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ENGLISH GRAMMAR:
OR 1

AN EXPOSITION OF

THE PRINCIPLES AND USAGES

OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
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BY JOHN S9" ~ART, A. M.,
PRINClP.'-L OF THE PlllLADELI'llIA llI GU SCHOOL, A.ND MEMBER

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1.'HE AMERlCAM

PJULOSOP HtcAL SOCIETY.

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PHILADELPHIA :

PUBLISHED BY E. H. BUTLER & CO.
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NOTE.
FouR kinds of type nre used in the following pages to indicate tho
,xirtions that are considered more or less elementary. The most import1mt rules and definitions are printed in large type, italicised.
These are to be committed to memory the first time of going through
the book. A few other rules and definitions are printed in type of
the same size, but not italicised. The portions so printed are intended
for the secoT1d perusal. They are scarcely less important than the
previous, and_ it may be a matter of some doubt whether they should
not be learned the first time of going through. The next and most
considerable portion of the work is printed in type of a medium size.
Last of all, in the small type, is that part of the work in which the
doctrines advanced in the rules and definitions are somewhat more
fully ex plained and illustrated. By this arrangement the author has
been enabled to eriter more ut length than is usually done, upon difficult and important points, while studying the ntmost possible brevity
in regard to the portions which are intended to be committed to
memory.
For convenience in making references, the paragraphs are all numbered consecutively, from the beginning to the end of the book. At
the bottom of each page are questions and exercises growing out of
the text on that page. These questions and exercises are numbered
to correspond with the numbering of the tex t. They are also distinguished by the letters a, b, c, d, to indicate the four kinds of type
before mentioned. These mechanical arrangements are intended to
give practical facilities in hearing large cla sses, and in assigning

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Entr.n.·tl arcor<llng t.o lhe /\ct of Congress, in th e year HH5, by

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!::. H. B U T J, E R.
in the o ffice of th e d crk o f the Di s trict Court o f the Un ited St a tes i11 and for the
Ea ste rn Distric t of Pennsylvan ia.

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D. riJ. D USE NBERY, STEH EOTYPER.

C. SHERMAN, PRINTER.

lessons.

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The table of irregular verbs is an exact reprint of the last edition
of Lindley Murray, by Longman & Co., London .

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CONTENTS.
ORTHOGRAPHY.
Division of the subject, p. 21 ; Nature of the letters, p. 22; Divi.

sion of the letters, p. 23 ; vowels, p. 24; consonants, p. 25;
Sounds of the letters ; I. of the vowels, p. 26 ; 2. of the consonants, p. 26, 27; Spelling, p. 28; rules for .do. p. 29, 30.

ETYMOLOGY.
Division of the subject, p. 31.
ARTICLES, p. 31 ; origin and character of do., p. 32, 33;
NouNs, p. 33; definition and character of do., p. 34; classification
of, p. 35; attributes of. p. 36; Gender, p. 36; modes of distin.
guishing gender, p. 37, 38; remarks upon gender, p. 39; Nu.m·

her, p. 40; modes of forming phual, p. 41, 42; remarks upon
number, p. 43, 44; Person, p. 44; Case, p. 45; definition of,
p. 45; forms of, p. 47; declension of nouns, p. 47; remarks
upon the possessive, p. 48.
ADJECTIVES, p. 48; character of, p. 49 ; Numeral, p. 49 ; degrees of
comparison, p. 50; irregular comparison, p. 51.
PRoNouNs, p. 52; true nature of, p. 52; division of, p. 53 ; Personal,
p. 54; remarks upon, p. 55; Relative, p. 56; remarks upon, p.
57; interrogatives and responsives, p. 58; Adjective, p. 59, 60.
VERBS, p. 61; true character of, p. 61; classification, p. 61; Tran·

sitive and Intransitive, p. 62; Regular and Irregular, p. 63;
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CONTENTS.

CONTENTS •

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list of irregular verbs, p. 63-63; Impersonal and Defective,

separation of prepositions from its regimen, p. 118; for before the

69 ; Auxiliary, p. 69; conjugation of, p. 70; nature of, p. 71

infinitive, p. 119; two prepositions before an objective, p. 119;

Voice, p. 72; l\'Iood, p. 73; definition of the moods, p. 74; Par

ellipsis of prepositions, p. 119; worth, p. 120; appropriate pre-

ticiples, p. 75, 76; T ense, p. 76; theory of the tenses, p. 77, 78

positions, p. 120, 121.

definitions of the tenses, p. W; progression and emphatic for

RuLE V, Government of the possessive, p. 122; possessives my, thy, &c.

of the tenses, p. 79; tenses of the subjunctive and potenti

P· 122; ellipsis of the governing noun, p. 123; possessive of

moods, p. 30; Conjugation, p. 81 ; A ctive Voice , p. fl2-85; Pas ,

complex names, p. 123; joint possession, p. 124; possessives in
apposition, p. 124 ; separation of possessi ve from its regimen, p.

sive Voic e, p. 85-88; remarks on the conjugation , p. 88-90.
125.
AnvERns, p. 90; comparison of, p. 01; classification of adverb~
p. 91.
RuLE VI, Apposition, p.125 ; noun in apposition to a sentence, p. 126;
plural of complex nouns in apposition, p. 126; same chse after

CoNJ UNCTIONs, p. 92; nature of the conjunctions, p. 92; division
of, p. 93.

the verb to be, p. 127; case indefinite after to be, p. 127.

PREPOSITIONS, p. 94; classes of prepositions, p. 94; remarks upon, RuLE VII, Agreement of the Pronoun with the word for which it
p. 95.
stands, p. 128; personal pronoun, p. 129; relative pronoun, p.
INTERJ ECTIOJ<S, P· 96.

129; that for" who" or" which," p. 130; antecedents of differ-

DERIVATION OF >VoRns, p. 96; prefixes of Saxon origin, p. 97; pre. ·

ent persons, p. 130; separation of the relative from its anteee.

dent, p. 130; ellipsis of relative, p. 131.
fixes of Latin origin, p. 98; prefi xes of Greek origin, p. 99;
RuLE
VIII, Construction of the A1'ticle, p. 131 ; position of, p. 132;
affixes, p. 100.
ellipsis of, p.1 32; various uses of a, p. 132, 133; do. oftl1e, p. 133.

SYNTAX.

Ruu: IX, Construction of the Adjective, p. 133; qualifying the infim-

Division of the subject, p, 103; mode of arranging the rules, p. 104. f
tivc, p. 134; used indefinitely, p. 134; adj ectives of number, p.
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.134; comparatives, p. 135.. .
R ULE I, ~nbj~ct of the verb, p. lOG; nominative independent, P· 10 7 ;1
nom mat1 ve absolute, p. J 07; nomin ati ve in apposition, p. 107. . Ru LEX, Constru ction of the Adjective Pronoun, p. 136; the possesR ur.E II, Ag reement of tlie verb with its nominative, P· 100; infinitive '

sives, p. 136; the distributives, p. 137.

used "as n~~inati ve, p. 1~1 ; nouns of m•Jlti tude, p. ll l ; the! Ru LE XI~ Construction of .the Participle'. p. 13: '. ~cmarks upon, p.
verb to be between th e smg ular and plural, P· 112 ; two nomi.
138, double construct10n of, p. 138, part1c1pial noun, p. 130;

natives connected by and, p. 113; t wo do. by or, p. l l3; nouns
of different persons, p. 114.
R ULE III, Government of the object ive by verbs, p. 114; infinitive used
as obj ective, p. 115; verbs both -transitive and intransitive, p. llG;

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participles of to be, to become, &e., p. 140; used indefinitely, p.
140; perfect participle and past tense, p. 141.
~ULE

XII, Construction of the Adverb, p. 141; position of, p. 141;

not to be used as adjectives, p. 142; incorrect use of where, &e,
p. 142; double negatives, p. 143.

ca usatives, p. ll6; direct and indirect objective, p. 116; passil'c
voice, p. 117.
.
RuLE XIII, Construction of the Infinitive, p. 143; omission of to, p.
Ruu: IV, Government of the objective ca se by prepositions, p. 117;

144; for befor e the infinitive, p. 144; infinitive absolute, p. 145;
infinitive ns u. noun, p. 145.

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CONTENTS.

RuLE XIV, Construction of the Conjunction, p. J45; corresponding
conjunction, p. 146; use of' than, p. 146; as, p. 147; connect
same moods and tenses, &c., p. 147; Subjunctive mood, p. 148.
RuLE XV, C011struction of the Interjection, p. 150; interjections never
govern the objective case, p. 150.

ENGLISH GRAl\iMAR.

M1scELLANEous ExERc1sEs, p. 150-160.
PROSODY.
Division of the subject, p. 161.
·PuNcTUATJON, p.161; capitals, p.161; history of points, p.162; com.
ma, P· 163, 164 ; semicolon, p. 165; colon, p. 165; period, p. 166;
interrogation, p. 166; other characters, p. 167, 168.
0RTHOEPY, p. 168; accent, in general, p. 168; on dissyllables, p. 169 ;
on trisyllablcs, p. 170; on polysyllables, p. 171; emphasis, its
importance. p. 172; difficulty of, &c., p. 173; quantity, p. 174;

1. Grammar is the science of Language.
2. G1·ammar is divided into four parts; namely,
Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody.
3. Orthography treats of Letters, Etymology of
Words, Syntax of Sentences, and Prosody of Versifica-

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pauses, p. 175; tone, p. 177.
FIGURES, p. 177 ; figures of Orthography and Etymology, 177 ; figures

ORTHOGRAPHY.

of Syntax, p. 178; figures of Rhetoric, p. 179.
VERSIFICATION-verses, p. 182; feet, p. 182; kinds of verse, p. 183;
Iambic verse, p. 184; Trochaic verse, p. 186; Anaprestic verse,

p. 187; Dactylic verse, p. 189; mixed verses, p. 191.

4. Orthography treats of Letters.
5. The Points and other characters used in writing, embracing the rules
of Punctuation, belong properly to Orthography. Ilut the most important

of these rules cannot be understood by the pupil until he is familiar with
the general principles of Grammar, particularly of Syntax. For convenience in teaching, therefore, this part of Orthography is treated of under the
head of Prosocl y, although at some expense of logical accuracy.

6. Letters are considered in regard to their nature, divisions,
and sounds, and the mode of forming them into words and syl-

lables.
The forming of letters into words and syllables is also called Spelling.
QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES.-a. 1. What is Grammar? 2. How is it divid3. What does Orthography treat of? Etymology 1 Syntax 1 Prosody 1
d. 5. To what part of Grammar does Punctuation properly belong 1 Why
is it treated of under the head of Prosody?
c. 6. Under what different heads are letters considered 1 What is .the last
bea<l also called?

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175. The iinport o[ the possessive may generally be expressed
by the prepos1tmn oj; thu s, "man's wisdom" means "the wisdom of man." These two forms of expression, howeYer, are
not al ways identical. Thus, "the king's picture" means a pie·
tu re belonging to the king; but "a picture of the king" means a
portra·it of him.
176. T'.i e .orig·in of the possessive. The apostrophe and s are
an abbrevmtmn, not of his as has been sometimes asserted, but
of. the Saxon genitive es or is. Thus, "the king's crown" was
ongmally "the 1'.ingis crown." This phrase might indeed be
easily resolved mto " the king his crown," and some of the
H ebraisms found in the English version of the Scriptures seem
to countenance such a hypothesis. But the facts are aD"ainst it
And besides, "queen's" could not be resol ved into "que:n hers~
nor" chiluren's" into "children theirs," &c.
'
. 177. The apostrophe and s do not always indicate the possessive case, as they are sometimes employed to form th e plural of
mere letters or characters used as nouns; as four 3's, ten 6's,
&c.; also to form the singular of verbs of a similar character·
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as, "he pro's and con's, and weighs tho matter over."
ADJECTIVES.

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ETYMOLOGY.

ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

178 . .11.n ADJECTIVE is a word used to qualify a
No1ln; as, good man.
17!J. Some grammarians have objec ted to making· adjectives a separate
part of speech, and have classed them under the head of nouns, because
th ey Qfte n, if not always, denote some subs tance, quality, or property, just
as truly_as .noun s <lo.

Thus," brazen tu be 0 means

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a tube made of brass."

Th e adjective bmzen denotP.s the same substance that the nQun brass does.
In like mann e r, waxen implies the subst:ince wax, golden implie s the sub·
D ec~~e . in like manner, the other words given in the tabl e.
, ~· l w. What IS observed of the import of the possessive? vVhat is the
d1flcre~ce between the kin g's picture," and "a picture of the king." 176.
What IS rem arked of the origin of th e possessive? 177. When are the
a.post rophe and s used to form the plural? For what else are they some·
tim es used?
a. 178. Wh at is an adjective?
d. 179. \Vhy have some grammarians objected to the present classifica·
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stance gold, hard the quality hardness. The objection is founded in a mis·
taken view of the flue nature of the noun. That which distinguishes the
noun from the other parts of speech, is not that it expresses s,ome sub·
atantive idea, and the others do not. On the contrary, every part of speech,
every word in fact, necessarily expresses some substantive meanin g.Thus, abO"Ve and below have a meaning, and that meaning is some ci rcum·
stance, quality, or tJ,i11g, just as much as that expressed by the words tBp
and bottom. In the words pe rson, personal, personally, personify, thought,
thoughtful, thoughtfully. think s, &e., we have the same substantive idea
or thing running through a whole series of words, each of which is a dif·
ferent part of speech. The noun then is distinguished from the other
parts of speech, not from its expressing some substantive idea, but from
its being the NAME of that idea. If we speak or think of the name of
that idea, we use a noun. If we connect that idea with any noun as one
of its qualities, acc idents, or attributes, but without affirmation , it is an adjective. For further illustrations of this point, see the remarks upon the
verb.

180. Nouns become adjectives when they are used to express
some quality of another noun ; as, gold ring, sea water.
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181. Adjectives are sometimes used as nouns, and admit of
number and case; as, our superiors, his betters, by fifti es, for
twenty's sake, &c.
182. Adjectives preceded by the definite articles are often
used as nouns; as, "the. little that was known of him." When
the expression refers to persons, the adjective is always considered plural; as, "the good," meaning good men.
NU~lERAL

ADJECTIVES.

183. Adjectives which express number are called Numerals.
184. Numeral Adj ectives are of three kinds,-the Cardinal,
Ordinal, and Multiplicative.
lion of adjectives l In what is this objection founded 1 By what is the
noun really distinguished from the other parts of speech!
c. IBO. When do nouns become adjectives l 181. How are adjectives
sometimes used 1 182. What is remarked of adjectives preceded by the
definite article 1
c. 183. What are 11umeral adjer.tive• 1 184. What three kinds of

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