Table Of Content

GEFT OF Miss Sue Dunbar Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2008 witii funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation littp://www.arcliive.org/details/compreliensivegraOOenglricli / COMPREHENSIVE GRfMlAR OP THE ENGLISH LANaUAGE. FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS, BY SIMON KERL, A.M. "Pungarvice cotis, acutum Bedderequae ferrumvalet, exsorsipsa secandi." Horace. NEW YORK: PHINNEY, BLAKEMAN, AND MASON. BUFFALO: BREED, BUTLER & CO. 1861. C&^, /vv t^'. >2»V^ K E R L S ' SERIES OF ENGLISH GRAMMARS, — Kerl'§ Primary Eiig^lish Orammar. This little book isdesignedforbeginners, and as an introduction to the ComprehensiveGram- mar. Sincevarietyinhistext-booksonthesamesubject, alwayscauses a loss oftimeandlabortothelearner, thislittlework, excepting the last few pages, ismadeidentical, pageforpage, with thefirstpart ofthe largerGrrammar. It isalsomadeinaccordancewithwhatseemtobethelatestandbestopinionson the science of grammar and the art of teaching. 72 pp., 12mo, well bound. Price25cents. — KerIN Compretiensive £iiglish Orammar. This book isdesignedtobeathorough Practical Grammar,fortheuseofCommonScliools. Nearlyallthatitcontains beyondwhat thegenerality ofgrammars have, will benewanduseful. To its sections on Yebbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions, Parsing, Analysis, Versification, Punctuation, Capital Letters, Rhe- torical Figures, and FalseSyntax, particularattentionisdirected; andalso tothearrangementofmatter,andtothecopiousIllustrationsand Exercises 360pp., 12mo. Price75 cents. — Kerl's Treatise on tlie Eiiglasli L<anguage. This book isdesignedfortheuseofHigh-Schools, Colleges, and PrivateStudents. It will embrace, so far as practicable, the History, Etymology, Grammar, and Structure of the Language, withcopiousIllustrations and Critical Re- marks, anEssayon Composition, an EssayonDelivery, and a Collection ofSynonyms. Large8vo. {InPress.) Enteredaccordingto Act ofCongress, inthe year 1861, By SIMON KERL, IntheClerk'sOflaceoftheDistrictCourtoftheSouthernDistrictofNewYork. StereotypedbySmith&McDougal,82&84Beekman-street. J.M..Johnson. Printer^nd Binder,Buffalo,N.Y. ; PREFACE. ^^^ Iti3generallyadmitted, atleastbythosepersons whofrequentlyhaveocca- siontowritethe Englishlanguage, thattheknowledgeofthissubject, obtained inourschools, isnotsufficient forthe various requirements of life. In the fol- lowing pages wethereforeoffer to the public an English Grammarthat is do- signedtobo, forpracticalpurposes, more thoroughthananyotherwehaveseen, theverylargestnotexcepted. Initsmatter, itdoesnotdiffermuch fromothergrammars,exceptthatithas more,andthitmuchofitisfreshfromtheoriginalsourcesofthescience. What- everothershavewrittenonthe subject, Ihaveendeavoredtoascertain; though ItrustIhave treated themlesspiraticallyand censoriouslythanmost ofthem havetreatedtheirpredecessors. Theincidental remarkson grammar, made by reviewers, philologists, andotherwriters, havebeen diligentlysought and con- sidered. The best grammars of foreign languages have also been consulted, especiallythoseofBecker, Vivier, Andrews, Crosby, and Kiihner. Oftheexer- cises tobecorrected, about onehalf arethe best ofthosewhichform the com- mon inheritance of thescience; and forthe others I have read somework or worksfromeveryState inthe Union, in orderthat thebook mayshow all the variouskindsoferrorswhicharenowcurrent,likeundetectedcounterfeitmoney, inthevariouspartsof ourcountry. Ifchildrenimbibed noerrors at home, it were well to exclude such exercises from grammars: butwhenaperson has alreadycaughtadisease, I supposeitisbest to convince him ofhiscondition, andshowhimhowtogetridofit. Errorsinspelling, and errorsmanufactured bygrammarians, are ofcourse objectionable; buterrors that aregatheredfrom the usageofgoodwriters, areaverydifferent thing. Besides, parsingandan- alysis, when used alone, become too monotonous and wearisome, andhardly suffice toteach thecorrectuseofthelangua—ge. — Inregardtothearrangement of matter, an important item, I venture to claimforthebookasuperiority overeveryotherofitskind. It iswell known thatscienceandliteraturelanguished, untilBaconandShakespeareemancipated them fromthethralldomofancientopinions; and,asLatinGrammarswerefirst made, andEnglish Grammarsmodelledatl;erthem, thelatterhaveprobablysuf- feredfromasimilardominion. Alanguage thathas manyinflections, maywell have its etymologytaught as a separate branch; but a language, like ours, whoseactualinflectionsmight all be printed ontwo orthree pages, need—s no suchtreatment. Besides, wordshaveetymologybecausetheyhavesyntax the veryexistence of the oneimplying theother; and tostop with etymology, is toleavethe workhalffinished. Thegreateststicklerforseparatingthemin our language, hasfailed to d—raw the dividing line; and—much of the etymology taught in ourgrammars as in thecases of nouns is sheersyntax. Every teacherofexperience, too, musthaveobserved howwearisome topupilsisthe long desert ofetymology, before theysee itsapplication in syntax; and then theyoftendo notgetthefullbenefitof this, because theyhavebuta faint and confusedrecollection of theother. Moreover, bytheusual system, almost the wholegrammarmustbelearned beforeanypractical benefitis derived fromit and, aschildrenin manypartsofthecountrycan attend schoolonlya part of eachyear, theconsequence is, that theybegin theirgrammarfromyeartoyear, gettiredofitstechnicaljargon, and, finally, derivelittle benefitfromthestudy. 13ythearrangementinthistreatise, each section bears its own fruit, and will be, iflearned, ofpermanent value, whether any further progress is made or not. The book, too, can bemoreconvenientlyresumedatthebeginningofany section. M515998 IV PREFACE. Parsing and Analysishavenot onlybeen made full, but strippedof much superfluousmachinery. Doctrinesandclassificationshave,inmanyplaces,been simplifiedandabridged; andforsomeoftlieinsufficientarticlesinourgrammars havebeensubstitutedothers that are altogether more substantial. Thebook comprisesbothaPrimaryand a Higher Grrammar, and is, in thehighestsense, progressive and philosophical. It is built up byaregularsynthesisfrom the alphabettoVersification; thenfollowsthearticleonAnalysis, which relates to allthatprecedesit, and isoftheutmost importancetothenextandlastarticle, namely,Punctuation. Inothergrammars,mostofthedoctrineisprintedin small type,andtheexercisesareprinted inlarger. ThismaybemoreagreeaV)letothe teacher, but it is lesssotothelearner. I have giventhemainprinciplesfirst, inlargetype,andapartfrom theexamples thentheexercisesintypesufficiently large; and, lastly, the unimportant doctrin;e in smaller type,underthe head of. Observations, and at theendofeach section. The best modesoflearningand teachinghave been constantly kept in mind; but, ofcourse, no perfectly—sane teacherorlearnerwill imagine, that the grammar of a mightylanguage of a languagethatreachesintoeveryfibreofhumanknowledge,canbelearnedwith- outlabor,orin "sixlessons1" Afullpreface,explanatoryanddefensive, would requiremanypages. I thereforeleavethework,withoutfurtherremark, tothe candor,judgment, andresearchofthereader. TO TEACHERS. Sincealmosteveryteacherhas hisownviewsaboutteaching, it is probably needlesstoaddanysuggestions. Itmay beproper, however, tostate, that the pupilshouldlearn, of the irregular verbs, onlythose formswhich are in good present use, the others havingbeeninserted merely for reference. Theexer- cisesfrom p. 36top.44, should be usedconstantlywith the recitations on—the partsofspeech. Whilethepupilisengagedintheparsingexercises,pp. 47 57, itmaybewell for him to strengthen himselfbyreviewing several times what precedesthem. Thenumbersoverwords showthe RulesofSyntax. Thein- terrogation-pointsontheleftof paragraphsin Part Second, areused insteadof questions. Theyareasortofsubstitute forthepencil-marks ofteachers. The sectionontheDerivation ofWordsmaybeomitted,iftaughtinsomeotherbook. Fora fewofitsWords, thepupilwill have to consulthisdictionary. It would beauseful exercise for the pupil to copythe ^ntencesgiven as examplesin PartSecond. Hewouldthus learn tospell, topunctuate, tousecapital letters, andwouldbecomefamiliarwithallthevarioussentenceswhichmakelanguage. Theexercisesforcorrection, it is probably best for thepupil to writeoff cor- rected, andbringthemtoschoolasapart of his eveningtask. Ifthey be cor- rectedorally, I wouldrecommend that it be notdonewithtoomuch ceremony ormechanicalmannerism. Inthesentence, "Himandmeareofthesameage," fcoarsei,nssthaonucle,dbtheehpeuapinldm/,ayinsithmeplnyosmaiyn,at"iIvnecocrarseec,tb:eMcamusaend'Ame,pirnontoheunobujseecdtiavse thesubjectof afiniteverb, mustbe in thenominativecase.'" For additional examplesinanalysisandparsing, maybe usedthenumerous examplesfrom p. 257 totheend. ThesectiononAnalysis,thoughneartheend,shouldbestudied as soonaspossible,andreviewedfrequently. AKeytotheExerciseswill be furnished, if itshould befound necessary. Itwas mydesigntoaddan article on Composition, butasthisisnotnecessarilyapartofgrammar,andasitwould havemucherdargedthesizeofthe book,I haveomittedit. Shouldthepresent work be favorablyreceived, however, I mayadd, as a sequel to thisbook, a smallbutadequatetreatiseon Composition; so thatthetwobooks will make a courseofGrammar, Rhetoric andComposition.