GRAMMAR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE; FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS. BY W. H. WELLS, M. A., Principal of the Putnam Free School, Newburyport, and President of the Essex Seventy-third Thousand. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT & CO. ANDOVER: WILLIAM H. WARDWELL. HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY FROM THE ESTATE OF Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, BY ALLEN, MORRILL & WARDWELL, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. PREFACE. A BRIEF notice of the circumstances under which the fol lowing work has been written, will afford a general idea of its prominent characteristics. About nine years since, while engaged in the instruction of a class of teachers, the author commenced a critical examination of several grammatical works, in connection with a systematic course of English reading. All the important principles of the language were familiarly discussed before the class. The definitions and rules of different grammarians were carefully compared with each other, and tested by constant reference to the usage of standard writers. In conducting the exercises of successive classes of teachers, a similar course has been repeated from year to year till the present time. The result of these labors is embodied in the work now offered to the public.* English Grammar is too often taught as if it were merely the art of parsing. It is hoped that instructors will find the present work adapted to teach "the art of speaking and writing." Copious exercises and illustrations have been introduced, and the learner is required to make constant application of the principles as he advances. *In pursuing this investigation, the author has collected between three and four hundred different treatises on English Grammar, and noted above eighteen thousand illustrative examples in the productions of the best English writers. The essay on Oral Instruction was prepared at the request of Henry Barnard, Esq., Commissioner of Public Schools for the State of Rhode Island, and first appeared as one of his series of Educational Tracts. The author's acknowledgments are due to Mr. J. M. Ordway, of Lowell, for important assistance in the preparation of the work; and to several other teachers and friends of education, for valuable suggestions during its progress through the press. W. H. W. Phillips Academy, 1846. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE NEW STEREOTYPE EDITION. THE publishers of the School Grammar having found it necessary to prepare new sets of stereotype plates for the work, the author has availed himself of the opportunity to introduce such improvements as have been suggested by the experience of practical teachers. The chapter on Analysis has been revised and enlarged with great care, and will be found to embody all the most important principles on this subject which are contained in the works of De Sacy, Andrews and Stoddard, Kühner, Crosby, and Crane. It is gratifying to observe that the attention of teachers is now so generally directed to this important mode of investigating the structure of our language, in connection with the ordinary exercises of etymological and syntactical parsing. The work has been divided into sections for convenience of reference, and the different sizes of type will be found to be more distinct than in previous editions. Andover, Oct., 1847. CATALOGUE OF ENGLISH GRAMMARS. [The catalogue here given embraces only those Grammars to which special reference is made in the pages of the following work.] Adams, Rev. Charles, A. M., 12mo, Boston; 1838. Alexander, Caleb, A. M., 10th ed., 12mo, Keene, N. H.; 1814. Balch, William S., 12mo, Boston; 1839. Baldwin, Edward, 2d ed., 18mo, London; 1824. Barrett, Solomon, 10th ed., 18mo, Utica; 1845. Bell, John, 12mo, Glasgow; 1769. Bicknell, Alexander, 12mo, London; 1790. Bingham, Caleb, A. M., 12th ed., 24mo, Boston; 1801. Brace, Joab, 18mo, Philadelphia; 1839. Brightland, John, 5th ed., 12mo, London; 1728. British Grammar, 12mo, London and Boston; 1784. Brittain, Rev. Lewis, 2d ed., London; 1790 Brown, Goold, stereotype ed., 12mo, New York; 1846. Buchanan, James, 12mo, London; 1767.- Philadelphia; 1792. Bullions, Peter, D. D., 15th ed., 12mo, New York; 1846. Burn, John, 7th ed., 18mo, Glasgow ;_1799. Burr, Jonathan, A. M. 3d ed., 18mo, Boston; 1818. Butler, Noble, A. M., 12mo, Louisville, Ky.; 1845. Cardell, William S., 3d ed., 18mo, Hartford; 1827. Chapin, Joel, 12mo, Springfield; 1842. Coar, Thomas, 12mo, London; 1796. Cobb, E., 2d ed., 12mo, Boston; 1821. Cobbett, William, 12mo, London; 1818.- New York; 1833. |