Longmans' school grammar

Preface

" Longmans' Eevisecl School Grammar " is offered to teachers with confidence that it will win its way among those who are acquainted with modern methods of instruction in English. It contains all the essentials of grammar and analysis reduced to the simplest terms, avoiding useless rules and minute details, as well as encroachments upon the province of rhetoric.

The plan and scope of the work, the easy and gradual development of grammatical principles, and the abundance of exercises for practice, make it altogether a teachable book and a pleasure to the learner.

It will be found adapted to both graded and high schools. Teachers of the former may prefer to omit the introductory chapter on phonetics, while high-school teachers may pass from the introductory chapter to Part II. , omitting all of Part I. except, perhaps, the last few pages under " Review." In the ordinary school-room work, however, there will likely be found nothing superfluous in the book.

EDWARD A. ALLEN.

University of Missouri, April 23, 1897.

Introduction

ENGLISH SOUNDS.

When we speak of the English language as our native speech or mother tongue, the words language, speech, tongue, show that something spoken is meant. The articulate sounds that we combine in various ways to communicate our thoughts and feelings — these are the elements of speech. Letters are the elements, or smallest parts, of the written language, an artificial and imperfect mode of representing the sounds that make up the living speech.

The hundred thousand or more words in the English language of to-day are composed of less than 40 distinct elementary sounds, if we leave out such double sounds as ch (in ch urch = t -f sh), all diphthongs, which are made up of two vowel sounds, and the various delicate shades of sound which it would be impossible to take account of here.

These elementary sounds are : —

Vowels.

1. a (as in ah, baa, father, hearth, palm, haunt).

2. a (as in ask, fast, dance, demand, pass).

3. a (as in add, hat, have, palmetto, bade).

4. a (as in awe, all, haul, talk, broad, order).

5. a (as in bare, bear, air, heir, there).

6. a (as in fame, aim, they, feint, great).

7. e (as in met, said, many, friend, leopard).

8. e (as in mete, peace, fiend, key, pique, needle).

9. e (as in err, irksome, earth, hurt, bird).

10. i (as in ill, knit, abyss, been, busy, women).

11. o (as in odd, otter, what, yacht, wassail).

12. o (as in note, owe, sew, toe, soul, beau, boat).

13. oo (as in fool, rule, move, blew, true, rheum).

14. oo (as in foot, put, should, woman).

15. u (as in nut, study, done, rough, love, flood).

Diphthongs.

ai (=1 + 10) as in aisle, isle, style, ay, eye, buy. ou (— 1 + 13) as in mouths, how, houses, mouser. oi (= 4 + 10) as in oil, boil, boy. eu (= 8 + 13) as in feud, few, duty, Tuesday.

Consonants.

16. b (as in babe, babble, Babel).

ch (= t + sh) as in church, child, rich.

17. d (as in deed, dandy, dread).

18. f (as in fife, phantom, rough).

19. g (as in get, gimlet, ghastly, guard).

20. h (as in hark, harbor, heel).

j (= d + zh) as in jar, judge, gem, giant, soldier.

21. k (as in kin, cool, school, pique, car).

23. m (as in maim, mamma, mermaid).

24. n (as in noon, noun, nine).

25. ng (as in sing, singing, singer).

26. p (as in pipe, people, hiccough).

27. r (as in ripe, ripple, warrior).

28. s (as in sun, seal, acid, mice).

29. sh (as in shall, sure, ocean, chivalry, nation).

30. t (as in tattle, titter, taught).

31. th (as in thin, thigh, bath, breath).

32. th (as in thine, thy, bathe, breathe).

33. v (as in vain, over, of, Stephen).

34. w (as in water, wet, worse, woo).

wh (=hf w) as in what, where, when.

35. y (as in year, young, alien, union).

36. z (as in zeal, is, discern, Xerxes).

37. zh (as in azure, rouge, vision).

INTRODUCTION

All the elementary sounds in the language have now "been enumerated. Certain familiar characters are missing, but it will be found that the sounds indicated by them are noted in the scheme ; c, q, x, are useless letters and are omitted ; for the hard c is represented by k, the soft c by s ; q, always followed by u (qu), is equivalent to kw (quart), or to k (coquette) ; x is equivalent to ks (tax), or to gz (example), or to z (Xerxes). The soft g, as in gem, will be found noted under j, the sound of e in there under 5. a (bare), the sound of a in yacht under 11. o. 2. a (ask) is generally pronounced either as 1. a (ah), or as 3. a (at).

It is usual to class ch (child), j, and wh among the elementary sounds, but this classification is unscientific ; for ch = t + sh, j — d + zh, and wh = h + w (what), each a combination of simple sounds already .noted.

The difficulty of representing these sounds in writing arises from the imperfect nature of our alphabet, which, leaving out superfluous letters, contains only 23 signs for the 37 sounds. A perfect alphabet for our language, therefore, must needs have 37 letters or signs ; for in a perfect alphabet (1) every sound must have a separate sign, and (2) no sign should represent more than one sound. Now on almost any page of English may be found, for instance, six or seven varieties of vowel sounds represented by a, and, as is well known, the written character ou stands for so many different sounds that it is impossible to tell from the spelling how a proper name like Clough is to be pronounced. G-l-ou-gh really doesn't spell anything for certain, for it may have the vowel sound of ou in bough or borough or cough or hough (hock) or through or though or hiccough, etc.

Again, there are many ways of representing the long e sound : as in mete, meet, meat, mien, deceive, police, people, key, quay, Caesar, Phoebus, etc., in which the same sound is represented by the various signs : e, ee, ea, ie, ei, i, eo, ey, ay, ae, oe.

The long o sound, in the following words, is represented in 12 different ways : note, coat, door, bowl, soul, oh, toe, yeoman, owe, sew, hautboy, beau, in which o, oa, oo, ow, ou, oh, oe, eo, owe, ew, au, eau, all stand for the same sound.

It is evident from this what an imperfect system of soundsymbols we have in our English alphabet.

Make out a list of words showing other ways of indicating the sound of: —

1. a in father.

2. a in all.

3. a in fame.

4. e in met.

5. e in err.

6. i in ill.

7. u in nut.

8. u in rule.

9. eu in feud. 10. ai in aisle.

Make out a list of words shoiving other ways of indicating the sound of: —

1. fin fan.

2. g in get.

3. j in jar.

4. A; in kind.

5. s in sun.

6. s7i in sJiall.

7. sin zinc.

8. z in azure.

INTRODUCTION

Make out a list of words in which different sounds are represented by : — a.

e.

i.

o.

u.

ai.

ei.

ea.

oa.

ou.

Make out a list of words in which resented by : —

1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

ch. gt.

th.

s. z.

y-

gh. qu.

X.

Besides the variety of sounds indicated by the same letter, another defect in our system of spelling is, that in many words there are letters not pronounced, silent letters, and hence as useless as the dead branches of a rose-bush.

Examples of silent letters are :—

1. a in head, feather, earth, beauty.

2. e in have, goose, granite, vineyard, yeoman.

3. i in parliament.

4. o in leopard, jeopardy, journal.

6. b in debt, doubt, thumb, lamb, limb.

7. g in foreign, sovereign, gnat.

8. h in ghost, ghastly, burgh, stomach.

9. I in could, calm, calf, falcon.

11. s in aisle, isle, island.

12. w in whole, wholesome.

Point out the silent letters in

Make out a list of words containing the following silent letters : —

We now proceed to classify, for various purposes, the sounds of which our language is composed. They are really but a small part of the large number of sounds that go to make up human speech all the world over. One language often contains sounds unknown to another, difficult and sometimes impossible to acquire artificially, and hence a foreigner is, in nearly all cases, betrayed by his speech.

Vowels and Consonants.

Of the 37 sounds enumerated in the table, those produced by forcing the air from the lungs through an open mouthchannel, with no audible friction in the passage from the throat out, are called voioels (Latin vacates), vocals ; those that are obstructed, in their passage outward, by the tongue, palate, teeth, or lips, so that a more open sound is usually com-

INTR OD UCTION binecl with them for utterance, in the ordinary pitch of the voice, are called consonants (Latin con + sonantes, sounding with).

Now a little practice will show that these sounds vary, in their openness or closeness, all the way from open a in far to closed p in stop. It is not always easy to draw the line that separates vowels from consonants. The close vowels ee (see) and u (rule) touch the line from the side of the vowels ; h, r (err), to (wet), and y (yea) touch the line from the side of the consonants.

Vowels.

All the sounds from 1 to 15 inclusive, represented by a, e, i, o, u are classed as vowels. The letters to and y are sometimes used to represent vowel sounds, as in law, abyss.

Diphthongs.

When two vowel sounds are combined and pronounced in one syllable, they are classed as diphthongs (di, twice, and phthong, sound). More strictly, a diphthong is the combination of a full vowel sound with a vowel glide either before or after it. A glide is a slight transitional sound made in shifting from one sound to the next.

In ay the glide comes after the full vowel sound, a (ah) ; so in oil, the first element of which is a in all ; but in feud the glide comes before the full vowel, oo (fool). A glide is perceptible also in day, deign, danger, no, etc., but these are not usually classed as diphthongs. A distinction in pronunciation is made by many speakers between the sounds of the diphthong in nigh and night, and in house and houses. ' m

Vowels may be classified into

I. Long : a (ah), a (all), a (bare), a (fate), e (meet), e (err), o (note),

oo (fool).

Medial : a (ask).

Short : a (at), e (met), i (ill), o (not), oo (foot), u (nut).

Compare palm and palmetto, yawn and yonder, fool and full, feel and fill, etc.

These, again, may be classified, according to their position in the mouth, into

II. Front : a (al), a (bare), a (fate), e (meet), e (met), i (ill). Medial : a (ask).

Back : a (ah), a (all), e (err), o (note), o (not), oo (fool), oo (foot), u (hut).

Consonants.

The sounds in the table from 1G— 37 are classed as consonants. These may be roughly divided, according to the degree of closure or obstruction, into

I. Mutes (cfieckl or stopt sounds), sometimes called explosives, and

Fricdtircs (so called from the friction of the breath through a narrowed aperture) : —

Fricatives : f , v ; th (thin), th (then) ; ch, j ; S, z ; sh, zb ; wh, w ; m, n, ng, 1, r, h, y.

Or, according to the organs most prominent in producing them, into

Any such classification as this must needs be unsatisfactory. The position of k, for instance, depends upon the nature of the vowel pronounced with it. Practise kah, kay, key. The k in kah is made on the back palate, the k in key on the front palate. Compare rah (back) with rill (front), for r ; stuck and stick, skull and skill, for k ; owl and ill, for I ; gar and gimlet, for g. The back-palatals are sometimes called gutturals.

Another very important division of the consonants, to whatever series they may belong, is made according to the

INTRODUCTION presence or absence of tone, or resonance, or hum, produced by the vibration of the vocal chords in articulation, into

III. Surd (voiceless) and Sonant (voiced).

Surds : p, t, k, th (thin), ch, s, sh, f, hw, h.

If you sound eb, ed, eg, ej (= edge), etc., you will readily perceive a resonance that is entirely lacking in ep, et, eh, ech (= etch), etc., which are made by breath merely. Breath is converted into voice by the vibration of the vocal chords, two ligaments which lie across the windpipe. Care should be taken not to confound the sounds which the letters indicate with the names of the letters.

The voiceless and voiced consonants go in pairs : p and b ; t and d ; k and g ; th (thin) and th (then) ; ch and j ; s and z ; sh and zh ; f and v ; hw and w. Compare : —

Coat and goat ; lock and log ; time and dime ; seat and seed ; pear and bear ; cup and cub ; thigh and thy ; bath and bathe ; seal and zeal; rice and arise ; sure and azure ; church and judge ; rich and ridge ; fat and vat ; off and of ; while and wile ; which aud witch.

Nasals. — If in sounding b, d, g, the current of air is blocked, while free passage is left through the nose, the nasal sounds, m, n, ng, are produced : rah, rad, rag become ram, ran, rang. So when the nostrils are closed, as sometimes in case of bad cold, rang becomes rag, sun becomes sud, come becomes cub. " Come in out of the sun " sounds like " cub in out of the sud." "Who rang the bell?" like " who rag the bell?"

As the tongue is in the b position when m is sounded, b is very naturally sounded after m in many words in which it does not originally appear, as in num-b-er (Lat. numer-) ; num-b-[en] (Aug. Sax. numen, taken, captured by cold, for instance) ; hum-b-le-hee, from hum-le, the frequentative of hum, tim-b-er, etc.

In the same way d appears after n in many words, as in ten-d-er (Lat. tener-), cin-d-er (Lat. drier-) ; and in the speech of the illiterate as com-d-er, drovm-d-ed.

Surds and Sonants. — In word-formation it will be noticed that, as a rule, surd follows surd, and sonant follows sonant. We may write, for instance, Glasgow, where the surd s is followed by sonant g, but in rapid utterance we naturally pronounce it Glas-koiv. If we give s its corresponding sonant sound z, the pronunciation will be Glaz-gow. This law of consonant-affinity will explain why cup-board is pronounced cubberd, why cop-web has become cob-web. By this law, godsib became gossip, and wif-men became wimmen, then ivimen, now foolishly written women.

This assimilation of sounds takes place in the spoken language regardless of the spelling. In the plural of nouns ending in sonants, s will always have the sound of z ; compare locks and logs, seats and seeds, cups and cubs, truths and mouths.

In the past tense of weak verbs, after a surd, t will be sounded, but after sonant, d, it matters not how they may be written ; as, stop-t, look-t, bles-t, wish-t, bewitch-t, laugh-t ; but stab-d, lug-d, judg-d, breath-d, lov-d.

The letter u was formerly made like v, as vse (use) ; hence double u looks like double v. The old Runic character for th, when cut down, as it was, by copyists of MSS., resembles y ; as ye, the, yt, that, etc., but it should never be pronounced as y in ye.

Pronunciation of Words. — The English dictionaries aim at an approximately uniform standard of pronunciation. Absolute uniformity is a mere abstraction. In the pronunciation of many words usage varies greatly in the different countries where English is spoken, and even in different parts of the same country. The best English heard in London, Edinburg, Dublin, Boston, Richmond, Charleston, etc., varies considerably from one uniform standard. Conformity to the best usage in those places where the vernacular is acquired seems to be the only guide.