ENGLISH GRAMMAR. As it it a necessary part of a young woman's education to possess some knowledge of grammar, the female youth is here presented with a concise and simple system, in order to remove those objections which exist to many others; namely, that of their being too prolix, dry, and uninteresting. When the learner has made herself well acquainted with the following system, she may, if desirous, have recourse to a more diffuse and laboured work; but it is hoped, that this will be found sufficient for all the common purposes of life; and enable her to speak, read, and write, with correctness and precision. English Grammar is divided into four parts, namely ORTHOGRAPHY, ETYMOLOGY, SYNTAX, and PROSODY. ORTHOGRAPHY. Letters. ORTHOGRAPHY teaches the nature and powers of letters, and the just method of spelling words. Letters are divided into vowels and consonants. The vowels are, a, e, i, o, u ; and sometimes w and y. W and y are consonants when they begin a word or syllable; but in every other situation they are vowels. Four of the consonants, namely, l, m, n, r, are liquids, from their readily uniting with other consonants, and flowing as it were into their sounds. A diphthong is the union of two vowels, as, ca in beat, ou in sound. A triphthong, the union of three vowels; as, eau in beau, iew in view. Syllables. A syllable is a sound, either simple or compounded, pronounced by a single impulse of the voice, and constituting a word, or part of a word; as, a, an, ant. Spelling is the art of rightly dividing words into their syllables, or of expressing a word by its proper letters. Words. A word of one syllable is a monosyllable; of two, a dissyllable; of three, a trisyllable; of four or more, a polysyllable. All words are either primitive or derivative. A primitive word is that which cannot be reduced to any simpler word in the language; as, man, good, content, York. A derivative word is that which may be reduced to another word in English of greater simplicity; as, manful, goodness, contentment, Yorkshire. ETYMOLOGY. THE second part of grammar is Etymology; which treatsof the different sorts of words, their various modifications, and their derivation. There are in English nine sorts of words, or, as they are commonly called, Parts of Speech; namely, the ARTICLE, the SUBSTANTIVE or NOUN, the ADJECTIVE, the PRONOUN, the VERB, the ADVERB, the PREPOSITION, the CONJUNCTION, and the INTERJECTION. 1. An Article is a word prefixed to substantives, to point them out, and to show how far their signification extends; as, a garden, an eagle, the woman. 2. A Subtantive or noun is the name of any thing that exists, or of which we have any notion; as, London, man, virtue. A substantive may, in general, be distinguished by its taking an article before it, or by its making sense of itself; as, a book, the sun, an apple; temperance, industry, chastity. 3. An Adjective is a word added to a substantive, to ex: press its quality; as, an industrious man, a virtuous wo man. An adjective may be known by its making sense with the addition of the word thing; as, a good thing, a bud thing: or of any particular substantive; as, a sweet apple, a pleasant prospect. 4. A Pronoun is a word used instead of a noun, to avoid the too frequent repetition of the same word; as, the man is happy, he is benevolent, he is useful. 5. A Verb is a word which signifies to be, to do, or to suffer; as, I am, I rule, I am ruled. A verb may generally be distinguished by its making sense with any of the personal pronouns, or the word to, before it; as, I walk, he plays, they write; or, to walk, to play, to write. 6. An Adverb is a part of speech joined to a verb, an adjective, and sometimes to another adverb, to express some quality or circumstance respecting it; as, he reads well; a truly good man; he writes very correctly. An adverb may be generally known, by its answering to the question, how? how much? when? or where? as, in the phrase she reads correctly, the answer to the question, how does she read? is, correctly. 7. Prepositions serve to connect words with one another, and to show the relation between them; as, he went from London to York; she is above disguise; they are supported by industry. A preposition may be known by its admitting after it a personal pronoun in the objective case; as, with, for, to, &c. will allow the objective case after them; with him, for her, to them, &c. 8. A Conjunction is a part of speech that is chiefly used to connect sentences, so as out of two or more sentences to make but one: it sometimes connects only words; as, thou and he are happy, because you are good; two and three are five. 9. Interjections are words thrown in between the parts of a sentence, to express the passions or emotions of the speaker: as, O virtue! how amiable thou art! ARTICLE. AN ARTICLE is a word prefixed to substantives, to point them out, and to show how far their signification extends; as, a garden, an eagle, the woman. In English there are but two articles, a and the; a becomes an before a vowel, and before a silent h; as an acorn, an hour. But if the h be sounded, the a only is to be used; as, a hand, a heart, a highway. A or an is styled the indefinite article: it is used in a vague sense, to point out one single thing of the kind, in other respects indeterminate; as, give me a book; bring me an apple. The is called the definite article, because it ascertains what particular thing or things are meant: as, give me the book; bring me the apples; meaning some particular book, or apples, referred to. A substantive, without any article to limit it, is generally taken in its widest sense; as, a candid temper is proper for man; that is, for all mankind. SUBSTANTIVE. A SUBSTANTIVE or noun is the name of any thing that exists, or of which we have any notion; as, London, man, virtue. Substantives are either proper or common. Proper names or substantives are the names appropriated to individuals; as, George, Charlotte, London, Thames. Common names or substantives stand for kinds containing many sorts, or for sorts containing many individuals under them; as, animal, man, tree, &c. To substantives belong gender, number, and case. Gender. Gender is the distinction of nouns, with regard to sex. There are three genders, the masculine, the feminine, and the neuter. The masculine gender denotes animals of the male kind; as, a man, a horse, a bull. The feminine gender signifies animals of the female kind; as a woman, a duck, a hen. The neuter gender denotes objects which are neither males nor females; as, a field, a house, a garden. Some substantives naturally neuter are, by a figure of speech, converted into the masculine or feminine gender; as, when we say of the sun he is setting, and of a ship she sails well, &c. The English language has three methods of distinguishing the sex, viz. 1. By different words; as, 3. By a noun, pronoun, or adjective, being prefixed to Actor. Actress. Bridegroom. Bride. the substantive; as, A cock sparrow. A hen-sparrow. A maid-servant. Number. Number is the consideration of an object, as one or more. Substantives are of two numbers, the singular and the plural. The singular number expresses but one object; as, a chair, a table, a box, a wife. The plural number signifies more objects than one; as, chairs, tables, boxes, wives. Some nouns, from the nature of the things which they express, are used only in the singular, others only in the plural form; as, wheat, pitch, gold, sloth, pride, &c.; and, bellows, scissars, lungs, riches, &c. Some words are the same in both numbers; as, deer, sheep, swine, &c. Case. English substantives have three cases, the nominative, the possessive, and the objective. The nominative case simply expresses the name of a thing, or the subject of the verb; as, the boy plays; the girls learn. The possessive case expresses the relation of property or possession, and has an apostrophe, with the letter s coming after it; as, the scholar's duty; my father's house. When the plural ends in s, the other s is omitted, but the apostrophe is retained; as, on eagles' wings; the drapers' company." Sometimes also, when the singular terminates in s, the apostrophic s is not added; as, for goodness' sake; for righteousness' sake. |