The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown (free ebook reader .txt) 📕

   "Ha! at the gates what grisly forms appear!
    What dismal shrieks of laughter wound the ear!"—Merry.

"Yet this may be the situation of some now known to us.—O frightful thought! O horrible image! Forbid it, O Father of mercy! If it be possible, let no creature of thine ever be the object of that wrath, against which the strength of thy whole creation united, would stand but as the moth against the thunderbolt!"—Burgh's Speaker, p. 289.

"If it be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."—Daniel, iii, 17 and 18.

"Grant me patience, just Heaven!—Of all the cants which are canted in this canting world—though the cant of hypocrites may be the worst—the cant of criticism is the most tormenting!"—Sterne.

   "Ah, no! Achilles meets a shameful fate,
    Oh! how unworthy of the brave and great."—Pope.

"O let not thy heart despise me! thou whom experience has not taught that it is misery to lose that which it is not happiness to possess."—Dr. Johnson.

"Disguise thyself as thou wilt, still, Slavery! still thou art a bitter draught; and though thousands in all ages have been made to drink of thee, thou art no less bitter on that account."—Sterne.

"Put it out of the power of truth to give you an ill character; and if any body reports you not to be an honest or a good man, let your practice give him the lie. This is all very feasible."—Antoninus.

"Oh that men should put an enemy into their mouths to steal away their brains! that we should, with joy, pleasance, revel, and applause, transform ourselves into beasts!"—Shakspeare.

   "All these afar off stood, crying, Alas!
    Alas! and wept, and gnashed their teeth, and groaned;
    And with the owl, that on her ruins sat,
    Made dolorous concert in the ear of Night."—Pollok.

    "Snatch'd in thy prime! alas, the stroke were mild,
    Had my frail form obey'd the fate's decree!
    Blest were my lot, O Cynthio! O my child!
    Had Heaven so pleas'd, and I had died for thee!"—Shenstone.

"Of chance or change, oh let not man complain."—Bucke's Classical Gram., p. 85.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the interjection oh, a sign of sorrow, pain, or surprise, is here used to indicate mere earnestness. But, according to the list of interjections, or OBS. 2d under it, the interjection of wishing, earnestness, or vocative address, is O, and not oh. Therefore, oh should here be O; thus, "Of chance or change, O let not man complain."—Beattie's Minstrel, B. ii, l. 1.]

"O thou persecutor! Oh ye hypocrites."—Merchant's Gram., p. 99; et al. "Oh! thou, who touchedst Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire."—Ib., (Key,) p. 197. "Oh! happy we, surrounded by so many blessings."—Ib., (Exercises,) p. 138. "Oh! thou, who art so unmindful of thy duty."—Ib., (Key,) p. 196. "If I am wrong, oh teach my heart To find that better way."—Pope's Works. "Heus! evocate hue Davum. Ter. Hoe! call Davus out hither."—Walker's Particles, p. 155. "It was represented by an analogy, (Oh, how inadequate!) which was borrowed from the religion of paganism."—Murray's Gram., p. 281. "Oh that Ishmael might live before thee!"—ALGER'S BIBLE: Gen., xvii, 18. "And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak."—FRIENDS' BIBLE: Gen., xviii, 30. "And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry."—ID., and SCOTT'S: ib., ver. 32. "Oh, my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word."—FRIENDS' BIBLE, and ALGER'S: Gen., xliv, 18. "Oh, Virtue! how amiable thou art! I fear, alas! for my life."—Fisk's Gram., p. 89. "Ay me, they little know How dearly I abide that boast so vain."—Milton's P. L., B. iv, l. 86. "Oh! that I had digged myself a cave."—FLETCHER: in Bucke's Gram., p. 78. "O, my good lord! thy comfort comes too late."—SHAK.: ib., p. 78. "The vocative takes no article; it is distinguished thus: O Pedro, Oh Peter! O Dios, Oh God!"—Bucke's Gram., p. 43. "Oh, o! But, the relative is always the same."—Cobbett's Eng. Gram., 1st Ed., p. 127. "Oh, oh! But, the relative is always the same."—Id., Edition of 1832, p. 116. "Ah hail, ye happy men!"—Jaudon's Gram., p. 116. "Oh that I had wings like a dove!"—FRIENDS' BIBLE, and ALGER'S: Ps., lv, 6. "Oh Glorious hope! O Blessed abode!"—O. B. Peirce's Gram., p. 183. "Alas, Friends, how joyous is your presence."—Rev. T. Smith's Gram., p. 87. "Oh, blissful days! Ah me! how soon ye pass!"—Parker and Fox's Gram., Part I, p. 16; Part III, p. 29.

   "Oh golden days! oh bright unvalued hours!
    What bliss (did ye but know that bliss) were yours!"—Barbauld.

    "Ay me! what perils do eviron
    The man that meddles with cold iron."—Hudibras.

[Fist] [The following questions refer almost wholly to the main text of the Etymology of this work, and are such as every student should be able to answer with readiness and accuracy, before he proceeds to any subsequent part of the study or the exercises of English grammar.]

1. Of what does Etymology treat? 2. What is meant by the term, "Parts of Speech?" 3. What are Classes, under the parts of speech? 4. What are Modifications? 5. How many and what are the parts of speech? 6. What is an article? 7. What is a noun? 8. What is an adjective? 9. What is a pronoun? 10. What is a verb? 11. What is a participle? 12. What is an adverb? 13. What is a conjunction? 14. What is a preposition? 15. What is an interjection?

1. What is Parsing? and what relation does it bear to grammar? 2. What is a Praxis? and what is said of the word? 3. What is required of the pupil in the FIRST PRAXIS? 4. How many definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 5. How is the following example parsed? "The patient ox submits to the yoke, and meekly performs the labour required of him."

[Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the First Chapter, or the First Praxis.]

1. What is an ARTICLE? 2. Are an and a different articles, or the same? 3. When ought an to be used, and what are the examples? 4. When should a be used, and what are the examples? 5. What form of the article do the sounds of w and y require? 6. Can you repeat the alphabet, with an or a before the name of each letter? 7. Will you name the ten parts of speech, with an or a before each name? 8. When does a common noun not admit an article? 9. How is the sense of nouns commonly made indefinitely partitive? 10. Does the mere being of a thing demand the use of articles? 11. Can articles ever be used when we mean to speak of a whole species? 12. But how does an or a commonly limit the sense? 13. And how does the commonly limit the sense? 14. Which number does the limit, the singular or the plural? 15. When is the required before adjectives? 16. Why is an or a not applicable to plurals? 17. What is said of an or a before an adjective of number? 18. When, or how often, should articles be inserted? 19. What is said of needless articles? 20. What is the effect of putting one article for the other, and how shall we know which to choose? 21. How are the two articles distinguished in grammar? 22. Which is the definite article, and what does it denote? 23. Which is the indefinite article, and what does it denote? 24. What modifications have the articles?

1. What is required of the pupil in the SECOND PRAXIS? 2. How many definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the following example parsed? "The task of a schoolmaster laboriously prompting and urging an indolent class, is worse than his who drives lazy horses along a sandy road."

[Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the Second Chapter, or the Second Praxis; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the five lessons of bad English, with which the Second Chapter concludes.]

1. What is a NOUN, and what are the examples given? 2. Into what general classes are nouns divided? 3. What is a proper noun? 4. What is a common noun? 5. What particular classes are included among common nouns? 6. What is a collective noun? 7. What is an abstract noun? 8. What is a verbal or participial noun? 9. What modifications have nouns? 10. What are Persons, in grammar? 11. How many persons are there, and what are they called? 12. What is the first person? 13. What is the second person? 14. What is the third person? 15. What are Numbers, in grammar? 16. How many numbers are there, and what are they called? 17. What is the singular number? 18. What is the plural number? 19. How is the plural number of nouns regularly formed? 20. How is the regular plural formed without increase of syllables? 21. How is the regular plural formed when the word gains a syllable? LESSON VI—NOUNS.

1. What are Genders, in grammar? 2. How many genders are there, and what are they called? 3. What is the masculine gender? 4. What is the feminine gender? 5. What is the neuter gender? 6. What nouns, then, are masculine? what, feminine? and what, neuter? 7. What inflection of English nouns regularly changes their gender? 8. On what are the different genders founded, and to what parts of speech do they belong? 9. When the noun is such as may be applied to either sex, how is the gender usually determined? 10. What principle of universal grammar determines the gender when both sexes are taken together? 11. What is said of the gender of nouns of multitude? 12. Under what circumstances is it common to disregard the distinction of sex? 13. In how many ways are the sexes distinguished in grammar? 14. When the gender is figurative, how is it indicated? 15. What are Cases, in grammar? 16. How many cases are there, and what are they called? 17. What is the nominative case? 18. What is the subject of a verb? 19. What is the possessive case? 20. How is the possessive case of nouns formed? 21. What is the objective case? 22. What is the object of a verb, participle, or preposition? 23. What two cases of nouns are alike in form, and how are they distinguished? 24. What is the declension of a noun? 25. How do you decline the nouns, friend, man, fox, and fly?

1. What is required of the pupil in the THIRD PRAXIS? 2. How many definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the following example to be parsed? "The writings of Hannah More appear to me more praise-worthy than Scott's."

[Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the Third Chapter, or the Third Praxis; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the three lessons of bad English, with which the Third Chapter concludes.]

1. What is an ADJECTIVE, and what are the examples given? 2. Into what classes may adjectives be divided? 3. What is a common adjective? 4. What is a proper adjective? 5. What is a numeral adjective? 6. What is a pronominal adjective? 7. What is a participial adjective? 8. What is a compound adjective? 9. What modifications have adjectives? 10. What is comparison, in grammar? 11. How many and what are the degrees of comparison? 12. What is the positive degree? 13. What is the comparative degree? 14. What is the superlative degree? 15. What adjectives cannot be compared? 16. What adjectives are compared by means of adverbs? 17. How are adjectives regularly compared? 18. What principles of spelling must be observed in the comparing of adjectives? 19. To what adjectives is the regular method of comparison, by er and est, applicable? 20. Is there any other method of expressing the degrees of comparison? 21. How are the degrees of diminution, or inferiority, expressed? 22. Has the regular method