AN INITIATORY GRAMMAR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, WITH NUMEROUS EXERCISES. BY JOHN MILLEN, TEACHER OF ENGLISH, GEORGE SQUARE, GLASGOW. PREFACE. THIS little treatise on English Grammar makes no pretensions to originality. Part First treats of the subject under the usual divisions, namely, Orthography, Etymology, and Syntax, and gives some general rules or principles for the formation of one part of speech from another-a branch of the subject which is but little attended to in most elementary books on English Grammar, although extensively employed in Latin and Greek initiatory works. The application of these principles to the study of our own language, will, it is hoped, be deemed an improvement by the intelligent Teacher. Part Second contains a series of Questions, and a variety of other Exercises, designed to impress more deeply on the mind of the pupil the information contained in Part First, and also to lead him gradually from a knowledge of single words to the important art of forming sentences. He will thus be aided in his first attempts at Composition, and be prepared to enter upon the study of such other works on this subject as will enlarge his acquaintance with the English language, and enable him to express his ideas with precision and fluency. These Exercises, which form the chief feature of this work, may be used orally, but greater advantages will result from their being neatly and carefully written. 48, GEORGE SQUARE, Glasgow, May 1846. THE INITIATORY ENGLISH GRAMMAR. PART FIRST. ENGLISH GRAMMAR teaches to speak and write the English Language correctly. It is divided into four parts; namely, Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody. ORTHOGRAPHY. Orthography treats of Letters and Syllables. The English Alphabet consists of twenty-six Letters. Letters are divided into Vowels and Consonants. A Vowel is a letter that can be easily sounded by itself. The Vowels are-a, e, i, o, u, w, y. Each of the vowels (except w) has at least three sounds. 1st, The open sounds, which are heard in the words, Ale, eve, ire, ore, mute, cry. 2d, The shut sounds, which are heard in the words, Mat, met, pin, not, nut, nymph. 3d, The peculiar sounds, which may be perceived in the words, War, her, fir, move, rule, myrrh. |