ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 



Yet, there being no direct intention of informing 

 us that the gardener wears a fustian jacket, and 

 that fact being only stated incidentally, as a 

 way of distinguishing what particular gardener is 

 intended, such a clause is called a secondary- or 

 subordinate sentence, subservient to the purpose 

 of the principal sentence, which lies in the affir- 

 mation 'pruned' (a certain tree). In the same 

 way the three clauses, ' that grows on the garden 

 Avail ; ' ' on which the sun shines ; ' and, ' when 

 he is south,' are all subordinate sentences ; and 

 as the second depends upon the first, and the 

 third upon the second, they present three different 

 degrees of subordination. A principal sentence 

 and one or more subordinate sentences thus 

 involved in it, constitute a complex sentence. 

 But the further examination of complex and 

 compound sentences will be more profitably 

 pursued at a later stage. The object of this pre- 

 liminary analysis is to prepare the way for what 

 is usually treated first the composition, namely, 

 and classification of single words. It is more 

 easy to understand the principles on which the 

 classification of words depends, after getting a 

 clear view of the purposes they have to serve in 

 composing sentences. 



Language, as we have seen, is made up of 

 sentences. Now a sentence is made up of a 

 succession of separate sounds, or words. These 

 words, again, are capable of being dissected into 

 parts or syllables; and the syllables into still 

 more simple sounds, represented in writing and 

 printing by letters, which are the ultimate ele- 

 ments of speech or language. A complete view, 

 then, of the subject, would embrace 



1. The elementary sounds or letters, and how 

 they are put together to form words a branch of 

 grammar called Orthography. 



2. The study of individual words the different 

 kinds or classes into which they may be all put ; 

 the changes or inflections they undergo; and their 

 growth and structure, or derivation. This is called 

 Etymology. 



3. The way in which words are joined together 

 so as to form proper sentences Syntax 



The Orthography of the English language is 

 the least satisfactory thing about it. There is in 

 general so imperfect a correspondence between 

 the sound of a word, as pronounced, and the 

 sounds of the several letters that are written to 

 represent it, that the spelling of each individual 

 word has, in a manner, to be learned by itself. 

 By no possible rules can the learner be taught, 

 when he sees these groups of letters n-o-w, 

 p-l-o-u-g-h, e-n-o-u-g-h, to make out the sounds 

 or spoken words that these groups actually repre- 

 sent ; or, conversely, when he hears the words 

 spoken, to find out what letters they are to be 

 represented by. This circumstance presents great 

 difficulty to foreigners in the acquisition of 

 English ; in other respects, English grammar is 

 perhaps the simplest and most rational in the 

 world. Our space forbids us to enter on the 

 boundless and unsatisfactory field of orthography. 

 Leaving the learner to his own observation in 

 reading, and to practice in writing, for acquiring 

 a knowledge of spelling or referring him for such 

 rules as the subject admits of to the treatise on 

 Grammar in the Educational Course we proceed 

 to the next branch of the subject. 



ETYMOLOGY. 



Etymology treats of three things i. The 

 Classification of words ; 2. The Inflection of 

 words ; and 3. The Derivation of words. 



I. CLASSIFICATION. 



There is nothing in the outward form of words 

 that would enable us to divide them into classes. 

 It is in the offices that the several words perform 

 in a sentence, that we are to look for their differ- 

 ences and resemblances. In the first place, there 

 is the subject of the sentence to name ; and in 

 many sentences, there is something to name that 

 stands as the object of the action expressed by 

 the verb, or in other relations ; as in ' The 

 gardener pruned the young pear-/ra? in the 

 garden? Words that thus name the persons or 

 things to be brought before the mind in a sen- 

 tence, form the important class of words called 

 Nouns (Lat. nomen, a name). 



Nouns. 



Nouns, or names, may be divided into classes 

 in a variety of ways, according to the grounds we 

 take for our division. 



A division usually made by grammarians is into 

 Proper Nouns, and Common Nouns. A proper 

 noun is usually defined to be ' the name of any 

 individual person or thing ; ' as, London, Caesar, 

 Victoria, Smith ; while a common noun is one 

 that is applicable to an indefinite number of 

 persons or things forming a class ; as, city, 

 emperor, queen, man. But this definition of 

 proper names fails to indicate their essential 

 character. Such names as those cited are not 

 confined to single individuals. There are several 

 Londons, a great many Caesars and Victorias, and 

 Smiths innumerable. To limit the names to in- 

 dividuals, we must add other words, as London- 

 on-Thames ; Julius Caesar ; Queen Victoria ; John 

 Smith of No. 7 Fourth Street, New York. Where- 

 in, then, lies the essence of a proper name? In 

 order to answer this question, we must advert to 

 one of the most important distinctions in language. 

 What is it that constitutes the meaning of a word ? 

 In the sentence, for instance, 'The rich are thought 

 happy,' what does the word ' rich ' mean ? It is a 

 name* or designation of an indefinite number of 

 men and women Crcesus, Rothschild, Baroness 

 Coutts. Is this, then, its meaning? and to know 

 the/w// meaning, must I know all the individuals 

 of whom it is true? Clearly not. The meaning of 

 a word is not to be sought in the things or objects 

 it is applied to in what it denotes, as the logician 

 expresses it. 



But while the word 'rich' denotes or names 

 Crcesus and others, it also implies something 

 about them namely, that they possess a certain 

 attribute or quality richness, or riches. It is in 

 this that its meaning lies. In the language of 

 logic, the word 'rich' is said to denote the persons 

 to whom it is applicable, and to connote the attri- 

 bute of richness. 



To take another example : The word ' man ' is 



The full name for an adjective is an Adjective Noun, and nouns 

 or names, in the narrower sense, are distinguished from adjective 

 nouns by the term Substantive Nouns, or simply Substantives. 



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