THE ESSENTIALS OF THE ENGLISH SENTENCE BY ELIAS J. MacEWAN, M.A. BOSTON, U.S. A. D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS 1900 HARVARD COLLAGE LIBRARY GRADUATE COLELE EDUCATION May 711920 COPYRIGHT, 1900 By D. C. HEATH & Co. Plimpton Press H. M. PLIMPTON & CO., PRINTERS & BINDERS, NORWOOD, MASS., U.S.A. PREFACE THIS book has been prepared for use in high schools, preparatory schools, academies, and such technical colleges as receive students directly from the common schools. The author has aimed to put before the learner those facts of the English language which are most essential as a preparation either for the further study of English in composition, rhetoric, and literature, or for the study of another language. Preparatory, therefore, to a full and adequate treatment of the structure of the English sentence, the real subject of the work, there is presented such an outline of the logical classification of words, of the simple system of English word-inflection and word-grouping, and of the most common principles of syntax, as will answer the purpose of a review. It is assumed that the student has already had a preliminary survey of the field of English grammar. In the discussion of the parts of speech, therefore, only the important facts are given, it being left to the teacher to supply fuller details and illustration as needed. discussing the structure of the sentence, the author has aimed to state facts and principles simply, clearly, accu In rately, and in methodical order, and to enforce the statement by abundance of illustration. The illustrations are partly made "off hand" and partly selected from reputable authors. All of the sentences used as exercises for parsing or for sentence analyses are selected from standard literature. Of colloquial and provincial usage no account has been taken. Teachers familiar with Whitney's Essentials of English Grammar will, in the following pages, be frequently reminded of that excellent book, though they will not see its purely inductive method. Positive, categorical statement of established elementary facts, with apt and abundant verification, is an economical method of reviewing as well as of communicating such facts; and to maturer students of the elementary facts of language, economy of time and effort is an important consideration. This method, therefore, prevails in the first part of the book. Professor Whitney's suggestion for a classification of moods and "verb phrases" analogous to moods has been adopted and expanded. Thus there is built up by means of verbs used only, or chiefly, as auxiliaries, a full scheme of conjugation, simple, natural, philosophical, and for the most part corresponding to the scheme of conjugation in other languages. As the chief purpose of this book is to make clear to those who have not studied other languages the struc ture of the sentence as it is used in modern English, no attempt has been made to show the history of constructions, nor to compare English constructions with those of other languages, although occasional hints are given. No constructive work has been suggested, nor have examples of the use of incorrect forms and faulty structure been offered for criticism. Constructive work will naturally follow in the study of composition and rhetoric; and the language heard in the classroom, in ordinary conversation, or used in the ordinary written exercises, will be likely to afford sufficient material for criticism and correction. The subjects discussed have been so presented as to keep the learner's attention upon the main facts of the English sentence, just as they are in themselves, unencumbered with the errors of careless writers, and with no reference to the analogies of other languages or divergencies from them. The usual method of indicating the relative importance of matter by type of varying size, and of showing the coördination and subordination of parts by an elaborate system of figuring, has not been followed. A prospective view of each section is given in the introductory charts and a review is afforded by the summaries at the close of each section. The page is made to show only fact, principle, and illustration as clearly, simply, and briefly as possible. A few matters of minor importance are added in footnotes. |