Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, by

BRADFORD FRAZEE,

In the office of the Clerk of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

STEREOTYPED BY

MOGRIDGE & M'CARTY.....PHILAD'A.

PRINTED BY

T. K. & P. G. COLLINS.

ADVERTISEMENT,

TO THE THIRD EDITION.

THE first Edition of this Grammar was issued a little less than a year ago; since which time, it has been revised and stereotyped. Such is the popular favor with which it has been received, that the second Edition is now exhausted; and the third demanded in less than twelve months after the first appearance of the book before the public.

It has been carefully corrected; and no pains have been spared to render it worthy of the popular favor which has been so cordially and generally extended to it.

The publishers have taken special care to have the book executed in a style well suited to the taste and interest of the age, and their efforts are highly appreciated by the public.

Philadelphia, 27th Dec., 1844.

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PREFACE.

A New Grammar of the English language, will, often withou examination, be pronounced, by the superficial grammarian, ɑ mere compilation; but those who are acquainted with modern philology; and those who understand the discrepancy between the present state of the science of practical grammar, and the most approved methods of instruction, are prepared to expect something more, from an author whom they judge capable of availing himself of the facilities offered, and of adapting them to the interests of education.

The work now offered to the public, is claimed as an improvement upon the grammars in use, in the following features, among

others.

1. The arrangement and distribution of the topics of Etymology and Syntax, render the subject strictly progressive and practical. The noun is first treated, because it is the only kind of words that make sense by themselves, hence, the only kind that a beginner can understand. The verb is the second part of speech treated. With the noun and verb, the pupil can form a proposition or sentence: then the pronoun-with the pronoun and verb, he can form a sentence; then the adjective, which adds an idea to the name or subject of the sentence; then the adverb, which adds an idea to the verb or affirmation of the sentence: then the preposition, &c. The doctrines of syntax are arranged on a similar plan. This arrangement is founded upon nature, and therefore philosophical. Every step the pupil takes in the subject, prepares him to understand the next, and immediately to combine it with what has gone before.

In syntax, only one rule is given on any one general principle, all the peculiar applications of the doctrine being included in notes or secondary rules under it. This plan places all the applications of a syntactical doctrine under the same head. The pupil is required to learn the rules, and practice upon them thoroughly, omitting the notes till the review. This plan, and method of instruction, avoid the confusion consequent upon teaching the great and leading application of a doctrine and its peculiar applications at the same time, and upon giving them the same rank and importance in syntax.

Particular pains have been taken to have every item distinct, and to avoid confounding or commingling the doctrines of different parts of grammar. When a doctrine of etymology is explained, upon which a syntactical doctrine is founded, the induction is immediately stated, and the doctrine or rule of syntax, educed and specified as such.

2. The science is simplified more than usual, without diluting it or rendering it puerile.

3. The definitions and rules are much more accurate and precise than in the grammars now in use. It is said by a large and very competent committee in the city of New York, that "There is scarcely any part of the popular grammars so open to criticism as the definitions and rules. They are too often loose, crude and incorrect. They are defective or redundant, inconsistent or contradictory, ambiguous or false. Definitions, like axioms, should be faultless, true and intelligible."*

In the composition of this work, the subject has been patiently investigated, for the purpose of attaining the strictest accuracy possible.

4. The scope of the syntax is commensurate with the language. I have collected all the correct syntactical doctrines of the grammars to which I have had access, and supplied some deficiencies found in all of them; and the whole has been

* See Report on English Grammar, of the Executive Committee of "The American Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge."