IV

DEFINITIONS IN GRAMMAR

"It is difficult to make perfectly accurate grammatical definitions, and still more difficult for a pupil to understand them accurately; but difficulties are not surmounted by being evaded."

Definitions are not the only means by which a knowledge of the import of language may be acquired nor by which the acquisition of knowledge may be aided. To point out things and tell their names constitutes a large part of the instruction by which the meaning of words is conveyed to the mind, and sometimes a mere change of terms sufficiently conveys an idea. Yet if we would guard against all possibility of misapprehension and show precisely the meaning of a word, we must define it.-GOOLD BROWN.

Elementary definitions however simple-or even incomplete-must be strictly true so far Nothing should be taught which in either method or matter shall ever need to be untaught.-JOYNES.

A loose definition of a class necessarily fails to meet the instances that arise; consequently easy cases alone are noticed, difficulties are slurred over, distinctions are confounded; in short, where explanation is most wanted, it is not forthcoming.-BAIN.

Definitions invariably follow the completion of the study of that which is defined.-W. T. HARRIS.

Although grammar is based on logic, there is no

subject of school study in which it is harder to frame logical definitions than in this. Indeed, the grammar definitions which are strictly logical are often hard to apply as tests of classification. To define a noun as a name is not logical, since the basis of classification for parts of speech is the relation which the word holds in the sentence. Yet no definition based on logical relationships can be given which children can easily use in selecting the nouns of a given sentence.

A definition that seems labored and confusing, even if it is true, has little educative value. An elderly lady once said that she had remembered for sixty years the definition of a common noun as she learned it from Murray's grammar: "A common noun stands for kinds containing many sorts and for sorts containing many individuals under them." But she could not remember that she ever attached any particular meaning to the phrases which she had thus committed to

memory.

The difficulty of framing grammatical definitions that are wholly satisfactory is plainly illustrated by the failures and disagreements of the text-books in trying to tell just what is meant by case, number, mood, etc. It is far easier to see the difference between "book' and "books" and to call these forms singular and plural, than it is to decide whether number is “that property of", or "that change of form which," or "the distinction between," etc.

The explanations of grammatical terms for elementary classes should record what needs to be understood at

this stage of the teaching. Fuller understanding and more logical definitions will follow later. The early definitions should, however, be consistent with what is to follow. Thus, to use the words of another * "That a pronoun stands for a noun is true, but not 'to avoid repetition of a noun,' which is only true in certain instances and is incidental to the real character of pronouns.

Definitions are the highest and most difficult department of science. There can be successful classification of words and clear recognition of their grammatical forms with very few definitions of technical terms. The grammatical work of very elementary classes should be somewhat broadly done. Yet enough of technical grammar can be given to children's classes to serve as a basis for the very large amount of practice work which is needed to lead the child to speak and write correctly, and also to know the reason why the forms he is taught to use are the correct ones.

By advanced students of English finer and more numerous distinctions should be drawn. In this maturer stage of the study the student should form for himself, by careful examination of the language'as he knows it, logical definitions of the grammatical terms that he uses. The most éducative part of grammar study will lie in this line.

Yet it is the work of making the definition that is chiefly of value, rather than the definition itself after

*Prof. E. S. Joynes, of South Carolina College.

it has been made. With the successful accomplishment of the effort there is little further need of the definition as a test for classification. It has done its work for the student, and may now for the most part be safely pigeon-holed or laid upon the shelf.

"Ah, it's me," said Mr. Squeers, "and me's the first person singular, nominative case, agreeing with the verb it's and governed by Squeers understood, as a acorn, a hour."DICKENS.

Since the English Language was not made to parse, it is not necessary that we should subordinate any of our idioms to parsing.-SNoddy.

A sentence is a living thing, and all analysis is, in a way, an insult to it.-LEWIS.

If a noble sentiment clearly expressed and of literary beauty is needlessly subjected to grammatical analysis, that is pedagogical crime; but if an obscure passage is being cleared up by patient analytic process, that may be the best teaching possible.-BARBOUR.

The pupil who is taught to separate a sentence into its elements is learning to analyze thought, and consequently to think. — PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION OF GREEN'S ENGLISH ANALYSIS.

The intelligent analysis of English sentences is really an analysis of the processes of thought there expressed. This discipline is fundamental and of the highest value; it sharpens the student's power of insight and discrimination, and helps him directly in every department of his work.-TOL

MAN.

Analysis should be confined to simple sentences until these are thoroughly familiar.-JOYNES.