A.

NUAL
OF

PRACTICAL ENGLISH GRAMMAR,
ON A NEW ,AND EASY PLAN ;
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FOR

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BY HEZ. ¥,:UNSELL, JR.

PRODESSE QUAM OONSPIOI,

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PREFACE.

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Entered according to act of Congress, in the year

18~ 1,

By HEz. MUNSELL, Jr.,
in the Clerk's Office, for the Northern District of New-York.

WHILE but few instances of originality are expected from the
discovery of new materials in grammar, it is confidently believed
that many new and useful arrnngements of the materials already known and approved can be adapted to the easy inculcation of grnmmatical knowledge. To imprint on the memory
and understanding of the le9rner an image ·of the most prominent features of the etymological part is one principal design
·of the · writer of this treatise. This he seeks to effect by an
analytical and synthetical view of its principal topics rerluced
. ,_tci n,s p~rrow a compass as may consist with perspicuity. Placing
·those topics in juxta-position and close proximity renders them
easier of access to a beginner, than scattering them over several
pages with explanations of each at inconvenient distances. In
the explanations here given in columns under the principal
subjects brief and plain definitions are sou~ht, referring the
learner in due time to various. 11m1otations upon the parts of
speech and syntactical rules. Having acquired the essentials
of the parts of speech thus defined, by attentively viewing and
ret11inii1g in memory the syntheticul text contained ju the
synopsis of etymology, and by suitable exercises, the learner's
progress is made easy nnd ultimately successful, as experience
has demonstrated. More than hnlf of the acquisition of a competent grammatical knowledge is obtained in the etymological
part; hence, the special utility of bringing that part immediately
home to the understanding and memory of the student. In the
11yntactical part of the work, it is believed, the rules and notes
will suffice for parsing all sentences and phrases expected to

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Preface.

occur. Though most writers agree in the essentials of grammar,
there are a few controverted points for the defence of either side
of which a hundred grammars, ancient and modern, may be
cited, - leaving the disputed points still unsettled. It is, however, generally easy to distinguish needless innovations from
established use.
The writer of this Manual has consulted a respectable
number of the best philological works, with a sedulous and
candid attention, and without aiming at a servile, sequaciout1
tread in the footsteps of others, has yet endeavored to profit by
their labors. This is a modification and enlargement ofa treatise,
published many years since, by the writer of this, for his friends
of" the olden time," whose approbation of it is sensibly remembered; and whose descendants, as well as his own, and all the
patrons of this brief literary attempt, he trusts, may derive some
benefit from this renewal of his labors. He had prepared most
of the materials for this book before the weight of declining
years admonished him of the near approach of the night in
which no man can work. He does not suppose he has produced a work which "neither fire, nor flood, nor the corroding
tooth of time shall be able to destroy;" when he appreciates the
excellence of others, and wheri he considers the probable mutations of language, the capricious- affectation of innovators
upon approved nn<l long established usage, and the shifting
(.;banges of literary 11s well as other fo~hions which bid defiance
to abler conservative pens, than any which he aEsumes to hold;
but, if he shall contribute with others to the advancrment ot
useful erlucntion by furnishing his friends and the public with
what the title page proposes, his main design will be a·ccomplished and his ambition satisfied. How well he has succeeded
in this design, the judgment of a discerning public will decide.
Hoos1cK FALLS, N. Y.,
December, 1850.

GRAMMAR.

ENGLISH GRAMMAR, united with rhetoric, teaches to
speak, read and write the English language with pro·
priety and elegance. It is the law of the language,
established by national custom and the usage of the
learned, and consists of four principal parts -Orthography, Etymology, Syntax and Prosody. Orthography,
. or true spelling, is learned chiefly from spelling books 1md
dictionaries, from notice of good composition, and from
oral teaching. Etymology explains the ten classes or
parts of speech, to which words belong, viz : articles,
nouns, pronouns, adjectives, v:erbs, participles, adverbs,
prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. The word,
etymology, also expresses the derivation of words. Syntax
teaches the formation of correct and elegant sentences.
Prosody teaches the just pronunciation of words and the
principles of English verse. From the order in which
the subjects of grammar may be conveniently and methodically explained, it may consist of six parts, Orthography, Orthoepy, Etymology, Syntax, Punctuation and
Orthometry.
ORTHOGRAPHY.
Orthography, or true spelling, explains the elementary .
sounds of language and the use of the alphabet, in the
formation of syllables and words. The English alphabet,
the name of which comes from Alpha and Beta the two
first letters of the Greek, contains twenty-six letters;
principally borrowed from the Roman, the characters,
great and small, and their names being well known, and

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