ENGLISH GRAMMAR. ENGLISH GRAMMAR treats of the principles of the English language. These principles relate, 1. To the written characters of the language; 2. To its pronunciation; 3. To the classification of its words; 4. To the construction of its sentences; 5. To its versification. The first division is called ORTHOGRAPHY; the second, ORTHOEPY; the third, ETYMOLOGY; the fourth, SYNTAX; and the fifth, PROSODY. Note. These principles are derived from the usage of the best writers and speakers. ORTHOGRAPHY. ORTHOGRAPHY treats of the letters and their combination in syllables and words. LETTERS. A LETTER is a character used to represent a sound of the human voice formed by the organs of speech. There are twenty-six letters in the English alphabet. CLASSES OF LETTERS. Letters are divided into vowels and consonants. A VOWEL is a letter which itself may form a syllable. Of what does English grammar treat? From what are the principles of gram- Of what does orthography treat? How many letters in the English alpha- Into what two classes are letters divided? A CONSONANT is a letter which is always joined with a vowel. A, e, i, o, u, are vowels; b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, 8, t, v, x, z, are consonants. W and y are consonants when they are immediately followed by a vowel-sound in the same syllable; as in want, twine, what, youth, yellow. Note.-Though h in what is placed after w, it is sounded before it. In other cases w and y are vowels; as in now, sawing, sky, type, holy, eye. Note. In the word eye y is followed by a vowel, but the vowel is not sounded. EXERCISES. Tell in which of the following words w and y are consonants and in which they are vowels: Water, wet, winter, young, yet, yonder, boy, joy, glory, sowing, sawing, new, newly, eye, scythe, brow, cow, when, whip, which, paw, enjoying, swine, try, swim. CLASSES OF CONSONANTS. The consonants are divided into mutes and semivowels. A SEMIVOWEL is a consonant whose sound may be prolonged; as, 8, f. as, A MUTE is a consonant whose sound can not be prolonged; The mutes are b, p, d, t, k, q, c hard, and g hard. Note.-C is hard when it has the sound of k, as in cat; and soft when it has the sound of 8, as in city. G is hard when it is sounded as in gun; and soft when it has the sound of j, as in gentle. The semivowels are f, h, j, l, m, n, r, s, v, z, c soft, and g soft. X is a double consonant, equivalent to ks. L, m, n, r, are sometimes called liquids, because their sounds flow readily into union with other sounds; as in blame, dray. Remarks.-The vowels represent sounds, the consonants modifications of sound made by the lips, tongue, palate, etc. The mutes close the organs, so that no sound What is a consonant? Name the vowels. The consonants. Into what two classes are consonants What is a semivowel? A mute? What consonants are mutes? What consonants are semivowels? What is said of x? Which of the semivowels are called liquids? Why are they called liquids? can be emitted while the organs are in that position; the pure mutes (p, k, t, q, and c hard) entirely, and the others nearly so. The semivowels admit the passage of sound through the mouth or the nose. Some of the sounds represented by the semivowels (as, for instance, v and z,) are almost as pure sounds as those represented by the vowels. DIPHTHONGS. Two vowels in immediate succession in the same syllable form a DIPHTHONG; as, ou in found. A proper diphthong is one in which both vowels are sounded; as, oi in voice. An improper diphthong is one in which only one of the vowels is sounded; as, ea in beat. TRIPHTHONGS. Three vowels in immediate succession in the same syllable form a TRIPHTHONG; as, eau in beau. Remark. There is no such thing as a proper triphthong, or one in which the vowels are all sounded. When buoy is pronounced bwoy, as it is sometimes pronounced, u becomes a consonant. SYLLABLES AND WORDS. A SYLLABLE is a letter or a combination of letters uttered with a single impulse of the voice. Thus in amen, a constitutes one syllable and men another. A WORD is a syllable or combination of syllables used as the sign of some idea. A word of one syllable is called a monosyllable, a word of two syllables a dissyllable; of three syllables a trisyllable; of four or more syllables a polysyllable. EXERCISES. Tell which of the following words are monosyllables, which dissyllables, etc.: Twenty, man, happy, unity, school, safety, book, baker, ambiguity, magnanimous, monosyllable, dissyllable, trisyllable, tough, crucifix. A primitive word is one which is not derived from another word in the language; as, man, holy, love. What is a diphthong? What is a proper diphthong? An im- What is a syllable? What is a word? A derivative word is one which is derived from another word in the language; as, manly, holiness, loving. A compound word is one which is composed of two or more words; as, schoolmaster, laughter-loving. A simple word is one which is not compounded; as, word, man, day. Remarks.-1. Compound words in common use have their component parts united and are written as single words; as, inkstand. 2. Other compound words have a hyphen between the component parts; as, cloud-compelling. SPELLING. This art is to be learned from dictionaries and spellingbooks and from observation in reading. Assistance may be derived from the following GENERAL RULES FOR SPELLING. RULE I. Monosyllables which end in f, l, or 8 preceded by a single vowel double the final consonant; as, staff, mill, pass. EXCEPTIONS.-Of, if, as, is, has, was, yes, his, this, us, thus, gas, pus. EXERCISES. Correct the errors in the following words: Mil, mis, gues, bles, spel, wal, tal, staf, stif, muf, puf, gros, las, til. Iff, iss, hass, yess, thiss, gass. RULE II. Words ending in any other consonant than f, l, or s do not double the final letter; as, war, drug. EXCEPTIONS.-Add, odd, ebb, inn, err, purr, butt, buzz, egg. EXERCISES. Correct the errors in the following: Rapp, whenn, gunn, bragg, tarr, batt, sinn, onn, forr, tubb. Ad, eb, od, eg, buz. What is a derivative word? What is a simple word? How are compound words in common use written? How are other compounds written? RULE III. Monosyllables and words accented on the last syllable which end with a single consonant preceded by a single vowel double that consonant on receiving a termination beginning with a vowel. Thus blot, blotting, not bloting; allot, allotting, not alloting; shut, shutting, not shuting; drop, dropped, not droped; quit, quitting, not quiting. Note.-In quit, t is preceded by u and i, but the u has the consonant sound of w. Remarks.-1. There are four conditions to be regarded in this doubling: (1). The word must be a monosyllable or a word accented on the last syllable. (2). The word must end in a single consonant. (3). The consonant must be preceded by a single vowel. (4). The termination must begin with a vowel. Thus the word differ does not come under the rule, because it is not a monosyllable, nor accented on the last syllable; consequently we write differing, differed, etc., with one r. The word defend is accented on the last syllable; but it does not come under the rule, because it ends with two consonants, n d; consequently we write defending, not defendding. The word soil is a monosyllable, and the word recoil is accented on the last syllable, and each of them ends with a single consonant; but they do not come under the rule, because the consonant is preceded by a diphthong, and not by a single vowel; consequently we write boiling, recoiling, with one l. The word allotment is spelled with one t, because the termination ment does not begin with a vowel. 2. The reason for doubling the consonant is that the short sound of the vowel may be retained in the derivative. Thus, bloting would be pronounced like bloating, with the long sound of o. In such words as differing, defending, boiling, allotment, the proper sound is retained without doubling. 3. If the derivative removes the accent to another syllable, the consonant is not doubled. Thus, refer is accented on the last syllable, fer; but in reference the accent is removed from fer to another syllable, and the word is written with oner before the termination ence. 4. In many words ending in 7 the 7 is generally doubled, though the accent is not on the last syllable; as in traveller, modelling, pencilled. So the derivatives of bias, worship, and kidnap, double s and p; as in biassing, worshipped, kidnapper. But Webster and some others spell such words with the consonants single, as traveler, biased, worshiping. 5. X is not doubled, because it is a double consonant. Thus, vexing, not vexxing. EXERCISES. Correct the errors in the following: Spot, spoted; allot, alloted; annul, annuled; refer, refering; permit, permited; overset, overseting; beg, begar; dig, diging; begin, beginer; run, runer. What is the third general rule? When is the last consonant doubled? When is it improper to double the last consonant? |