G R A 
local obfervations during his captivity. 3. Pengrinatio 
Bclgica, 8vo. 4. Antiquitates Flandria, 1608, folio. 5. 
Hijloria Namurcenfis. 
GRA’MEN, f. in botany. See Grass. 
GRA'MERCY, intcrq. [contradled from grant me 
mercy.'\ An obfolete exprellion of furprife.— Gramercy, 
lovely Lucius, what’s tlie news ? Skakrfpeare. 
Gramercy, X\T, faid he; but mote I weet 
What (Irange adventure do ye now purfue ? Spenfer. 
GRA'MERCY, and GRA'MERCIES, interj. [from 
grande merci, Fr. great thanks, or great mercy.] Great 
tbanks to you : 
Gramercy, Mammon, Liid the gentle knight. 
For fo great grace and offer’d high eftate. Spenfer. 
Gramercies, Tranio, well doft thou advife. Shakefpeare. 
_ Gramercies, my deare Devill: weele put it ferioufly in 
pradfice, yfaith. B. Jonfon. 
GRA'MINA,/. in botany, Grasses. Tliis forms 
the fifth family, and the fecond nation, fribe, or call:, 
in Linnaeus’s General Divifion of the Vegetable King¬ 
dom : the fourreentli order in the Fragments of a Natu¬ 
ral Method in Philofophia Botanicas; and the fourth of 
the Natural Orders at the end of Genera Plantarum. 
See Grass. 
GRAMIN'EAL, [_iioxn gramen, Lat. grafs.] Full 
of gr ifs. 
GRAMIN'EOUS, adj. Graffy. 
GRAMINIFO'I.IA, /. in botany. See PiLU laR iA, 
Subularia, and Zannichellia. 
GRAMINIFO'LIOUS, [from Lat. grafs, 
and folium, a leaf.] Having leaves like grafs. Scott. 
GRAMINIV'OROUS, adj. \_gramen and voro, Lat.] 
Grafs-eating ; living upon grafs.—The ancients were 
verfed chiefly in thedifleCtionof brutes, amongwhich tlie 
graminivorous]!CmdL have a party-coloured choroides. Sharp. 
GRAMINO'SE, adj. Full of grafs; grafly; having 
leaves without footftalks. 
GRAM'INOUS, adj. Graffy; full of grafs; having 
leaves like grafs. Cole. 
GRAM'MA, f. [Greek.] A letter; any Angle letter 
of the alphabet. Hence comebgrammar, becaufe it fhews 
hpw to form articulate founds, winch are reprefented 
by letters. 
GRAM'MAR,/. Igrammaire, Fr. grammatica, Lat. 
ypap.iA.cChm, Gr.] 1 he fcience of fpeaking correftly ; the 
art which teaches the relations of words to each other. 
—To be accurate in the grammar and idioms of the 
tonoues, and then as a rhetorician to make all their 
graces ferve his eloquence. Fell. —Propriety or juftnefs 
of fpeech ; fpeech according to grammar.—Tanaiw B 
muiabile femper feemina, is the fharpefl: fatire that ever 
was made on woman; for the adjedfives are neuter, and 
animal muH be underilood to make them grammar. Dry. 
den .—The book that treats of the various relations of 
words to one another. 
Few authors have written with philofophical accu. 
racy on the principles of General-Grammar ; and, what 
is more to be regretted, fewer ftill have thought of ap¬ 
plying thofe principles o the Englifh language. While 
the French tongue has long been an objedt of attention 
to many able and ingenious writers of that nation, who 
have confidered its conllrudlion, and determined its 
propriety with great accuracy ; the genius.and grammar 
of the Englifh, to the reproach of tlie country, have 
not been fludied with equal care, or afeertained with 
the fame preciAon. Some faint attempts have indeed 
been made tov/ards fupplying '.his defedt ; and fome 
able writers have entered on the fubjedf ; but much re¬ 
mains to be done. It is not wiihin the plan of our 
work to give an extended fyftem either of Grammar in 
general, or of Englifh Grammar in particular; but we 
lhall neverthelefs take a general view of the chief prin¬ 
ciples relaiing to this fubjedt, w ith fome particular re¬ 
marks on the peculiarities ot our o-vvn tongue. 
G R A 763 
The firfl thing to be conAdered, is, the diviAon of 
the feveral parts of fpeech. The effeniial parts of 
fpeech are the fame in all languages. There nuifl al¬ 
ways be fome words which denote the names of objedts, 
or mark the fubjedt of difeourfe ; o her words, which 
denote the qualities of thofe objedls, and exprefs what 
we affirm concerning them ; and other words, which 
point out their connedtions and relations. Hence, fub- 
flantives, pronouns, adjedtives, verbs, prepoAtions, and 
conjundtions, muft necefl’arily be found in all languages. 
The mofl Ample and alfo the rnofi: ancient diviAon o'f 
the parts of fpepch is, into fuhfantives, attributives, aiul 
connectives. Subflantives, are all the words which exprefs 
the names of objecLs, or the fubjedts of difeourfe ; at¬ 
tributives, are all the words which exprefs any attribute, 
property, or adtion, of the former ; connectives, are wliat 
exprefs the connections, relations, and dependencies, 
■W'hich take place among them. 
The following deflnition of Grammar and its parts, is 
from Siret’s Ele'mens de la Langue Angloife. “ Grammar 
is the art of 1 educing to rule the principles common to 
all languages. Languages are compofed of fentenccs, 
fentenffes of words, words cifyllabks, and fyllables of 
letters. Letters therefore (or founds, which mufl: be 
taken to mean tlie fame thing) are the Aril: and princi¬ 
pal materi-iis of which language is compoled. 
Noun fubfanlives. When men had difeovered thefe 
founds or letters, they next applied themfelves to invent 
words to exprefs the diA'eient objedts which prefented 
themfelves to the fentes. As each of thel'e objedts muft 
be a fubftance either animate or inanimate, the Arft 
words which were formed were called fuhfantives, that 
is, the names of fubft.inces. 
Pronouns. Next, to avoid repeating the fame words 
when the fame objedts were often prefented in a dif¬ 
eourfe, it was found necelT'ary to form words which 
might exprefs the fubftances without repeating them. 
Hence the origin oi pronouns •, i. e. the reprefentatives 
of nouns. 
Adjectives and Verbs. But, in fpeaking of things, it is 
necelfary to explain what they are, how they adf, &cc. 
It was therefore neceffary to have other words, as w-ell 
to exprefs the attributes and qualities of fubftances, as 
to explain their influence and various operations. Hence 
came adjeCtives and verbs. AdjeClives are thus called be¬ 
caufe they are added to nouns, and Ihew their attributes 
and qualities ; the verb {verbum, or the word, by way of 
eminence) is thus named becaufe it exprelies the exift- 
ence, adlion, condition, and pallion, of beings. 
Adverbs. Going on to confider the diverlity of quali¬ 
ties and of adtions, it was foon difeovered that thefe 
were fufceptible of innumerable modifleations; it thence 
became necelfary to invent words to e.xprefs thefe mo¬ 
difleations. They called thefe words adverbs, becaufe. 
they were added to verbs, to give more or lefs extent 
to their Agnifleation'. 
Nouns of Number. The multiplicity of individuals in 
each fpecies, the frequency of adtions of the fame na¬ 
ture ; cauled men to feek in procefs of time for a ne-.v 
fpecies of words to fpecify at once any quantity of ob. 
jedts, of caufes, or of eft'edfts. This produced nouns of 
number. - 
Prepofitions. To thefe fucceeded new exprelAons to 
denote the reference which things have to eacli other, 
and to Ax the idea of one by that of another. Thefe 
were called prepofitions, becaul'e tliey are placed before 
nouns and verbs. 
Conjunctions. But as things have often diftant relations 
which cannot be colledted in one fentence, it was necef¬ 
fary to form particles whereby they miglit be joined ; 
and which from their ufe were therefore called conjunctions. 
Interjections. Laftly, having provided the means of 
expreiiing the nature, the fpecies, tiie attributes, t:ie 
influence, the exiftence, the references, and the difterent 
modifications, of tlungiS} expreffioas were invented fo 
paint 
