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NEW AND COMPREHENSIVE

Ꮐ Ꭱ Ꭺ Ꮇ Ꮇ Ꭺ Ꭱ

OF THE

ENGLISH LANGUAGE,

ARRANGED IN A POPULAR FORM,

WITH

NUMEROUS ANALYTICAL AND SYNTHETICAL ILLUSTRATIONS,

FOR THE

USE OF SCHOOLS AND PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS,

BY

THE REV. GEORGE KING.

Third Edition.

COVENTRY:

PUBLISHED BY G. R. AND F. W. KING, FLEET STREET;

LONDON: WHITTAKER AND CO., AVE MARIA LANE ;
LAW, SCHOOL LIBRARY, 131, FLEET STREET.

TO BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS.

1854.

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PREFACE.

THE Author of the following Treatise on the English Language, in again submitting it to the public, feels encouraged by the many gratifying Testimonials he has received of its utility, and appropriate adaptation to the object it has in view.

He has, in many instances, forsaken the beaten path, as too rugged and devious, and chosen one which appears more easy and proximate to a thorough acquaintance with a Language which is now acquiring a kind of ubiquity on the habitable globe.

"Quis jam locus,

Quæ regio in terris nostri non plena laboris ?"

Coventry, March, 1854.

ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

GRAMMAR instructs us in the analysis and composition of sentences.

English Grammar informs us of the English language in particular.

The English language is of Saxon origin, intermixed with derivations from the French, Latin, and Greek tongues.

It is now, perhaps, the most copious and eloquent of European languages.

English Grammar consists of four general divisions, viz.-ORTHOGRAPHY, ETYMOLOGY, SYNTAX, and PROSODY.

ORTHOGRAPHY.

ORTHOGRAPHY implies correct spelling; as such, it forms but a small part of a summary of Grammar. Language is a combination of words, systematically arranged.

Words are composed of letters, and may consist of one syllable, as eye, art, moss, straight; or of more than one, as art-ful, con-ju-gal, ef-fe-mi-nate. The letters of the Alphabet* are twenty-six in number, viz. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z.

The letters consist of vowels and consonants. The vowels are a, e, i, o, u; sometimes y is a vowel; then it is sounded like i.

* Alphabet is derived from the first two Greek letters, alpha, beta.

B

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