d o-European family broke u .
tribes
and orwm
<>
scattered
ally oeeupied
all th ovec Eurnpe, the Teuton• p mto
No<th Sea and th:
along the •hom
west
to th e v·rntula on
a IC thfrom the Rh.me on the
h
w ere the peninsula of D e east. In the north
j u t ' out into the,
tsea dwelt th cee of the haenmark
d'
n es, - th e Jutes
r Iest of these T
.
wece bold
'the Saxo.,, and tb A
eutomc
marauders - th
e ngles. The
the dcea<y '"nd-flat•
e" oue anee•torn y
foe cultivat'
at home affoeded .
. and "'
theie Jun
o< became oveeceowd m•uffic<ent land
~ denng exped ·r
ed, they push d
attrnctove i•land of Bd;am.
'.on• Even
acrn"ththe •ea to . e

~o~tnt<y

'°~

See Muller's

sci.ence ef L

reference.

"The settlements are said to have taken place in the

~;a::~

·b

I

w"'

t~a;~~=

,h:~

t~

e Romans wh
anguage, First Ser·ies, P·

232.

'
(1878.)

0

39

following
: Hengest and Horsa, who settled in Kent
I. Jutesorder
under
and the Isle of Wight and a part of Hampshire in
I!

A.D. 449 or 450.
ll. The first division of the Saxons, under Ella (JElle) and

.

l

Cissa, settled in Sussex, in 47 7.

L
'
\
)

Space forbids a full discussion of the earliest Latin influence.
R ecent
archeolo gical and philological investigations indicate that this
1
early Roman civilization spread b eyond the towns to the country districts. . Some words were borrowed from the Romans before the Teutons left the Continent and it is difficult to state with certainty the
period at which some Latin words were introduced into English before
the Norman Conquest . For fuller treatment of the subject see Champneys' History of English, PP· 136-146.

The Teaching of English Grammar

Descriptive and Scientific Grammar

III. The second body of Saxons, under Cerdic and Cynric,
in Wessex, in 495·

41

As early as about rooo A.D., then, the English language had come under the influence of the Latin, the
Celtic, and the Norse, or Danish. A few words had
been added from the Celtic and the Norse ; its grammatical form had probably been simplified somewhat
by Danish influence ; and through the conversion of
the English to Christianitf by Roman missionaries in
the seventh century, several hundred words had been
taken from the Latin - sometimes spoken of as the
Latin of the Second Period. These slight modifications
..,d id not affect materially the integrity of the language,
and the West Saxon dialect of King Alfred's time, in
its etymology and syntax, remained essentially a Teutonic tongue up to the time of the Norman Conquest.
A glance at a single line from the gospel of Matthew
in this early dialect throws light upon a construction in
modern English too frequently misunderstood :

IV. The third body of Saxons in Essex, in 530.
V. First division of the Angles, in the kingdom of EAST
ANGLIA (Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, and parts
of Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire).
VI. The second division of the Angles, under Ida, in the
kingdom of Beornicia (situated between the Tweed
and the Frith of Forth), in 547. Two other kingdoms were subsequently established by the Angles Deira (between the Tweed and the Humber) and
Mercia, comprehending the Midland counties."

Constant wars were carried on by the tribes of these
sections among themselves, and against the Danes,
who in 787 A.D. began to make inroads upon the northeast coast. Finally, with the accession of Egbert in
802, Wessex gained the supremacy.
With political
supremacy came linguistic supremacy, and West Saxon
became the cultivated language of the whole people.
It developed a literature in the time of Alfred (87 r - 90 r ),
and nearly all existing monuments of earliest English
are in this dialect. There had been an earlier development of literature, to be sure, among the Angles (Engle)
of Northumberland in the latter part of the seventh
century, and from this the name Englisc, or English,
as we have it in the modern form, came to be and continued to be applied to the vernacular literature in
contrast with the Latin, which the English called
Leed en.

~

Eft is heofona riCe gelic iiSC(ndum DC(tte on pa sie, and of
ielcum fisc-cynne gadriendum.

.1.

Again the kingdom of heaven is like a net let down into the sea
and gathering of every kind of fish.

Every instructor in grammar is familiar with the
frequent questions concerning the word like. Is it a
preposition? a conjunction? What is meant by Mr.
Whitney in calling the word after it in modern English
a dative-objective '! Note the short sentence above.
The predicate adjective gelic, like, is followed by}he
noun nt/.tte, which is in the dative case, indicated by
the case-ending e, just as in German. The rule is

The Teaching o/ English Grammar

Descriptive and Scz"entijic Grammar

that adjectives of likeness and nearness are followed
by the dative case, just as similis in Latin and gleich
in German are said to govern the dative case. The
old dative end ing has disappeared but the construction
re mains the same, and the words like and near, in
adverbial and adjective constructions, may be said to
govern th e objective case, which here represents th e
old dative case. By his t erm "dative-objective," th en,
Mr. Whitn ey happil y recalls th e Old English construction, and suggests the similar grammatical construction
in L atin and German.
Consider also, in connection with the Anglo-Saxon,
a single instance of syntax from the Middle English
period.1 In Chaucer's "Knightes Tale," Creon, moved
to pity by the lamentation of th e women of Thebes,
was sad at heart.

remembers the two verbs, 1 ]>(ncan and ]>yncan, to t),\ink
and to appear, the one transitive and taking a sub' ect
nominative, the other intransitive and used impersonally with the dative. Chaucer's Middle English tlzoughte
simply stands as past tense for each of these verbs, and
with the intransitive verb he retains the impersonal use
with the dative Him, as in Anglo-Saxon.
As this West Saxon dialect continued to be the
language of literature until the Norman Conquest,
there remain to be briefly sketched the influences of
the Conquest upon the native language, and the final
triumph of the native speech over French and Latin
influence.
I. After the Conquest Anglo-Saxon remained the
language of the people, but went out of use as the
language of culture ; it was not used at the court of
kings, or at the castles ·of nobles, or in judicial proceedings.
2. The educated classes writing in Latin or in
French, there were thus two languages existing side
by side in the same country for three hundred years :
the Norman French, which was really a dialect of the
Latin, on one hand; and three leading dialects of the
Anglo-Saxon, the Northern, the Southern, and th e Midland, on the other. Althou gh contempt was felt for
the native English by the Normans, and the conservative influ ences of a great literature were wanting
until Chaucer's time, the great body of the common
people clung to their mother-tongue.

42

43
~

"Him tlwuglzte that his herte wolde breke."

(It seemed to him that his h eart would break.)

A few lin es farther on, describing Creon's attack upon
Th eb es to avenge their wrongs, we have
"Till that he cam to Thebes, and alighte
F aire in a fe eld, ther as lze tlwuglzte fig hte."
(Fair in a fi eld where he expec ted to fight.)

Note th e two constructions, - h£m thoughte, and he
tlzougltte. Does Chaucer us e th e nominative and the
obj ective indi sc riminately as subj ect of the same verb?
Not at all. The student of the West Saxon dialect
I
1.

I'

1 Old English (450-1100); Middle English (1100-1500); Modern
English (x 500- ).

1 ]>=th.

The Teaching of Eng/£sh Grammar

Descriptive and Scz"entijic Grammar

3. A large part of the English king's possessions
were in France, a fact which contributed to the continued importance of the French language in England;
but in r 204 King John lost N ormantly, and in r 242
Louis of France called upon English noblemen to give
up all their possessions in France. The English king
retaliated by confiscating the property of Frenchmen
in England, and the natural res ult was to bring the
common people and the French who had made their
hom e in England more and more into sympathy, and
to strengthen the antagonism b etween them and the
French on the Continent. The French wars of Edward
III (1337-1374) tended still further to emphasize
th e fact tha t the French language and nation were
a foreign language and nation.
Naturally also the
French langu age in England, though still spoken as
th e language of fashion, degenerated into a mere dialect in comparison with the language of Paris. The
fin al steps by which the language of fashion gave way
at last to the language of the people, are of exceeding
interest .
(a) In the latter half of the fourreenth century,
English began to take the place of French in schools ;
there is an interesting text-book, indeed, prepared for
the children of the nobility at the close of the thirt ee nth century, containing French sentences with an
int er]i near translation into English.
(b) In r 362-3, by special request of the Commons,
the king's speech at the opening of Parliament was
given in English, and in the same year by act of

Parliament it was ordered that the pleadings and business of the Law Courts should be conducted in English.
(c) Finally, and most important of all, about this
time came the beginning of a classical English Literature. Wycliffe's Translation of the Scriptures in 1 380,
and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, composed in this same
period, did much to fix and preserve the language
through the influences of a great literature.
Notwithstanding the final triumph of the native
speech, the Norman French exerted a marked influence
upon the English, an influence amounting practically
to a revolution rather than to an orderly development.
In comparison with the West Saxon dialect the English
in which Chaucer wrote shows a marked abandonment
of grammatical inflections. While such changes are a
natural development of all the Low German dialects,
unaffected by foreign inflNences, it seems probable that
the Norm an Conques t brought about more rapid and
possibly more extensive changes than would otherwise
have taken place. 1 Much space would be required to
trace the various changes in detail. Briefly it may be
said that they have left our language an analytical
rather than a synthetic one; that is, a language in which
grammatical relations are indicated by word-order, particles (prepositions, conjunctions, etc.), and auxiliaries,
with comparatively little aid from inflectional forms.

44

\.
I

''

45

1 Lounsbury's English Language, pp. 8 5, IOI ; Murray, in Encyc!o-·
j;rzdia Britannica, Vol. VfI!, p. 391; Morris' Historical Outlines-- of
English Accidence, p. 77. Scholars do not agree, however, as to the
accuracy of this statement.

The T eachz"ng o.f Eng/£sh Grammar

Descrzptz"ve and Scz"ent-ific Grammar

But apart from this natural development the Norman
Conquest brought about a revolution in the language
in two resp ects: (1) in spelling and word-formation,
and (2) in vocabulary. As a result the Anglo-Saxon
lost many of its prefixes and suffixes and self-explaining compounds, and gradually came to employ in th eir
places new a ffixes from French, Latin, and Greek. Many
native words disappeared altogether; and, although the
additions in vocabulary from th e Norman French were
but slight tor 1 50 y ears after the Conquest, in the
fir st half of th e fourteenth century they became very
rapid, so that foreign words from the Norman French
and the L atin now constituted one half of the whole
number employed. 1
Thi s capacity of the English to adopt and to naturalize foreign words has remained to the present time one
of its peculiar ch aract eristics. It has given the language
a composit e character differing from that of any other
tongu e. Losin g som ethin g, it may be, in simplicity
and in vigor, it has gained immensely in precision, in
wealth of phras eo logy, and in capacity of expression.
It is in this sense that Mr. Lowell has justly paid so
high a tribut e to Chaucer's genius. He it was who
first revealed the power of the modified speech, and
Lowell thinks it hardly too much to say that, like
D ant e, h e found his native tongue a dialect and left it
a lan guage. "In him," he remarks, "we see the first

result of the Norman yeast upon the home-bakea Saxon
loaf." It is this same unique and composite characteristic of the language that led Jacob Grimm, the great
German jurist and philologist, to pay to the English
language an unwonted compliment. "It has had conferred upon it," he says, "an intrinsic power of expression such as no other human tongue ever possessed."
Space forbids the illustration of scientific grammar
by any adequate discussion of th e French idioms introduced into English, or the differences between the
Northern, Southern, and Midland dialects, and their
influence upon modern English forms. A single illustration from Shakespeare's English should be of interest,
however. In Old English the third person, present
indicative, singular and plural, of the verb of the
Northern dialect, ended most frequ ently in s; of the
Southern dialect, in eth. and ath respectively. Both
sin gular forms occur in Shakespeare' s beautiful comment upon mercy : "It blesset/i him that g ives and
him that takes." But note particularly the influence
of the Northern plural ins, in the soliloquy of Macbeth:
"Whiles I threat, he lives : Words to the heat of deeds
too cold breath gives." The grammar of Shakespeare
is in many respects different from the grammar of
modern English and should be studied scientifically by
the historical method .
A like critical study of the gradual changes which
have taken place between I 3 50 and modern times
throws much light not only upon Elizabethan English
but upon modern English as well. To trace the various

1 "Norman-Fre nch was essentially a Latin tongue, and it added to
E nglish another Latin el ement, which is usually called the L atin of the
third period." - MORR IS.

47

The Teaching- o/ Eng-fish Grammar

Descriptive and Scientific Grammar

modifications in detail would far outrun the limits of
this lecture. It must be sufficient to remark that
Chaucer wrot e in the East Midland dialect, from which
in large part our modern English is derived, and that
the changes from the fourteenth century to the present
have been mainly a continuation of the loss of infl ections, and additions to the vocabulary from a great
variety of sources.
Before commenting upon the vocabulary of the
English of to-day, however, brief mention should be
made of another phase of scientific grammar of which
all teach ers should have at least an elementary knowledge; namely, the irregularity of idioms. Here again
an exhaustive knowledge of the subject must be left to
the specialist, for it requires the critical study of earlier
forms of the language, the history of its usage in various
periods, and a comparison of its grammar with that of
other lan guages. While such exhaustive scholarship
is not demanded of the public school teacher, he should
nevertheless have some acquaintance with Anglo-Saxon
and be able to consult with intelligence such books as
Abbott's How to Parse, Abbott's Shakespearian Grnmmar, Morris' Historical Outlz'nes of English Accz'dence,
and also to read intelligently such interesting elementary works as Lounsbury's Englz'sh Language, Champneys' H istory of English, and Emerson's History of the
English Language. Such an extension of the teacher's
reading and scholarship would do much toward building
up a more accurate and scholarly teaching of English
grammar. I remember in my boyhood being taught

that "The house is being built" is bad English because
it is illogical, and that it should be corrected to ''The
house is building"; that " I had better go than stay"
should read " I would better go than stay"; giving
thus a regular and parsable construction; and that the
pronoun in "This book of mine is interesting," should
be parsed as standing for both the possessor and the
thing possessed ; tha:t is, " This book of my books is
interesting." This attempt to reduce all constructions
to regularity, to make thein logical, is one of the most
baneful influences of the unscholarly teaching of both
grammar and rhetoric. In rhetoric it t ends to sap the
language · of the raciness, the flavor, and the vigor of
idiomatic speech; and in grammar the resulting inaccuracies border at times upon genuin e humor. In the
third sentence above, for instance, the appa rently simple
regularity gets us into trouble in "This wife of mine
is extravagant"; that is,· "This wife of my wives is
extravagant"; the easy change to "The house is
building-" will not apply to "The man is being killed"
without changing the sense ; and the "I had better go
than stay" is not only good English but parsable English as well, "had" being an old subjunctive form in
the sense of should !told or consider, "go" an infinitive
used as object, and "better" a factitive attribute of
the object. "I had better go than stay," then, is an
admirably brief expression for I should consider going
a better thing than staying.
As these suggestions are written there lie upon my
desk several scholarly English grammars publisped

49

-·
The Teaching of English Grammar

Descriptive and Scientijic Grammar

within the past year. It is worthy of mention that in
their prefaces and notes repeated reference is made to
the earlier forms of English and to the light thrown
upon modern usage by an historical study of the growth
of the language. Whether the teacher will or no, the
necessity for broadening his scholarship by historical
study seems likely to be emphasized by even the elementary text-book which he holds in his hands.
As to the vocabulary of modern English a single
paragraph in conclusion must suffice. Language, we
remember, has a life of its own, is indeed an expression
of the life of a people. A striking illustration is presented in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It is
a time of intense excitement and activity. The great
Revival of Learning sweeps over Europe. The Cape
of Good Hope is passed. America is discovered. The
inventions of the printing-press and of paper-making
give a ne w permanency to language and stimulate the
intelligence of the great masses of the people. There
is naturally a corresponding quickening of the life of
the language resulting in a large accession of Latin
words - the Latin of the Fourth Period 1 - and of a
smaller number from the French and the Spanish and .
the Italian. Bacon even lost his faith in the power of
English as shown by Chaucer and translated his works
into Latin to preserve them. But he was mistaken.
The capacity of the language to adopt and naturalize
foreign words only served to add again to its richness
and its power. And from the sixteenth century on,

history has been repeating itself. Progress in scientific
studies has introduced a large number of scientific
terms mostly derived from the Greek. And as England has become the great colonizing power of Europe,
as her trade has extended around the globe, the language of her people has enlarged its vocabulary and
drawn from as great a variety of sources as has her
trade. America furnished not only the product of
tobacco but the word. The natives of Brazil slept in
nets composed of the rind of the Harnack tree, suspended between poles. The sailors in imitation swung
their hammocks aboard ship and carried a new word
over into the English language. The thirteen thousand words of Skeat's Etymological Dictionary, indeed,
are derived from some thirty different sources. Already
the United States by its recent war with Spain and its
policy of expansion is stimulating a new interest in
the Spanish language, and as its trade extends it will
doubtless contribute its share in adding to the copiousness of English speech.

50

l

See pp. 39, 41, and 46.

51

QUESTIONS
1. In what sense may we speak of the scientific study of
language?

2. What is meant by the Inda-European family of languages?
To what branch of this great family does English belong?
3. What is meant by the difference between descriptive grammar and scientific grammar? Illustrate.
'

.l
I

52

I

4. Where was the early home of English, and how did they
who spoke it chance to go to the island of Britain? Trace upon
the map of England their early settlements.

I

T he Teaching o/ Engl£sh Grammar

5. When ce is the name, English, derived? Under what influences had the W est Saxon dialect bee n brought in King Alfred's
time? Withwh at resul ts?
6. How di d Anglo-Saxon survive the N orman Conquest?
How did it become an analytic rath er th an a synthetic lang uage?
Compare losses and gains through its borro wing from the Norman
French and the Latin.
7 . Wh at do you und erstand b y an idiom? Illustrate.
important causes of grow th in mod ern English vocabulary.

State

LECTURE III
PURPOSE AND METHOD
RECALLING the educative value of grammar, remembering that it may be defined as elementary logic, or
as the science of the sentence, let us arrange in
sequence the leading purposes to be kept in mind
in our class instruction in the subject. We aim to
secure: (1) a thorou gh understanding of th e logical
structure of th e English sentence ; that is, the
ordinary relations of words, phrases, and clauses, in
prose and poetry; (2) through such sent ence study,
a familiarity with the parts of speech, and with th e
simple inflections remaining in English , - the varia, tions in form of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs,
and adverbs ; and (3) a knowledge of the rules of
syntax established by good usage, and thus incidentally the self-conscious and reflective co rrection
of c-o mmon grammatical errors. Mere grammatical
correctness of speech and wntmg, it is to be
remembered, is not a primary object in teaching
grammar.
With these leading purposes clearly m mind we
should be ready t o outline - whatever our t ext-book
may be - a practical class-room method . And we put

53

I

II

The Teaching o/ English Grammar

54

foremost, in brief form, the statement of a principle
which should have wide application : The sentence £s
the po£nt of departure, and the method should be both
analyt£c and syntltet£c.
L et us give this important general principle a
specific appl ication to teaching the parts of speech.
The old method would give definitions at once and have th em committed to memory, subsequent practice
in picking out the parts of speech following the
definitions ; the sounder modern pedagogy suggests
that the parts of speech should not be defined at all
until their office in the sentence has been discovered
by th e analytic method. Here begins our study of
elementary logic. Drawing from a class of young
pupils a group of simple statements, such as: The
dog barks, Th e child writes, etc., we analyze these
sim pie propositions. 1 We d£scover together that two
essential thin gs are necessary to the expression of
the simplest thought :
I.
2.

W e must have something to talk about.
'vVe must have something to say.

The union of these two things in th e expression of a
thou ght we call a sentence. That which we talk about
is call ed th e subjec t of the sentence, th a t which we say
about the subj ect is called th e predicate.
In short
1
We follow here, with but slight modifications, the sugges tions of
Mr. Fitch in his L ectm·es on T eaching (pp. 283-288), and of S.S. Laurie
in his La11guage and Linguistic Method (pp. 78-79); sugges tions which
have been tes ted by results in class-room work.

Purpose and Method

55

simple sentences, the subject is usually the name of
something (a person, place, or thing), and such a nameword we call a noun ; that is, a noun is a name of
something (person, place, or thing) and may be used
as the subject of a sentence. The simple asserting
word of the predicate we call a verb; that is, a verb is
an asserting word and makes up the simple predicate
of every complete sentence. Such a development of
definitions, it should be noted, is a very different thing
from giving the definitions at first and requiring them
to be committed to memory.
Adding modifiers to our o.riginal group of statements
- which, by the way, may be made an interesting and
not a monotonous exercise - we have for instance: The
large dog barks fiercely; The !£ttle child writes well,
etc. We are then ready to develop the definition of
the adjective and of the adverb, and incidentally, it may
be, the derivation of the words themselves, ad-jective
and ad-verb.
When by a similar illustrative method the young
student has a clear idea of declarative, interrogative,
exclamatory, and imperative sentences, both simple
and compound, and has been taught the use and
definitions of coordinate conjunctions, separate clauses,
personal and interrogative pronouns, he has made ·
no small progress in sentence analysis. Much stress
should be laid upon taking sufficient t£me with young
pupils and upon affording abundant practice in the
compos1t10n (synthesis) of sentences.
Being very
careful to build upon the presumed knowledge above

'
,,

•
57

The Teaching o/ English Grammar

Purpose and Method

outlined, consider what use might be made of the
following group of sentences :

declension of pronouns, such a group of sentences as
the following will prove of value :
· I have a book.
It is my book.
The book is mine.
Give me the book.

Th e
strong
man fought
bravely.
fought
2. Th e man of strength
with bra very.
fought because he was brave.
3. The man who was strong
1.

Th e expansion of the adjective and of the adverb
into phras es, together with the use and definition of
th e preposition, and the further expansion into clauses
with the use and definition of subordinate conjunctions
and conjunctive or relatiye pronouns, are of prime
importance. If, for instance, th e adjective is clearly
und erstood, ad jective phrases and clauses should seem
a na tural outgrowth of th e adjective. In place of the
adjective strong we give a name to this attribute and
call it strengtlt; th en we place b efore (preposition) the
name a little conn ective or relation word, of, and we
have ex panded the adjective strong into the adjective
phrase of strengtlz. W e are now ready for the definition of a phras e and of a preposition. As the discussion
is continued, th e differenc e between a phrase and a
clause may be brought out, and the double use of the
relat ive pronoun as both pronoun and conjunction.
With young pupils, th e importance of the inductive
plan of developmen t outlined above can scarcely be
overestimated. It will do much toward banishing th e
dislike of g ramm ar so common in th e g rammar grades.
Th e principl e, as has been said, h as a wide application.
Before definin g case and inflection, and giving the

We have a book.
It is our book.

The book is ours.
Give us the book.

...'
\.:

·.

The pupil thus learns that pronouns change their
form according to th eir relation to other words in the
senten~e; and that in this respect they are different
from nouns. After such illustration the declension of
the pronoun of the first person means sometlzing; it
has been developed. A similar method should be
employed in studying the i~fiection of verbs and the
various rules of syntax, constant practice in composition or synthesis supplementing the analytic study. In
the entire process here suggested, we are followin g the
wel'.-known principle of apperception ; we are proceeding scientifically from the known to the unknown . If we
proceed 1 slowly enough the student should be continually
an interested discoverer; then a confident builder.
1 Mr. Abbott thinks that from six to eight months should be spent with
young pupils upon the elements of" Relati ve Sentences." An additional
word from him is worthy of q uotation: "A pupil cannot be regarded as
thoroughly tested in his knowle~ge of grammatical rules till he has applied
th em to connected narrative. As long as he is tested in nothing but short
sentences, you can never fe el sure that his accuracy is not merely mechanical." See also History of Gramma r Teaclzing, Lecture I, P· 26.

T he Teaching of E nghsh Grammar

Purpose and Method

Under the heading, Purpose, the first section refers
to the import ance of securing a thorou gh understandin g of th e E nglish sentence. After the simple elements of the sentence have been grasped, the following
constructions should be thoroughly mastered :

separation of phrases and clauses into their elements
may be omitted. By this means a sentence of considerable length may be analyzed in a minute's time.
With advanced classes systematic analysis may be discarded altogether and the most important constructions brought out by brief and point~d questions. The
following model of analysis is suggested:

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Complements of the verb (attribute, object, and
factitive attribute of the object).
2. Indirect object and adverbial objective.
3. Participial and infinitive constructions, simplified by
being associated with the ordinary constructions
of adject ives and nouns.
4 . Absolute construction s and nominative independent.
5. Conjunctions and conjunction phrases in complex
and compound sentences. Noun, adjective, and
adverb clauses will be mastered of course in this
study of conjunctions. When the constructions
from 1 to 4 have been mast ered in simple sent ences, complex and compound sentences contain
nothing new except conjunctions.
I.

This gro up of relations, in the order given, may be
said to constitute a sort of logical organization of the
subj ect-m atter of English analysis for t eaching. The
work should be done slowly and patiently, and much
practice in co mposition, contraction, expansion, etc.,
should acco mpany the analysis. A systematic and
orderly method of analysis should be adopted and followed closely for a time. Above all things, however,
the t each er should dispense with all needless repetition. After a class has made some advancement the

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I.

Classify the sentence as to form (simple, complex,
or compound) and meaning (declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, or imperative).

2.

Name the simple subject of the independent clause
and give its modifiers in their order (word, phrase,
and clause), disposing fully of all words in each
modifier, until the grammatical relations of all
parts of speech are clearly understood.

3. Name predicate verb and give its modifiers as
above.
4. Vocatives, interjections, and absolute constructions,
may be pointed out last. As a training in critical interpret ation, the various kinds of clauses
may be g iven their proper names (time, manner,
etc.), in connection with the analysis, and the
exact use of conjunctions be pointed out. The
danger, however, is that such technical work
will be continued until it becomes monotonous
or loses its educational value by becoming a
mechanical repetition. The analysis of the first
clause of th e following lines from Tennyson's
Pe/leas and Ettarre illustrates the more complete

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The Teaching of English Grammar
analysis for a class of beginners, and that of the
second clause a briefer form for more advanced
students.
Then with a slow smile turn'd the lady round
And Jook'd up on her people: and as when
A stone is flung into some sleeping tarn,
The circle widens till it lip the marge,
Spread the slow smile thro' all the company .

It is a compound declarative sentence, the second
. I

member of which is complex. Subj ect of first independent clause lady, modified by the; predicate verbs
turn' d and look ' d, connected by the coordinate conj unction aud; turn'd is modified by the adverbs then
an:d round, and by the adverbial phrase with a slow
sm£le; preposition with, object smile, modified by a
and slow. Look' d is modified by the adverbial phrase
upon her people; preposition upon, object }eople, modified
by the possessive pronoun lier.
The second member of th e compound sentence
is complex. Subject of independent clause is smile,
modified by tlze and slow; verb spread, modified by
the adverbial phrase thro' all her company and by the
adverbial clause of manner as the cz'rcle widens, etc.
Subject of dependent clause circle, verb widens, which
is modifi ed by the adverbial clauses of time, till £t lip
the marge, and wizen a stone is flung into some sleeping
tarn.
If th e teacher desires to dispense with formal analysis
altoge ther, test questions upon the last sentence might
relate to naming the various clauses and explaining

Purpose and Method

61

the use of the conjunctions, and, as, and when. The
subject is dealt with thus fully to emphasize the importance of systematic analysis for a time, and the equal
importance of dispensing with any formal system of
parsing single words or of analyzing complete sentences
as soon as the formal method becomes a mechanical
repetition. As has already been said the justification
of such analysis as is here discµssecl is found (I) in its
intimate connection with the student's power of interpreting the thought of involved and difficult sentences,
and (2) in its indirect connection with his ability to
write clear and logical sentences for himself.

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LECTURE IV
FALSE SYNTAX
"ROUTINE parsing should be avoided, and exercises
in the correction of false syntax should be sparingly
resorted to."
Perhaps no single admonition of the Committee of
Ten in their report upon the teaching of English is
more important than the sentence here quoted. It has
taken years to break away from the pedagogical fallacy
that children learn to speak good English by correcting
bad English. It is a nGteworthy fact, however, that
the latest English grammars either omit exercises in
correcting false syntax altogether, or include only such
examples as are common the country over, rather than
limited to special localities. There are certainly sound
objections to putting long lists of incorrect forms before
young pupils, and in general sufficient examples may
be taken from their own errors. Continued practice
in composition through all the grades, accompanied by
persistent, kindly, and authoritative criticism on the
part of teachers - criticism of both oral and written
language - should make formal exercises in false syntax largely unnecessary in the study of formal grammar.
But at the same time one of the educative values of

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The Teaching o/ English Grammar

False Syntax

the study of grammar is its indirect bearing upon the
expression of thought in all cases of careful revision,
especially in the case of mature students, who, through
self-criticism, need to correct bad habits of long standing. From this standpoint it should seem soundly pedagogical that occasional practice in correcting ungrammatical English should be made use of as a test of the
accuracy of the student's grammatical knowledge. In
normal schools, indeed, we might justify a larger amount
of this work than in other schools on the ground that
normal students will be called upon as teachers to do
much authoritative criticism.
In this connection the most important suggestion in.
method is that sentences should not be corrected from
rules or cautions committed to memory and verbally
repeated as a reason for the correction, but so far as
possible in the student's own language and from al'l
analytical insight into the meaning of the sentence,
and the grammatical relations of the words to be corrected. The writer has seen much poor teaching in
this respect. Consider, for instance, the following
group of sentences, the first three of which are taken
directly from the text of a well-known grammar:

Many a teacher permits the first three sentences to
be corrected, the reasons being given in the exact
words of the following cautions which are committed
to memory : (I) " Choose apt connectives, but do not
use them needlessly or instead of other parts of speech,"
and (2) "Do not use the pronoun what for the conjunction that." Unless the teacher be upon his guard
young pupils get the idea that and wh£ch, but that, and
but what are always wrong. Try such pupils with the
following questions: Why is and wh£ch wrong in (1)
but correct in (4)? but that wrong in (2) but correct
in (5) ? and but what wrong in (3) but correct in (6)?
No mere rule will answer the questions, but an intell~­
gent analysis should bring out the differences with
clearness, and with interest to the pupil. Let us bring
the reasons within as brief statement as possible by
analysis.
In (r) we have a subordinate clause modifying
excellence and connected to it by the regular conjunctive or relative pronoun which. The coordinate conj unction and, therefore, is not simply "needless," it is
wrong, because we have no coordinate elements to
connect. In (4), however, which the young student
would quite likely correct under the above caution, the
and is correct because it joins the coordinate elements
ju!! of interest, and which we al! enjoyed, both of which
modify story.
In considering (2), (3), (5), and (6), the student needs,
of course, to understand the function of that as a conjunction introducing a noun clause used as object; of

i . The excellence of Vergil, and which he possesses
.
beyon<l other poets, is tenderness.
z. Who can doubt but that there is a God?
3. Who knows but what we may fail?
4. The story, full of interest, and which we all enjoyed,
served admirably to while away the time.
5. I cannot be persuaded but that he meant mischief.
6. He says nothing but what is true.

The Teaching o/ Engl£sh Grammar

False Syntax

but in its prepositional use meaning "except" or "leaving out"; of but that in its radical meaning of "except
that," "to the contrary of"; and of the compound relative
what. In (2) and (3) the preposition but implies a preceding noun; as, Who can doubt anyth£ng but or except
that there is a God? Who knows anyth£ng to the contrary
of the fact that we may fail? or, anyth£ng except that
we may fail? With this analysis we see that in (2)
the use of but gives a meaning exactly contrary to our
thought, and that what we need is a noun clause used
as the object of the verb doubt, and introduced by the
regular introductory conjunction t1'zat. In (3) the noun
clause is used as object of the preposition, or in apposition with the noun fact, and again calls for a simple
introductory conjunction, not a relative pronoun.
Let us try such analysis in (5). I cannot be persuaded contrary to the fact that he meant mischief, or
of anything except that he i;:neant mischief. This is
our exact thought which would be changed if we should
omit but. In (6) the relative wlzat may be separated
into that wliich, and the sentence regularly analyzed :
He says nothing but that which is true.
Try this
substitution of tliat whiclz for what, however, in (3).
In conclusion let it be emphasized that the idea of
method here suggested is not against giving rules of
syntax, but against relying upon committing them
to memory as evidence of a clear understanding of
syntax. There are in English, also, as in all other
languages, idiomatic expressions justified by usage but
which are difficult to analyze or possibly incapable of
L. of C.

analysis. The facts of usage must be taught authoritatively in such cases, reasons being left to the advanced
study of scientific and comparative grammar.

66

QUESTIONS
1. What leading purposes should the teacher of grammar have
in mind in class-room instruction in the subject?

2. What general principles of method should be emphasized?
3. Illustrate what is meant by the development of a definition,
and apply the suggestions to the preparation of a model lesson
upon the relative pronoun, or the participle, or the adverbial
objective of time, value, etc.
4. What do you understand by the term "apperception," as
applied to teaching grammar?
5. Name a group of headings under which the subject-matter
of English analysis might be o~ganized for teaching.
6. Justify the use of systematic analysis in teaching; what
would you guard against in its use?
7. Should exercises in false syntax be included in the study of
grammar? If so, what is the danger of the "caution method"
of teaching this branch of the subject? Illustrate.

TEXT· BOOKS IN LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR
THE MOTHER TONGUE. By GEORGE LYMAN KITTREDGE, Professor of
English in Harvard University, and SARAH LOUISE ARNOLD, Supervisor
of Schools, Boston.
Book I. Lessons in Speaking, Reading, and Writing English. Cloth. 320 pages.
Illustrated. For introduction, 45 cents.
Book ll . An Elementary Englioh Grammar. Cloth. 331 pageo. For in'troduction,
6o cents.

I

This new series of language books furnishes a continuous and com·
plete course in English for grammar schools.
BooK I. is devoted largely to language work, with emphasis on the
fundamental principles which govern correct speaking, reading, and
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BOOK II. is an elementary English grammar. The arrangement of
the material is natural, and the pupil perceives the reasons for things in
a way that is quite impossible in the mechanical arrangement of many
English grammars.
The names of the authors are a guarantee, not merely of the scholarly
character of the series, but of its careful adjustment to the actual needs
and conditions of American schools.
TARBELL'S LESSONS IN LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR. By HORACE
S. TARBELL, Superintendent of Schools, Providence, R. L, and MARTHA
TARBELL.
Book I. Cloth. 147 pages. Illustrated. For introduction, 35 cents.
Book ll. Cloth. 321 pages. For introduction, 6o cents.

This series of books has been based upon the earlier series of Tarbell's " Lessons in Language," yet the material has been so completely
worked over, rearranged, and added to that the series is quite distinct
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WfilTNEY A'ND LOCKWOOD'S ENGLISH GRAMMAR. Revised by
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Whitney. Cloth. 264 pages. For introduction, 70 cents.
This book, which is an adaptation of Whitney's " Essentials of
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WfilTNEY'S ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR. By the late
D. WHITNEY. For the use of high schools, academies, and
Prpfessor
the upper grades of grammar schools. Cloth. 276 pages. For introduction, 75 cents.
KNOX-HEATH'S ELEMENTARY LESSONS IN ENGLISH. By Mrs.
.
N. L. KNOX-HEATH.

,V.

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Part I. Cloth. 192 pages. For introduction, '40 cents.
Part ll. Cloth. 403 pages. For introduction, 6o cents.

GINN & COMPANY, Publishers
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Boston

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WHITNEY AND

THE MOTHER TONGUE

LOCKWOOD'~

ENGLISH GRAMMAR

By 9EORGE LYMAN KITTREDGE, Professor of English in H arvard
University, and SARAH LOUI SE ARN OLD, Supervisor of School s, Boston.

BOOK I. Lessons in Speaking, Reading, and Writing English.
I 2mo. Cloth. 320 pages. Illustrated. For introduction, 45 cents.
BOOK 11. An Elementary English Grammar.
33I pages.

I2mo.

Cloth.

For introduction, 60 cents.

BY THB LA.Ta

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THESE two text-books are intended to furnish a continuous
and complete course in English for grammar schools.
Book I. is devoted largely to language work, with emphasis
on t~e fundame~t.al principles which govern correct speaking,
reading, and wnting of English. It is also an introduction
to the study of grammar, which is taken up in the second
bo?k. Choice selections of the best literature adapted to
ch1'.dren a.re c?osen as the basis of the language study. The
~ntire s~nes is !:iased on. the cumulative plan of acquiring
mformat10n. Difficult points are not introduced in a diluted
for'"?. early in the course, but are postpon ed to their proper
positions and there treated clearly, fully, and emphatically.
Book I I. is an ele_m e ~tary English grammar. The arrangement o.f the maten al is natural. The pupil feels himself
advancmg by careful yet certain steps, and perceives the
reasons . for things in a way that is quite impossible in the
me~hamc al arrangement of many English grammars. It is
believed t~at th e subj ect will prove far less discouraging to
young pupils when presented in this natural manner.
T aken toget her, the books form a definite and logical
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asking him to learn gra mmatical facts by rote.
The names of the authors are a guarantee, not merely of
th~ scholarly character of the series, but of its careful
adJustment to the actual needs and conditions rof American
schools.

GINN & COMPANY, Publishers,
Boston. ·
Atlanta.

New York.
Dallas.

Chicago.
Columbus .

San Franclaco.
London.

PROFESSOR W. D. WHITNEY,
Of Yale U1<ivwsity, autkw of" Ess1..tials o/ Enrlisk Gram_,,,,
" Sanskrit Grammar," 1tc. ; Editor-in-cku/ of
·
" T"6 C1ntury Di&tiotiary";
AND

MRs. S. E. H. LOCKWOOD,
Fwmwly T1aclur o/ Eng lisk in the High S chool, N.W Haven, C01<1<.,
and author of " Ltssons U. E nrlisk.''

12mo. Cloth.

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THIS sterling book was prepared under the personal supervision of
the late Professor Whitney. The formal statement of principles and
rules has been modified only so far as was necessary to secure greater
simplicity. The inductive method of the original has been in general
retained. The book may therefore be said to bear the stamp of eminent
scholarship, and to be so far authoritative.
Some special features of the revision are as follows :
Topical Arrangement. The work has been entirely rewritten in
topical form. The improvement in typography will commend itself.
T opical headings are printed in boldface type; examples are in smaller
type, and so arranged as _t~ stand out clearly from the text.
Simplicity and Conciseness. The aim has been to make a practical,
rather than a pretentious, text-book. To this end the editor has sought
to embody the most important facts of the language, and to set them
forth simply, distinctly, and concisely.
Abundant Illustration. A conspicuous feature of the book is the
large number of. practical exercises for oral and written work. · More
than one hundred of these are scattered through the book, anq there
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these extract.s, the aim has been to secure a pleasing and interesting
variety of such as best illustrate the constructions described in the text.
As the work of a practical teacher, it is believed that these exercises
will greatly add to the interest and profit of classes who may use the
boo!I:.

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