A comprehensive grammar of the English language.

24.3 MB·English

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COMPREHENSIVE GRfMlAR
OP THE
ENGLISH LANaUAGE.
FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS,
BY SIMON KERL, A.M.
"Pungarvice cotis, acutum
Bedderequae ferrumvalet, exsorsipsa secandi."
Horace.
NEW YORK:
PHINNEY, BLAKEMAN, AND MASON.
BUFFALO: BREED, BUTLER & CO.
1861.
C&^, /vv t^'. >2»V^
K E R L S
'
SERIES OF ENGLISH GRAMMARS,
—
Kerl'§ Primary Eiig^lish Orammar. This little book
isdesignedforbeginners, and as an introduction to the ComprehensiveGram-
mar. Sincevarietyinhistext-booksonthesamesubject, alwayscauses a loss
oftimeandlabortothelearner, thislittlework, excepting the last few pages,
ismadeidentical, pageforpage, with thefirstpart ofthe largerGrrammar. It
isalsomadeinaccordancewithwhatseemtobethelatestandbestopinionson
the science of grammar and the art of teaching. 72 pp., 12mo, well bound.
Price25cents.
—
KerIN Compretiensive £iiglish Orammar. This book
isdesignedtobeathorough Practical Grammar,fortheuseofCommonScliools.
Nearlyallthatitcontains beyondwhat thegenerality ofgrammars have, will
benewanduseful. To its sections on Yebbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions,
Parsing, Analysis, Versification, Punctuation, Capital Letters, Rhe-
torical Figures, and FalseSyntax, particularattentionisdirected; andalso
tothearrangementofmatter,andtothecopiousIllustrationsand Exercises
360pp., 12mo. Price75 cents.
—
Kerl's Treatise on tlie Eiiglasli L<anguage. This book
isdesignedfortheuseofHigh-Schools, Colleges, and PrivateStudents. It will
embrace, so far as practicable, the History, Etymology, Grammar, and
Structure of the Language, withcopiousIllustrations and Critical Re-
marks, anEssayon Composition, an EssayonDelivery, and a Collection
ofSynonyms. Large8vo. {InPress.)
Enteredaccordingto Act ofCongress, inthe year 1861,
By SIMON KERL,
IntheClerk'sOflaceoftheDistrictCourtoftheSouthernDistrictofNewYork.
StereotypedbySmith&McDougal,82&84Beekman-street.
J.M..Johnson. Printer^nd Binder,Buffalo,N.Y.
;
PREFACE.
^^^
Iti3generallyadmitted, atleastbythosepersons whofrequentlyhaveocca-
siontowritethe Englishlanguage, thattheknowledgeofthissubject, obtained
inourschools, isnotsufficient forthe various requirements of life. In the fol-
lowing pages wethereforeoffer to the public an English Grammarthat is do-
signedtobo, forpracticalpurposes, more thoroughthananyotherwehaveseen,
theverylargestnotexcepted.
Initsmatter, itdoesnotdiffermuch fromothergrammars,exceptthatithas
more,andthitmuchofitisfreshfromtheoriginalsourcesofthescience. What-
everothershavewrittenonthe subject, Ihaveendeavoredtoascertain; though
ItrustIhave treated themlesspiraticallyand censoriouslythanmost ofthem
havetreatedtheirpredecessors. Theincidental remarkson grammar, made by
reviewers, philologists, andotherwriters, havebeen diligentlysought and con-
sidered. The best grammars of foreign languages have also been consulted,
especiallythoseofBecker, Vivier, Andrews, Crosby, and Kiihner. Oftheexer-
cises tobecorrected, about onehalf arethe best ofthosewhichform the com-
mon inheritance of thescience; and forthe others I have read somework or
worksfromeveryState inthe Union, in orderthat thebook mayshow all the
variouskindsoferrorswhicharenowcurrent,likeundetectedcounterfeitmoney,
inthevariouspartsof ourcountry. Ifchildrenimbibed noerrors at home, it
were well to exclude such exercises from grammars: butwhenaperson has
alreadycaughtadisease, I supposeitisbest to convince him ofhiscondition,
andshowhimhowtogetridofit. Errorsinspelling, and errorsmanufactured
bygrammarians, are ofcourse objectionable; buterrors that aregatheredfrom
the usageofgoodwriters, areaverydifferent thing. Besides, parsingandan-
alysis, when used alone, become too monotonous and wearisome, andhardly
suffice toteach thecorrectuseofthelangua—ge. —
Inregardtothearrangement of matter, an important item, I venture to
claimforthebookasuperiority overeveryotherofitskind. It iswell known
thatscienceandliteraturelanguished, untilBaconandShakespeareemancipated
them fromthethralldomofancientopinions; and,asLatinGrammarswerefirst
made, andEnglish Grammarsmodelledatl;erthem, thelatterhaveprobablysuf-
feredfromasimilardominion. Alanguage thathas manyinflections, maywell
have its etymologytaught as a separate branch; but a language, like ours,
whoseactualinflectionsmight all be printed ontwo orthree pages, need—s no
suchtreatment. Besides, wordshaveetymologybecausetheyhavesyntax the
veryexistence of the oneimplying theother; and tostop with etymology, is
toleavethe workhalffinished. Thegreateststicklerforseparatingthemin our
language, hasfailed to d—raw the dividing line; and—much of the etymology
taught in ourgrammars as in thecases of nouns is sheersyntax. Every
teacherofexperience, too, musthaveobserved howwearisome topupilsisthe
long desert ofetymology, before theysee itsapplication in syntax; and then
theyoftendo notgetthefullbenefitof this, because theyhavebuta faint and
confusedrecollection of theother. Moreover, bytheusual system, almost the
wholegrammarmustbelearned beforeanypractical benefitis derived fromit
and, aschildrenin manypartsofthecountrycan attend schoolonlya part of
eachyear, theconsequence is, that theybegin theirgrammarfromyeartoyear,
gettiredofitstechnicaljargon, and, finally, derivelittle benefitfromthestudy.
13ythearrangementinthistreatise, each section bears its own fruit, and will
be, iflearned, ofpermanent value, whether any further progress is made or
not. The book, too, can bemoreconvenientlyresumedatthebeginningofany
section.
M515998
IV PREFACE.
Parsing and Analysishavenot onlybeen made full, but strippedof much
superfluousmachinery. Doctrinesandclassificationshave,inmanyplaces,been
simplifiedandabridged; andforsomeoftlieinsufficientarticlesinourgrammars
havebeensubstitutedothers that are altogether more substantial. Thebook
comprisesbothaPrimaryand a Higher Grrammar, and is, in thehighestsense,
progressive and philosophical. It is built up byaregularsynthesisfrom the
alphabettoVersification; thenfollowsthearticleonAnalysis, which relates to
allthatprecedesit, and isoftheutmost importancetothenextandlastarticle,
namely,Punctuation. Inothergrammars,mostofthedoctrineisprintedin small
type,andtheexercisesareprinted inlarger. ThismaybemoreagreeaV)letothe
teacher, but it is lesssotothelearner. I have giventhemainprinciplesfirst,
inlargetype,andapartfrom theexamples thentheexercisesintypesufficiently
large; and, lastly, the unimportant doctrin;e in smaller type,underthe head of.
Observations, and at theendofeach section. The best modesoflearningand
teachinghave been constantly kept in mind; but, ofcourse, no perfectly—sane
teacherorlearnerwill imagine, that the grammar of a mightylanguage of a
languagethatreachesintoeveryfibreofhumanknowledge,canbelearnedwith-
outlabor,orin "sixlessons1" Afullpreface,explanatoryanddefensive, would
requiremanypages. I thereforeleavethework,withoutfurtherremark, tothe
candor,judgment, andresearchofthereader.
TO TEACHERS.
Sincealmosteveryteacherhas hisownviewsaboutteaching, it is probably
needlesstoaddanysuggestions. Itmay beproper, however, tostate, that the
pupilshouldlearn, of the irregular verbs, onlythose formswhich are in good
present use, the others havingbeeninserted merely for reference. Theexer-
cisesfrom p. 36top.44, should be usedconstantlywith the recitations on—the
partsofspeech. Whilethepupilisengagedintheparsingexercises,pp. 47 57,
itmaybewell for him to strengthen himselfbyreviewing several times what
precedesthem. Thenumbersoverwords showthe RulesofSyntax. Thein-
terrogation-pointsontheleftof paragraphsin Part Second, areused insteadof
questions. Theyareasortofsubstitute forthepencil-marks ofteachers. The
sectionontheDerivation ofWordsmaybeomitted,iftaughtinsomeotherbook.
Fora fewofitsWords, thepupilwill have to consulthisdictionary. It would
beauseful exercise for the pupil to copythe ^ntencesgiven as examplesin
PartSecond. Hewouldthus learn tospell, topunctuate, tousecapital letters,
andwouldbecomefamiliarwithallthevarioussentenceswhichmakelanguage.
Theexercisesforcorrection, it is probably best for thepupil to writeoff cor-
rected, andbringthemtoschoolasapart of his eveningtask. Ifthey be cor-
rectedorally, I wouldrecommend that it be notdonewithtoomuch ceremony
ormechanicalmannerism. Inthesentence, "Himandmeareofthesameage,"
fcoarsei,nssthaonucle,dbtheehpeuapinldm/,ayinsithmeplnyosmaiyn,at"iIvnecocrarseec,tb:eMcamusaend'Ame,pirnontoheunobujseecdtiavse
thesubjectof afiniteverb, mustbe in thenominativecase.'" For additional
examplesinanalysisandparsing, maybe usedthenumerous examplesfrom p.
257 totheend. ThesectiononAnalysis,thoughneartheend,shouldbestudied
as soonaspossible,andreviewedfrequently. AKeytotheExerciseswill be
furnished, if itshould befound necessary. Itwas mydesigntoaddan article
on Composition, butasthisisnotnecessarilyapartofgrammar,andasitwould
havemucherdargedthesizeofthe book,I haveomittedit. Shouldthepresent
work be favorablyreceived, however, I mayadd, as a sequel to thisbook, a
smallbutadequatetreatiseon Composition; so thatthetwobooks will make a
courseofGrammar, Rhetoric andComposition.