Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1839, BY SMITH B. GOODENOW, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Maine. A. SHIRLEY, PRINTER, No. 47, Exchange Street, Portland, PREFACE. WHEN a new work is thrown upon the world, it is rightly expected of the projector, to show that there is need of such an addition to the mass of matter already in print. We will, therefore, introduce this book to the public, by mentioning a few of the important defects, which exist in the prevailing systems of English Grammar, and which render a new attempt upon this already hackneyed subject, at least excusable. Our limits will allow us barely to mention these defects, referring the reader, for further remarks, to the appendix. 1. The prevailing systems contain many erroneous principles, which serve to disgust the scholar, and which increase the difficulty, while they diminish the usefulness of the study. Such are the following:-that Grammar is a mere art;-that such nouns as love, blessedness, &c. are common; that in the sentence, "What is there here?" there is an adverb of place; that in the sentence, "Whom the coat fits, let him put it on," him is antecedent to whom ;—that you is always plural;—that a noun may be of the first person;-that nouns connected by and, always require a plural verb; that there are three, and only three, distinctions in regard to sex ;—that a is never to be used before a vowel, and an never before a consonant ;-that first, second, &c. are numerals ;—that the positive is a degree of comparison;-that an adverb forms part of an adjective;—that the participle is not a mode or manner of representing the verb;-that in the expressions, "He goes," "If he goes," the verb, although of the same form and meaning, is of different modes, that a verb may be, at the same time, of two modes; as "If I could go ;"-that tenses are merely distinctions of time, and therefore, there are six divisions of time;-that the imperative, infinitive, and participial modes, have distinctions of time; that the potential mode has no futures;-that shall and will are always indicative;—that as, and other such conjunctions, show opposition of meaning;-that the subject of a verb always consists of a single word;-that there are but three cases or relations of substantives;—that the case independent is always of the second person;-that ours, yours, &c. are possessive cases;-that the possessive case is governed by 84617 |