School Grammar

Excerpt from School Grammar

Consider for a moment what grammar is. It is the most elementary part of logic. It is the beginning of the analysis of the thinking process. The principles and rules of grammar are the means by which the forms of language are made to correspond with the universal forms of thought. The distinctions between the various parts of speech, between the cases of nouns, the moods and tenses of verbs, the functions of participles, are distinctions in thought, not merely in words. Single nouns and verbs express objects and events, many of which can be cognized by the senses: but the modes of putting nouns and verbs together, express the relations of objects and events, which can be cognized only by the intellect; and each different mode corresponds to a different relation. The structure of every sentence is a lesson in logic. - John Stuart Mill.

In the passage quoted above, the value of grammar as a disciplinary study is fully set forth. Its practical uses, as distinguished from pure intellectual gymnastic, are to give the student practice in comprehending thought when expressed in language, and to enable him to express correctly and clearly his own experiences and thoughts. These three uses of grammar - as an intellectual discipline, as a key to unlock the meaning of sentences, and as furnishing the rules for correct expression - have been constantly kept in view in writing this book.

The name, "Advanced Lessons in English Grammar," is employed, because the work embraces all the theory and all the practice that are, necessary during the last two years of a Grammar School, or throughout a High School, course. It is intended to serve two purposes: first, that of a text-book, supplying the principles and rules of the science, as well as their application in copious exercises; second, that of a book of reference, to be used whenever difficulties are presented either in the student's own compositions, or in literature that is subjected to critical study.

In the first fifty-eight pages, a bird's-eye view is given of the parts of speech and of the construction of the English sentence.

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