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TO THE NINTH EDITION.

THE eighth edition of this grammar received considerable alterations and additions: but work: of this nature admit of repeated improvements; and are, perhaps, never complete. The author, solicitous to render his book more worthy of the encouraging approbation bestowed on it by the public, ha again revised the work with care and attention. The new edition, he hopes will be found much improved. The additions, which are very considerable, are chiefly, such as are calculated, to expand the learner's views of the subject; to obviate objections; and to render the study of grammar both easy and inter esting. This edition contains also a new and enlarged system of parsing; copious lists of nouns arrunį; ed according to their gender and number; and many notes and observations, which serve to extend, or to explain, particular rules and positions.*

The writer is sensible that, after all his endeavours to elucidate the principles of the work, there are few of the divisions, arrangements, definitions, of rules, against which critical ingenuity cannot devise plausible objections. The subject is attended with so much intricacy, and admits of views so various, that it was not possible to render every part of ic exceptionable; or to accommodate the work, in all

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* The author conceives that the occasional stictures, dispersed through the book; and intended to Blustrate and upport a number of important grammatical points, wid not, to young persons of ingenuity, appear to be dry and esciess aiscussions. He is persuaded that, by such psora, they will be read with attention. And he presumes that these strictures will gratify their curiosity, stimulate application, and give se lity and permanence to their grana stival knee lodgewes

respects, to the opinions and prepossessions of every grammarian and teacher. If the author has adopted that system which, or the whole, is best suited to the nature of the subject, and conformable to the gentiments of the most judicious grammarians; if his reasonings and illustrations, respecting particular points, are founded on just principles, and the peculiarities of the English language; he has, perhaps, done all that could reasonably be expected iv a work of this nature; and he may warrantably indulge a hope, that the book will be still more exter sively approved and circulated.

MOLDGATE, NEAR YORK

ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

ENGLIS

NGLISH GRAMMAR is the art of speaking and writing the English language, with propriety. It is divided into four parts, viz. ORTHOGRAPHY, ETYMOLOGY, SYNTAX, and PROSODY.

This division may be rendered more intelligible to young minds, by observing, in other words, that Grammar treats first, of the form and sound of the letters, the combination of letters into syllables, and syllables into words, secondly, of the different sorts of words, their various modifications, and their derivation; thirdly, of the union and right order of words in the formation of a sentence; "and lastly, of the just pronunciation, and poetical construction of sentences. PART I.

ORTHOGRAPHY.

CHAPTER I.

OF THE LETTERS.

SECTION 1.Of the Nature of the Letters, and of a perfect Alphabet.

An articulate sound, is the sound of the human voice, formed by the organs of speech.

Orthography teaches the nature and powers of led ters, and the just method of spelling words.

A letter is the first principle, or least part, of a word.

The Letters of the English language, called the English Alphabet, are twenty-six in number

The following is a list of the Roman, Italick, and Old

English Characters.

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A perfect alphabet of the English language, and, indeed, of every other language, would contam a number A letters, precisely equal to the number of simple articu- late sounds belonging to the language. Every simple and would have its distinct character; and that charac er be the representative of no other sound. But this 's far from being the state of the English Alphabet. It has more original sounds than distinct significant letters; and, consequently, some of these letters are made to represent, rot one sound alone, but several sounds. This will appear by reflecting, that the sounds signified by the united letters , sh, ng, are elementary, and have no single appropri ate characters, in our alphabet; and that the letters a and # represent the different sounds heard in bat, hats, bels and in but, bull, mule.

To explain this subject more fully to the learners, we shall set down the characters made use of to represent all

elementary articulate sounds of our language, as nely ly in the manner and order of the present English alphabet, as the design of the subject will admit, and chall annex to each character the syllable or word, which cor tains its proper and distinct sound. And here it 535 proper to begin with the vowels.

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By this list it appears, that there are in the Lup zang dapė fourteen sitaple vowel sounds; but as i when pronounced loap, may be considered as diphtbus 2: iphthongal vowels, our anguage. strictly speaki

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