A MANUAL OF THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND LANGUAGE FOR SELF-HELP. BY LUCY TOULMIN SMITH. WARD, LOCK AND CO. [All rights reserved.] 30276.6. PREFACE. THE following chapters* were originally written several years ago for the pages of a serial which was designed for the benefit of those who wish to supplement an education cut short by lack of time, or through other circumstances deficient. While, therefore, specially intended for self-instruction, the endeavour to set forth the subject plainly and clearly has not been allowed to interfere with such a treatment as should excite an interest in the wider study of language. This little volume cannot lay claim to originality, but in its compilation I have kept in view the historic method taught by the Germans and so ably expounded in this country by Dr. Richard Morris and Dr. J. A. Murray. Grammar is too frequently taught as a dry marshalling of definitions and exceptions, with a lifeless analysis of sentences. The historic method animates it with the spirit of the living language, which has had a past where must be sought the sources of present facts, which is still growing and changing, and which will assuredly alter in the future. To those who study grammar in this light, language being a thing of human growth, the anomalies, absurdities, and inconsistencies of English, so often complained of, present no obstacle. The main facts are fixed and assured; for the accessories, confidence is given that a reason for every divergence from apparent rule will be found as further knowledge is acquired. A new interest is given to what used to be considered a purely intellectual exercise. I have thus endeavoured first to enlist the learner's sympathy in the natural history of the language before classifying the words. And secondly, when he has got the outline of the salient facts of speech, he will turn back upon the symbols and learn something of the power of letters, the physiology of sounds, and * Reprinted from The Universal Instructor, published by Messrs. Ward, Lock & Co. |