An English Grammar
FOR THE USE OF
HIGH SCHOOL, ACADEMY, AND COLLEGE CLASSES
PROFESSOR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE IN VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY NASHVILLE, TENN.
OF THE FOGG HIGH SCHOOL, NASHVILLE, TENN.
1895
Of making many English grammars there is no end; nor should there be till theoretical scholarship and actual practice are more happily wedded. In this field much valuable work has already been accomplished; but it has been done largely by workers accustomed to take the scholar's point of view, and their writings are addressed rather to trained minds than to immature learners. To find an advanced grammar unencumbered with hard words, abstruse thoughts, and difficult principles, is not altogether an easy matter. These things enhance the difficulty which an ordinary youth experiences in grasping and assimilating the facts of grammar, and create a distaste for the study. It is therefore the leading object of this book to be both as scholarly and as practical as possible. In it there is an attempt to present grammatical facts as simply, and to lead the student to assimilate them as thoroughly, as possible, and at the same time to do away with confusing difficulties as far as may be.
To attain these ends it is necessary to keep ever in the foreground the real basis of grammar ; that is, good literature. Abundant quotations from standard authors have been given to show the student that he is dealing with the facts of the language, and not with the theories of grammarians. It is also suggested that in preparing written exercises the student use English classics instead of making up sentences. But it is not intended that the use of literary masterpieces for grammatical purposes should supplant or even interfere with their proper use and real value as works of art. It will, however, doubtless be found helpful to alternate the regular reading and æsthetic study of literature with a grammatical study, so that, while the mind is being enriched and the artistic sense quickened, there may also be the useful acquisition of arousing a keen observation of all grammatical forms and usages. Now and then it has been deemed best to omit explanations, and to withhold personal preferences, in order that the student may, by actual contact with the sources of grammatical laws, discover for himself the better way in regarding given data. It is not the grammarian's business to correct: it is simply to record and to arrange the usages of language, and to point the way to the arbiters of usage in all disputed cases. Free expression within the lines of good usage should have widest range.
William Malone Baskervill
James Witt Sewell
---
W.M. BASKERVILL
AND
J.W. SEWELL
Exercises.
Exercise.
I. Gender shown by Prefixes.
II. Gender shown by Suffixes.
III. Gender shown by Different Words.
Personification.
NUMBER.
II. Plurals formed by Vowel Change.
III. Plurals formed by Adding -s or -es.
Special Lists.
Exercise.
CASE.
I. Uses of the Nominative.
Exercise.
II. Uses of the Objective.
Exercise.
III. Uses of the Possessive.
Case Inflection.
Special Remarks on the Possessive Case.
Exercises.
HOW TO PARSE NOUNS.
MODEL FOR PARSING.
Exercise.
PERSONAL PRONOUNS..
FORMS OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS.
Remarks on These Forms.
II. The Possessive.
III. The Objective.
SPECIAL USES OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS.
REFLEXIVE OR COMPOUND PERSONAL PRONOUNS.
INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS.
DECLENSION OF INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS.
RELATIVE PRONOUNS.
REMARKS ON THE RELATIVE PRONOUNS.
DECLENSION OF RELATIVE PRONOUNS.
HOW TO PARSE RELATIVES.
Exercise.
INDEFINITE RELATIVES.
OTHER WORDS USED AS RELATIVES.
PRONOUNS IN INDIRECT QUESTIONS.
OMISSION OF THE RELATIVES.
ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS.
DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS
Exercises.
DISTRIBUTIVE PRONOUNS.
NUMERAL PRONOUNS.
INDEFINITE PRONOUNS.
HOW TO PARSE PRONOUNS.
Exercise.
DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVES.
Exercises.
ADJECTIVES OF QUANTITY.
DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES.
PRONOMINAL ADJECTIVES.
INFLECTIONS OF ADJECTIVES.
COMPARISON.
Remarks on Irregular Adjectives.
CAUTION FOR ANALYZING OR PARSING.
Exercise.
ADVERBS USED AS ADJECTIVES.
HOW TO PARSE ADJECTIVES.
Exercise.
USES OF THE DEFINITE ARTICLE.
USES OF THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE.
HOW TO PARSE ARTICLES.
Exercise.
Exercises.
VOICE, ACTIVE AND PASSIVE.
MOOD.
INDICATIVE MOOD.
SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
II. A Contingent Declaration or Question.
STUDY OF CONDITIONAL SENTENCES.
Exercise.
II. Subjunctive of Purpose.
III. Subjunctive of Result.
IV. In Temporal Clauses.
V. In Indirect Questions.
VI. Expressing a Wish.
VII. In a Noun Clause.
VIII. Concessive Clauses.
Prevalence of the Subjunctive Mood.
IMPERATIVE MOOD.
TENSE.
PERSON AND NUMBER.
CONJUGATION.
Indicative Mood.
Subjunctive Mood.
Imperative Mood.
Indicative Mood.
Subjunctive Mood.
Imperative Mood.
ACTIVE VOICE.
PASSIVE VOICE.
VERBS CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO FORM.
Remarks on Certain Verb Forms.
DEFECTIVE STRONG VERBS.
Some Troublesome Verbs.
Exercise.
PARTICIPLES.
Exercise.
INFINITIVES.
GERUNDS.
Exercise.
I. VERBS.
II. VERB PHRASES.
III. VERBALS.
Exercise.
ADVERBS CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO MEANING.
ADVERBS CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO USE.
COMPARISON OF ADVERBS.
Exercise.
HOW TO PARSE ADVERBS.
Exercise.
COÖRDINATE CONJUNCTIONS.
SUBORDINATE CONJUNCTIONS.
Exercises.
SPECIAL REMARKS.
Exercise.
CLASSES OF PREPOSITIONS.
PREPOSITIONS OF PLACE.
PREPOSITIONS OF TIME.
EXCLUSION OR SEPARATION.
MISCELLANEOUS PREPOSITIONS.
At.
From.
Of.
On, Upon.
To.
With.
HOW TO PARSE PREPOSITIONS.
Exercises.
WHAT.
BUT.
AS.
LIKE.
Exercise.
ELEMENTS OF THE SIMPLE SENTENCE.
Things used as Subject.
Things used as Direct Object.
Things used as Complement.
II. Modifiers of the Predicate.
Exercises.
Compound Subject, Compound Predicate, etc.
Logical Subject and Logical Predicate.
Independent Elements of the Sentence.
PARTICIPLES AND PARTICIPIAL PHRASES.
INFINITIVES AND INFINITIVE PHRASES.
OUTLINE OF ANALYSIS.
CLAUSES.
Exercise.
Adjective Clauses.
Exercise.
ANALYZING COMPLEX SENTENCES.
OUTLINE
Exercises.
Exercise.
OUTLINE FOR ANALYZING COMPOUND SENTENCES.
Exercise.
Exercise.
Exercise.
II. POSSESSIVE FORMS.
RELATIVE PRONOUNS.
Exercise.
II. RELATIVE AND ANTECEDENT.
III. OMISSION OF THE RELATIVE.
V. MISUSE OF RELATIVE PRONOUNS.
Exercise.
Exercise.
ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS.
AGREEMENT OF ADJECTIVES WITH NOUNS.
COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE FORMS.
Exercise.
CONCORD OF VERB AND SUBJECT IN NUMBER.
Exercise.
Exercise.
Exercise.
Exercise.
USE OF DOUBLE NEGATIVES.
Exercise.
Exercise.
Exercise.
LIST I.
LIST II.
LIST III.