THE RAMMAR, HISTORY, AND DERIVATION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE WITH CHAPTERS ON PARSING, ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES, AND PROSODY BY THE REV. CANON DANIEL, M.A. PRINCIPAL OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY'S TRAINING COLLEGE, BATTERSEA D3 PREFACE. IT IS COMMONLY ASSUMED that Grammar is a purely verbal science, in which the student is mainly occupied in learning definitions, paradigms, and rules of syntax, and that it is, consequently, far inferior as an instrument of mental discipline to natural history and experimental science. The mode in which it has been too frequently taught gives some colour to this view; but, rightly taught, grammar is as much a real study as botany or chemistry. Words are things, as well as the symbols of things, and are subject to definite natural laws-to laws of growth and decay, to laws of inflexion and syntax, to laws affecting their signification. The study of these laws affords room for just the same sort of independent effort as the study of physical science. The facts of language are still where the grammarian originally found them, and the learner may, under proper direction, find them for himself, classify them for himself, and reason from them for himself. It is obvious, therefore, that grammar affords room for original observation, for generalization, for induction and deduction, and that if it were taught in this scientific spirit, its value as a formative study would be very high. The distinguishing feature of this Grammar is set 113 |