AN ENGLISH GRAMMAR FOR THE USE OF
HIGH SCHOOL, ACADEMY, AND COLLEGE CLASSES BY
W.M. BASKERVILL
PROFESSOR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE IN VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY NASHVILLE, TENN.
AND
J.W. SEWELL
OF THE FOGG HIGH SCHOOL, NASHVILLE, TENN.
1895
PREFACE.
Of making many English grammars there is no end; nor should there be till theoretical scholarship and actual practice are more happily wedded. In this field much valuable work has already been accomplished; but it has been done largely by workers accustomed to take the scholar's point of view, and their writings are addressed rather to trained minds than to immature learners. To find an advanced grammar unencumbered with hard words, abstruse thoughts, and difficult principles, is not altogether an easy matter. These things enhance the difficulty which an ordinary youth experiences in grasping and assimilating the facts of grammar, and create a distaste for the study. It is therefore the leading object of this book to be both as scholarly and as practical as possible. In it there is
an attempt to present grammatical facts as simply, and to lead the student to assimilate them as thoroughly, as possible, and at the
same time to do away with confusing difficulties as far as may be.
To attain these ends it is necessary to keep ever in the foreground the real basis of grammar; that is, good literature. Abundant quotations from standard authors have been given to show the student that he is dealing with the facts of the language, and not with the theories of grammarians. It is also suggested that in preparing written exercises the student use English classics instead of "making up" sentences. But it is not intended that the use of literary masterpieces for grammatical purposes should supplant or even interfere with their proper use and real value as works of art. It will, however, doubtless be found helpful to alternate the regular reading and
aesthetic study of literature with a grammatical study, so that, while the mind is being enriched and the artistic sense quickened, there may also be the useful acquisition of arousing a keen observation of all grammatical forms and usages. Now and then it has been deemed best to omit explanations, and to withhold personal preferences, in order that the student may, by actual contact with the sources of grammatical laws, discover for himself the better way in regarding given data. It is not the grammarian's business to "correct:" it is simply to record and to arrange the usages of language, and to point the way to the arbiters of usage in all disputed cases. Free expression within the lines of good usage should have widest range.
It has been our aim to make a grammar of as wide a scope as is consistent with the proper definition of the word. Therefore, in addition to recording and classifying the facts of language, we have endeavored to attain two other objects,--to cultivate mental skill and power, and to induce the student to prosecute further studies in this field. It is not supposable that in so delicate and difficult
an undertaking there should be an entire freedom from errors and oversights. We shall gratefully accept any assistance in helping to
correct mistakes.
Though endeavoring to get our material as much as possible at first hand, and to make an independent use of it, we desire to express our obligation to the following books and articles:--
Meiklejohn's "English Language," Longmans' "School Grammar," West's "English Grammar," Bain's "Higher English Grammar"
and "Composition Grammar," Sweet's "Primer of Spoken English" and "New English Grammar," etc., Hodgson's "Errors in the
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Use of English," Morris's "Elementary Lessons in Historical English Grammar," Lounsbury's "English Language," Champney's "History of English," Emerson's "History of the English Language," Kellner's "Historical Outlines of English Syntax," Earle's "English Prose," and Matzner's "Englische Grammatik." Allen's "Subjunctive Mood in English," Battler's articles on "Prepositions" in the "Anglia," and many other valuable papers, have also been helpful and suggestive.
We desire to express special thanks to Professor W.D. Mooney of Wall & Mooney's Battle-Ground Academy, Franklin, Tenn., for a critical examination of the first draft of the manuscript, and to Professor Jno. M. Webb of Webb Bros. School, Bell Buckle, Tenn., and Professor W.R. Garrett of the University of Nashville, for many valuable suggestions and helpful criticism.
W.M. BASKERVILL. J.W. SEWELL.
NASHVILLE, TENN., January, 1896. CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION
PART I.
THE PARTS OF SPEECH.
NOUNS. PRONOUNS. ADJECTIVES. ARTICLES.
VERBS AND VERBALS.. Verbs.
Verbals.
How To Parse Verbs And Verbals. ADVERBS.
CONJUNCTIONS. PREPOSITIONS..
WORDS THAT NEED WATCHING. INTERJECTIONS.
PART II.
ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES.
CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO FORM.
CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO NUMBER OF STATEMENTS. Simple Sentences.
Contracted Sentences. Complex Sentences. Compound Sentences.
PART III. SYNTAX
INTRODUCTORY. NOUNS. PRONOUNS. ADJECTIVES. ARTICLES.
VERBS.
INDIRECT DISCOURSE. VERBALS.
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INFINITIVES. ADVERBS. CONJUNCTIONS. PREPOSITIONS
INDEX
INTRODUCTION.
So many slighting remarks have been made of late on the use of teaching grammar as compared with teaching science, that it is plain the fact has been lost sight of that grammar is itself a science. The object we have, or should have, in teaching science, is not to fill a child's mind with a vast number of facts that may or may not prove useful to him hereafter, but to draw out and exercise his powers of observation, and to show him how to make use of what he observes.... And here the teacher of grammar has a great advantage over the teacher of other sciences, in that the facts he has to call attention to lie ready at hand for every pupil to observe without the use of apparatus of any kind while the use of them also lies within the personal experience of every one.--Dr Richard Morris.
The proper study of a language is an intellectual discipline of the highest order. If I except discussions on the comparative merits of
Popery and Protestantism, English grammar was the most important discipline of my boyhood.--John Tyndall.
INTRODUCTION.
What various opinions writers on English grammar have given in answer to the question, What is grammar? may be shown by the following--
Definitions of grammar.
English
