Page:The Grammar of the English Language.djvu/7

ence to syntax. This is not true of adverbs, adjectives, and common nouns, which are classes distinguished from each other by their syntactical use. The second lesson shows how to combine the ; single words of the first lesson with other single words, to. form sentences of the simplest structure. Thus, from the outset of these instructions, etymology and syntax are blended ; and the student is guided, through a natural and easy course, to a knowledge of both, and oi their -dependence on each other. A single lesson of ortho- graphy is introduced, at a point in the series where it is needed. With this exception, orthography and prosody are reserved for Book Second, in which the student will review all the ground passed over in these preparatory lessons, and will enlarge his knowledge, and combine the whole into a harmonious system. * This work aims at philosophical accuracy ; and also, especially in these preparatory lessons, at the_ greatest possible simplicity. . But in definitions and rules which are to be committed to memory, brevity and exactness are more needful than simplicity. Long and loose instructions may employ the time of a pupil to very little profit : but his labor will not be lost, if he store up in his mind brief and exact expressions of scientific truth, even though he may not at first understand their import. Their brevity makes it easy to remember them, and allows them to become familiar by frequent repetition. Whenx their meaning has been unfolded to the view of the inquiring student, and especially when he discovers their exact adaptedness to fill their proper place in the scientific system to which they belong, he learns the value of the acquisitions which he has made, and feels amply rewarded for his toil. These considerations have been kept in view, in preparing, the definitions and rules which are given in large type, and are to be committed to memory by the student. Some improvements in the science of English Grammar, have been attempted in this work. Of these, one of the most important respects the verb. Grammarians have, by combining different words, made conjugations of English verbs, nearly conformed to those of the L^tin language; but they have not directed sufficient attention to the elementary words which form these combinations. This failure is much to be regretted ; because it has kept from view the beautiful philosophy which governs these combinations, and