ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. THIS Grammar was originally designed for, and till lately had been confined to the School of which the Editor has the superintendence; but during the last year and a half it has been used in an eminent Proprietary Grammar School near the Metropolis, at the request of an old and much-valued friend of the Editor, a proprietor and director of the same. The flattering acknowledgment of usefulness which it has there received, encourages him, on committing it again to the press, to offer it to the notice of the public, in the hope that, whatever merit it may possess in assisting the labours of either tutor or pupil, it may have the opportunity of a proportionate circulation. Free Grammar School of Queen Elizabeth, A third impression being now called for, the Editor takes the opportunity of repeating that his original design was only to present to the learner, as he thought in a more convenient form, the substance of the Eton Grammar, that being preferred chiefly because most of his pupils, who came from other schools, had been used to it. This he hoped to effect by placing before him one entire subject, or portion of a subject, and no more, at the turn of every leaf, and by enlisting the eye, as far as was possible, in the service of the memory, as in the Rules for Gender given in English, and those of Government (pages 10 and 50), where the position of a class of nouns indicates the gender, and of verbs or adjectives the case governed. In other places (as in pages 34, 35, and Prosody) it has been his aim, by a tabular arrangement, to enable the learner at a glance to distinguish the irregular exception from the general rule, and to fix that distinction on the mind, as far as it could be effected by typographical aid. While, however, the wants of younger boys were so far consulted, more seemed to be required for others of advanced age and attainments, which has been supplied in the Notes, and the short system of Grammatical and Rhetorical Figures. Successive deviations in form, and supplements in matter, have indeed given to the book a new character, for which the Author's only apology is, that in endeavouring to make it more complete, he has been equally anxious to add as little as possible to the labour of the young scholar, to whom, at best, so much grammatical toil is necessary and unavoidable. Lecture House, Dedham, June, 1844. The Examples of the Eton Syntax arranged as a first construing lesson. The Syntax in English, with the Examples translated. The principal Rules in Latin, to be construed and committed to memory A PREPARATORY OUTLINE OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR. THE English alphabet consists of twenty-six letters: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z. The Latin alphabet has only twenty-four letters, which are the same as the above, omitting k and w. These letters are divided into VOWELS and CONSONANTS. The VOWELS are a, e, i, o, u, and y; and they are distinguished by their making a complete sound by themselves. The CONSONANTS are the remaining letters, which cannot be sounded without some movement of the tongue or lips, nor without the help of a vowel. l, m, n, r, which are called liquids. CONSONANTS are) j, x, z, which being equivalent to dg, cs, and ds, respectively, are of three kinds: called double letters. the remaining letters, which are called mutes. In English y and w are considered vowels when they happen in the middle of a word, as in the words towel, voyage, royal. In Latin k, y, z, occur only in words of Greek extraction. A SYLLABLE is a distinct sound of one or more letters pronounced in a breath, as, dog, see, run, a-muse-ment, un-der-stand-ing. Every syllable must have at least one vowel in it. Words of one syllable only are called monosyllables. Words of two syllables are called dissyllables. Words of three syllables are called trisyllables. Words of more than three are called polysyllables, that is many-syllabled. A DIPHTHONG is the sound of two vowels in one syllable, as ou in the word mouse, and oi in the words oil, rejoice, and au in the word author. LATIN DIPHTHONGS are five in number; namely, au, eu, ei, ae, oe. The last two, ae and oe, are commonly pronounced as the single vowel e, and are generally joined together and written thus, Æ œ, E o, as in the Latin words muse and cœna. There are nine different kinds of words, which are called parts of speech: A NOUN SUBSTANTIVE, a PRONOUN, and a VERB, which are declined both in Eng lish and Latin, that is, admit of a change in their ending. A NOUN ADJECTIVE, and a PARTICIPLE, which are declined only in Latin. An ADVERB, CONJUNCTION, PREPOSITION, and INTERJECTION, which are not declined in either language. OF A NOUN. A NOUN is simply the name of any thing, person, or being, we see or speak of; as, man, book, courage, red, yellow, grand. Nouns are of two kinds, Nouns-Substantive and Nouns-Adjective. + B |