303 COPYRIGHT, 1900, 1901 BY G. L. KITTREDGE AND S. L. ARNOLD ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 67.10 The Athenæum Press March 2/20 PREFACE. THE purpose of this book is to set forth the elen of English grammar in their relation to thought and expression of thought. This object has been the gu principle in the selection and arrangement of mat in the treatment of forms and constructions, and in fashioning of the very numerous illustrative exercis The Introduction explains in simple language ce general conceptions too often ignored in the stud Grammar: the nature of language, its relation to tho and to style, the processes which affect its growth decay, the province of grammar, and the relation of g mar to usage. These chapters are intended to be aloud by the pupils or by the teacher and to serve a basis for informal discussion in the class-room. The should not be allowed to study them mechanically. A all things, he should not try to learn them by heart. main principles which they embody are summed u Chapter I, p. 1, with which the definite study of Gra begins. Chapters II-LVIII deal primarily with the Part Speech and with their combination into sentences in expression of thought. In this part of the book on much inflection is included as is necessary for an u standing of the structure of sentences. As soon as punil has learned something of the nature of substan and verbs, he is introduced to simple sentences, and from this point to the end of Chapter LVI, the study of analysis and synthesis is carried on in connection with the treatment of the parts of speech until all the main elements of sentence-structure have been exemplified. Chapter LVII sums up, by way of review, the analytical processes with which the pupil has become familiar in the chapters which precede. With Chapter LIX a more detailed study of inflection begins. This continues through Chapter CXV, and includes all the important phenomena of English inflection, which are explained, not as isolated facts, but as means of expressing varieties of human thought. The explanations are made as simple as possible, and this very simplicity necessitates a somewhat fuller treatment than is usual in school Grammars. The paradigm of the verb has been much simplified by a careful discussion of verb-phrases. A number of notes in fine type deal with some of the more striking facts of Historical Grammar, and may be used by the teacher at his discretion to illustrate the true nature of the forms and constructions of which they treat. The study of this part of the book implies constant reviews of the earlier chapters. For convenience, the point at which such reviews may be advantageously made is indicated in footnotes, but the teacher will of course use his own judgment. In particular, it will be found desirable to continue practice in analysis, and for this purpose abundant material is contained in the exercises appended to the several chapters. A number of the more difficult syntactical questions are deferred until inflection has been mastered (see Chapters CXVI-CXLII). Their treatment at this point affords an opportunity for a thorough and systematic review of the structure of complex sentences. The Appendix contains a list of irregular verbs other material intended for reference. The lists of ular verbs may be used in connection with the lesso the preterite and the participles (pp. 204 ff.). These differ from those furnished by most Grammars in important particular: they contain only such forms a unquestionably correct in accordance with the best m prose usage. Experience has shown that the attem include in a single list rare, archaic, and poetical forms along with those habitually employed by the prose writers of the present day is confusing and misleading to the beginner.* Accordingly, such a and poetical forms as have to be mentioned are care separated from the forms regularly used in modern Exercises for practice are furnished in liberal me It is not intended that every pupil should necessarily through all these exercises. Each teacher is the best of precisely how much practice his pupils require. aim of the authors has been to provide such mater abundance and with due regard to variety. In the choice of technical terms, the authors hav ferred those names which are universally intelligibl have the authority of long-continued usage in all guages, to other terms which are scarcely seen outsi the covers of elementary English Grammars. Thu example, the term genitive has been preferred to poss One advantage of this plan is that it does not isola study of our own language from the study of foreig guages. Here again, however, the individual teache best judge of the needs of his pupils. Hence the native terms are regularly mentioned, and they m substituted without inconvenience. |