A grammar of the English language, in a series of letters...

Front matter

A GRAMMAR

OF THK

English Language,

Dedication

TO HER MOST GRACIQU«i MAJESTY,

QUEEN CAROLINE.

May it please your Majesty,

Introduction

North Hempstead, Long Island, Dec. 6, 1817. My dear Little James :

You have now arrived at the age of fourteen years without ever having been bidden, or even advised, to look into a book ; and all you know of reading or of writing you owe to your own unbiassed taste and choice. But, while you have lived unpersecuted by such importunities, you have had the very great advantage of being bred up under a roof beneath which no cards, no dice, no gaming, no senseless pastime of any description, ever found a place. In the absence of these, books naturally became your companions during some part of your time : you have read and have written, because you saw your elders read and write, just as you have learned to ride and hunt and shoot, to dig the beds in the garden, to trim the flowers and to prune the trees. The healthful exercise, and the pleasures, unmixed with fear, which you have derived from these sources, have given you " a sound mind in a sound body," and this, says an English writer, whose works you will by-and-by read, " is the greatest blessing that God can give to man."

It is true that this is a very great blessing ; but mere 1 soundness of mind, without any mental acquirements, is possessed by millions ; it is an ordinary possession ; and it gives a man no fair pretensions to merit, because he owes it to accident, and not to any thing done by himself. But knowledge, in any art or science, being always the fruit of observation, study, or practice, gives, in proportion to its extent and usefulness, the possessor a just claim to respect. We do, indeed, often see all the outward marks of respect bestowed upon persons merely because they are rich or powerful ; but these, while they are bestowed with pain, are received without pleasure. They drop from the tongue or beam from the features, but have no communication with the heart. They are not the voluntary offerings of admiration, or of gratitude ; but are extorted from the hopes, the fears, the anxieties, of poverty, of meanness, or of guilt. Nor is respect due to honesty, fidelity, or any such qualities; because dishonesty and perfidy are crimes. To entitle a man to respect, there must be something of his own doing, beyond the bounds of his well-known duties and obligations.

Therefore, being extremely desirous to see you, my dear James, an object of respect, I now call upon you to apply your mind to the acquiring of that kind of knowledge which is inseparable from an acquaintance with books ; for, though knowledge in every art and science is, if properly applied, worthy of praise in proportion to its extent and usefulness, there are some kinds of knowledge which are justly considered as of a superior order, not only because the possession of them is a proof of more than ordinary industry and talent, but because the application of them has naturally a more powerful influence in the affairs and on the condition of our friends, acquaintances, neighbors, and country. Blake, the Titchfield thatcher, who broke his leg into splinters in falling from a wheat-rick, was, on account of the knowledge which he possessed, beyond that of laborers in general, an object of respect ; but, in its degree, and in the feelings from which it arose, how different was that respect from the respect due to our excellent neighbor, Mr. Blundell, who restored the leg to perfect use, after six garrison and army surgeons had declared that it was impossible to preserve it, and that, if the leg were not cut off, the man must die within twenty-four hours ! It is probable that the time of Mr. Blundell was not, on this occasion, occupied more, altogether, than four days and four nights; yet, the effect was a great benefit to be enjoyed by Blake for probably thirty or forty years to come : and, while we must see that this benefit would necessarily extend itself to the whole of his numerous family, we must not overlook those feelings of pleasure which the cure would naturally produce amongst friends, acquaintances, and neighbors.

The respect due to the profession of the surgeon or physician is, however, of an order inferior to that which is due to the profession of the law ; for whether in the character of counsellor or of judge, here are required, not only uncommon industry, labor, and talent, in the acquirement of knowledge ; but the application of this knowledge in defending the property of the feeble or incautious against the attacks of the strong and the wiles of the crafty, in affording protection to innocence and securing punishment to guilt, has, in the affairs of men and on their condition in life, a much more extensive and powerful influence than can possibly arise from the application of surgical or medical knowledge.

To the functions of statesmen and legislators is due the highest respect which can be shown by man to anything human ; for, not only are the industry, labor, and talent requisite in the acquirement of knowledge, still greater and far greater here, than in the profession of the law ; but, of the application of this knowledge, the effects are so transcendent in point of magnitude as to place them beyond all the bounds of comparison. Here it is not individual persons with their families, friends, and neighbors that are affected ; but whole countries and communities. Here the matters to be discussed and decided on are peace or war, and the liberty or slavery, happiness or misery, of nations. Here a single instance of neglect, a single oversight, a single error, may load with calamity millions of men, and entail that calamity on a long series of future generations.

This is true enough ; but it is a remarkable fact that nearly all the efforts of legislators, political as well as ecclesiastical, have been of such a nature as to cause anything but respect for them. The historian Buckle shows that the great bulk of the enactments of legislators, since the beginning of history, have been conducive of results directly opposite to those for which they were intended ; that is, evil results ; and that the only beneficial legislation of modern times has consisted in the undoing of what previous legislators have done. So that, of all the personages in history, none, unhappily, are deserving of more profound contempt, or, at least, of less esteem, than precisely those very men who ought to have secured the greatest esteem, legislators. And all this, not because they were bad men, but because they were lacking in knowledge.

And if this is the case with law-makers of honest intentions, what shall we say of those execrable wretches, those deadly cancers on the body politic, who, on becoming members of a legislature, sell themselves, body and soul, to wealthy corporations? What shall we think of their influence on the progress and welfare of the people, whose interests they were elected to protect and to promote ? Such creatures lose not only the esteem of all honest men, but their own esteem, their self-esteem; they become contemptible, not only in their own eyes, but in the eyes of those who buy them; and as to the future, the hottest, deepest gulfs in hell are yawning for them !

As a contrast to Buckle's judgment of the great crowd of ignorant and consequently pernicious legislators, consider this remarkable statement which the same writer makes of the power and influence of one man of real knowledge : * ' Well may it be said of Adam Smith (author of * TJie Wealth of Nations '), and said too without fear of contradiction, that this solitary Scotchman has, by the publication of one single work, contributed more towards the happiness of man, than has been effected by the united abilities of all the statesmen and legislators of whom history has preserved an authentic account." — Hist, of Civilization, Yol I., p. 155.

But, my dear James, you will always bear in mind that as the degree and quality of our respect rise in proportion to the influence which the different branches of knowledge naturally have in the affairs and on the condition of men, so, in the cases of an imperfection in knowledge, or of neglect in its application, or of its perversion to bad purposes, all the feelings which are opposite to that of respect rise in the same proportion. To ignorant pretenders to surgery and medicine we award our contempt and scorn; on time-serving or treacherous counsellors, and on cruel or partial judges, we inflict our detestation and abhorrence; while, on rapacious, corrupt, perfidious, or tyrannical statesmen and legislators, the voice of human nature cries aloud for execration and vengeance.

The particular path of knowledge to be pursued by you will be of your own choosing ; but, as to knowledge connected with books, there is a step to be taken before you can fairly enter upon any path. In the immense field of this kb*d of knowledge, innumerable are the paths, and Grammar is the gate of entrance to them all. And if grammar is so useful in the attaining of knowledge, it is absolutely necessary in order to enable the possessor to communicate, by writing, that knowledge to others, without which communication the possession must be comparatively useless to himself in many cases, and, in almost all cases, to the rest of mankind.

The actions of men proceed frOm their thoughts. In order to obtain the cooperation, the concurrence, or the consent, of others, we must communicate our thoughts to them. The means of this communication are words; and grammar teaches us how to make use of words. Therefore, in all the ranks, degrees, and situations of life, a knowledge of the principles and rules of grammar must be useful; in some situations it must be necessary to the avoiding of really injurious errors; and in no situation, which calls on man to place his thoughts upon paper, can the possession of it fail to be a source of selfgratulation, or the want of it a cause of mortification and sorrow.

But, to the acquiring of this branch of knowledge, my dear son, there is one motive which, though it ought at all times, to be strongly felt, ought, at the present time, to be so felt in an extraordinary degree : I mean that desire which every man, and especially every young man, should entertain to be able to assert with effect the rights and liberties of his country. When you come to read the history of those laws of England by which the freedom of the people has been secured, and by which the happiness and power and glory of our famed and beloved country have been so greatly promoted ; when you come to read the history of the struggles of our forefathers, by which those sacred laws have, from time to time, been defended against despotic ambition ; by which they have been restored to vigor when on the eve of perishing ; by which their violators have never failed, in the end, to be made to feel the just vengeance of the people ; when you come to read the history of these struggles in the cause of freedom, you will find that tyranny has no enemy so formidable as the pen. And, while you will see with exultation the long-imprisoned, the heavily-fined, the banished William Prynne, returning to liberty, borne by the people from Southampton to London, over a road strewed with flowers ; then accusing, bringing to trial, and to the block, the tyrants from whose hands he and his country had unjustly and cruelly suffered; while your heart and the heart of every young man in the kingdom will bound with joy at the spectacle, you ought all to bear in mind that, without a knowledge of grammar, Mr. Prynne could never have performed any of those acts by which his name has been thus preserved, and which have caused his memory to be held in honor.

Though I have now said what, I am sure, will be more than sufficient to make you entertain a strong desire to take this first step in the road to literary knowledge. I cannot conclude this introductory letter without observing, that you ought to proceed in your study, not only with diligence, but with patience; that, if you meet with difficulties, you should bear in mind that, to enjoy the noble prospect from Port's-Down Hill, you had first to chmb slowly to the top; and that, if those difficulties gather about you and impede your way, you have only to call to your recollection any one of the many days that you have toiled through briers and brambles and bogs, cheered and urged on by the hope of at last finding and killing your game.

I have put my work into the form of Letters, in order that I might be continually reminded that I was addressing myself to persons who needed to be spoken to with great clearness. I have numbered the Letters themselves, and also tike paragraphs, in order that I might be able, in some parts of the work, to refer you to, or tell you where to look at, other parts of the work. And here I will just add, that a sentence, used as a term in Grammar, means one of those portions of words which are divided from the rest by a single dot, which is called a period, or full point; and that a paragraph means one of those collections, or blocks, of sentences which are divided from the rest of the work by beginning a new line a little further in than the lines in general ; and, of course, all this part, which I have just now written, beginning with "I have put my work into the form" is a paragraph.

In a confident reliance on your attentiveness, industry, and patience, I have a hope not less confident of seeing you a man of real learning, employing your time and talents in aiding the cause of truth and justice, in afford-

8 Definition of

ing protection to defenceless innocence, and in drawing down vengeance on lawless oppression ; and, in that hope, I am your happy, as well as affectionate, father,

WILLIAM COBBETT.

Letter III Definition Of Grammar, And Of Its Different Branches, Or Parts

1. In the foregoing Letter I have laid before you some of the inducements to the study of Grammar. In this I will define, or describe, the thing called Grammar ; and also its different Branches, or Parts.

2. Grammar, as I observed to you before, teaches us how to make use of words; that is to say, it teaches us how to make use of them in a proper manner, as I used to teach you how to sow and plant the beds in the garden ; for you could have thrown about seeds and stuck in plants of some sort or other, in some way or other, without any teaching of mine ; and so can anybody, without rules or instructions, put masses of words upon paper ; but to be able to choose the words which ought to be employed, and to place them where they ought to be placed, we must become acquainted with certain principles and rules; and these jDiinciples and rules constitute what is called Grammar.

3. Nor must you suppose, by-and-by, when you come to read about Nouns and Verbs and JProyiouns, that all this tends to nothing but mere ornamental learning; that it is not altogether necessary, and that people may write to be understood very well without it. This is not the case ; for, without a good deal of knowledge relative to these same Xouns and Verbs, those who write are never

Grammas and its Branches. 9

sure that they put upon paper what they mean to put upon paj)er. I shall, before the close of these Letters, show you that even very learned men have frequently written, and caused to be published, not only what they did not mean, but the very contrary of what they meant ; and if errors, such as are here spoken of, are sometimes committed by learned men, into what endless errors must those fall who have no knowledge of any principles or rules, by the observance of which the like may be avoided ! Grammar, perfectly understood, enables us not only to express our meaning fully and clearly, but so to express it as to enable us to defy the ingenuity of man to give to our words any other meaning than that which we ourselves intend them to express. This, therefore, is a science of substantial utility.

4. As to the different Branches or Parts of Grammar, they are fo ur; and they are thus named: Orthography, Prosody, Etymology, and Syntax.

5. There are two of these branches on which we have very little to say, and the names of which have been kept in use from an unwillingness to give up the practice of former times ; but, as it is usual to give them a place in books of this kind, I will explain to you the nature of all the four branches.

6. OETHOGEAPHT is a word made up of two Greek words, which mean spelling. The use of foreign words, in this manner, was introduced at the tima when the English language was in a very barbarous Jtate; and, though this use has been continued, it ought to be a rule with you, always, when you either write or speak, to avoid the use of any foreign or uncommon word, if you can express your meaning as fully and clearly by an English word in common use. However, Orthography means neither more nor less than the very humble business of putting letters together properly, so that they shall form icords. This is so very childish a concern that I will not appear to

1*

10 Definition of

suppose it necessary for me to dwell upon it; but as yon will, by-and-by, meet with some directions, under the head of Etymology- in which Vowels and Consonant* will be spoken of, I will here, for form's sake, just observe thai the letters, A. E. L 0. and XT, are VoweU. T. in certain cases, is also a VoweL All the rest of the letters of the aL::mmf: arf C:-\-s: : .:: m

Tim ■ ■ mry n-mmif ..msimsi " :: mfllim. I : — mm mm m: if passed over so lightly : for it is a subject of Terr great difficulty to many persons. It is notorious that many of oar ablest "RnoWaih authors were never able to spell or punctuate correctly, and that

:lf c :rrf ::m~ :: :mir rrimf i i ::m. in :im rfmf ::. :? mrmir mim:. Lniffi. if "77 zz:~ ; : z.: r r i :: :m : mmmmmm :. Tom Hood's witty but illiterate correspondent, who, on writing him a long letter without any points whatever, jotted them all down in a row at the end of his letter, and told him to "pepper and salt " as he pleased. It is the compositor that does the " pepi-frmz mi fmim " mi nm:i mm ::: m:m :■* "mimr :: mm pretensions.

The orthography of our English words, from their various derivation and the variety of sounds given to the letters of the alpha. im. imm'm-mnmf iiimm mm mm :: im — iris :: .7:7 im: z::t" ::::::: mi I mm :: mimm imf :m mm "if?: mi smmm — m :: immim ::. •:::::7:nu :'m :-:i::::"::: :: :m sentences — I mean by dictations. It is not necessary to have a :m;mr ::r im z zzrz. : m mm : :> ~m :-ii rmi : :m: ::_- ;m im tate to you. All you have to do is to write down the words and points that are slowly read to you from a book, and when you have written about a page, take the printed book and compare 7: zzz — :: Is mi :: mm mm m: s-f in im *:: : m. mi : ::n :: n: : miingry. This is the cure for all spenlng-ref orm nonsense. Write page after page to dictation, and you will soon find it all come very mmmi— 7 m ~iil ~ mifr m — --^j'::-: Lj : : n: f mr :imk :: mmim im — mis :'i::n^ :*_m :i: ~m mf7 .m smiim. ::!:-*- mm .'■. :.m~ if mfllfi mirrmm

The old method — stiH practiced in our public schools — of giving m: ::imm :: mrif mi ;-:m:r-::is:: if 57 /im. mri mand in writing, many of them such as may never be seen twice again in a lifetime, is of very little value; for it is disjointed, dry, mi mmm — mmrm ".7 :m:mim sm:mm i::n_ i i-; m. :_c

Grammar and its Branches. 11

scholar learns: 1st, to spell the words in common use; 2d, to spell words according to their meaning (there, their ; hair, hare ; pear, pair); 3d, to associate words with ideas, thus instinctively and imperceptibly learning their proper meaning and right use ; and, 4th, he acquires a feeling or taste for correct language ; words and sentences are impressed forcibly on his mind by hearing, seeing, and writing them. Besides, he learns in this way, better than in any other, a knowledge of punctuation, which in English is different with different writers ; in fact, every English writer has his own style of punctuating, for this is generally a matter of taste and feeling. In writing to dictation, the work done by the scholar is nearly the same as that done by the compositor, who is the best speller and punctuator in the world. Therefore, get somebody to dictate to you every day a page, or half a page, from a book, and you will, in a few months, acquire a better knowledge of orthography and punctuation than if you had spelled your way through a dozen spelling-books.

7. PROSODY is a word taken from the Greek language, and it means not so much as is expressed by the more common word PRONUNCIATION ; that is to say, the business of using the proper sound, and employing the due length of time, in the uttering of syllables and words. This is a matter, however, which ought not to occupy much of your attention, because pronunciation is learned as birds learn to chirp and sing. In some counties of England many words are pronounced in a manner different from that in which they are pronounced in other counties ; and between the pronunciation of Scotland and that of Hampshire the difference is very great indeed. But, while all inquiries into the causes of these differences are useless, and all attempts to remove them are vain, the differences are of very little real consequence. For instance, though the Scotch say coorn, the Londoner* cawn^ and the Hampshire folks earn, we know they all mean to say corn. Children will pronounce as their fathers and mothers pronounce; and if, in common conversation, or in speeches, the matter be good and judiciously arranged, the facts clearly stated, the arguments conclusive, the

12 Definition of

words well chosen and properly placed, hearers whose approbation is worth having will pay very little attention to the accent. In short, it is sense, and not sound, which is the object of your pursuit ; and, therefore, I have said enough about Prosody.

Here is a circumstance that suggests a by no means unfavorable commentary on the difference between the pronunciation of English in this country and in England : Mr. James Paul Cobbett, son of William Cobbett, has added to a late edition of this grammar, a sixteen-page chapter on pronunciation, pointing out the various classes of words commonly mispronounced by classes and counties of people in England. After carefully noting them all, I have come to the conclusion that the whole batch is utterly useless for our people, as I do not know of a single class of people in this country who make any one of the same mispronunciations. Many of the mistakes are, it is true, made here, too ; as, bood for bud ; doon for done ; aboove for above ; f ayther for father ; awch for arch ; glawss for glass ; but they are not made by classes of people ; they are, in fact, made by none but a few illiterate and pretentious people.

The most common mistake made by people in this country consists in misplacing the accent of words ; as, in-dus'-try for industry ; in-ter-est'-ing for in'-ter-est-ing. All these may be corrected by reference to the dictionary, in which the pronunciation of every word is properly marked. The stress of the voice always falls on that syllable having the accent-mark (') ; thus, per'-emp-to-ry, not per-emp'to-ry. I have read somewhere that, on one occasion, when Mr. Sumner's colleague in the Senate said he hoped that the honorable gentlemen would make an inquiry into some matter, Mr. Sumner whispered to him : "inquiry."

By-the-bye, there is one other mistake in pronunciation, which is very common among Americans, in the Eastern States at least, and that is pronouncing such words as new, dew, stew, as if they were written noo, doo, stoo. They must be pronounced like few and view. The same error is made in such words as duty, gratitude, where the u must be long, as in useful.

There is something else that usually comes under this heading. The Greek word prosodia means, literally, "belonging to song or hymn," and is usually employed to signify that part of grammar which treats of the rules of rhythm in metrical compositions. Cobbett, it is well known, had very little admiration for

Grammar and its Branches. 13

poetry, and no doubt considered it a waste of time to say anything about its laws ; but, though perhaps not one in a hundred of those who study this book will ever attempt to write poetry, every intelligent person ought to know something of its laws ; and I shall, therefore, at the end of the book, after more necessary matters have been mastered, attempt to show what a simple matter this is, as far as English is concerned.

8. ETYMOLOGY is a very different matter ; and, undei this head, you will enter on your study. This is a word which has been formed out of two Greek words ; and it means the pedigree or relationship of words, or, the manner in which one word grows out of, or comes from, another word. For instance, the word walk expresses an action, or movement, of our legs ; but, in some cases we say walks, in others walked, in others walking. These three latter words are all different from each other, and they all differ from the original word, v:alk; but the action or movement, expressed by each of the four, is precisely the same sort of action or movement, and the three latter words grow out of, or come from, the first. The words here mentioned differ from each other with regard to the letters of which they are composed. The difference is made in order to express differences as to the Persons who walk, as to the Number of persons, as to the Time of walking. You will come, by-and-by, to the principles and rules according to which the varying of the spelling of words is made to correspond with these and other differences; and these principles and rules constitute what is called Etymology.

9. SYNTAX is a word which comes from the Greek. It means, in that language, the joining of several things together; and, as used by grammarians, it means those principles and rules which teach us how to put words together so as to form sentences. It means, in short, sentence-making. Having been taught by the rules of Etymology what are the relationships of words, how words grow out of each other, how they are varied in their

14 Definition of Grammar ', etc.

letters in order to correspond with the variation in the circumstances to which they apply, Syntax will teach you how to give all your words their proper situations or places, when you come to put them together into sentences. And here you will have to do with points as well as with words. The points are four in number, the Comma, the Semi- Colon, the Colon, and the Period. Besides these points, there are certain marks, such as the mark of interrogation, for instance; and to use these points and marks properly is, as you will by-and-by find, a matter of very great importance.

10. I have now given you a description of Grammar, and of its separate Branches or Parts. I have shown you tha»t the first two of these Branches may be dismissed without any further notice ; but very different indeed is the case with regard to the latter two. Each of these will require several Letters ; and these Letters will contain matter which it will be impossible to understand without the greatest attention. You must read soberly and slowly, and you must think as you read. You must not hurry on from one Letter to another, as if you were reading a history ; but you must have patience to get, if possible, at a clear comprehension of one part of the subject before you proceed to another part. When I was studying the French language, the manner in which I proceeded was this: when I had attentively read over, three times, a lesson, or other division of my Grammar, I wrote the lesson down upon a loose sheet of paper. Then I read it again several times in my own hand-writing. Then I copied it, in a very plain hand, and without a blot, into a book, which I had made for the purpose. But if, in writing my lesson down on a loose sheet of paper, I committed one single error, however trifling, I used to tear the paper, and write the whole down again ; and, frequently, this occurred three or four times in the writing down of one lesson. I, at first, found this labor very irksome;