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

—Tenses of, named and defined; (see Present Tense, Imperf. Tense, &c.) —Persons and numbers of, what —Conjugations of —how principally conjugated —(See Conjugation) —Verbs, Irreg., List of —simp. irreg., numb. of; whence derived —Redundant, List of —Defective, do. —Verbs irreg. and redund., of what character all former lists of, have been —Verbs, of asking and teaching, construc. of —whether any, in Eng., can govern two cases —suppressed in exclamat. &c. —Verbs, Synt. of —Verbs requiring a regimen, should not be used without an object —Verb, AGREEM. of, with its subject —do., inferred —do., by sylleps., in plur., title of a book —do., in imperat. mood —Verb of the third pers. sing. with a plur. noun of the neut. gend., the use of, a strange custom of the Greeks; such use not existent in Eng. —Verb, AGREEM. of, with infin. phrase or sentence as subject —do., with infin. subject limited, ("FOR MEN TO SEARCH their own glory, IS," &c.) —do., with a nom. in interrog. sentences —do., with a rel., according to the true anteced. of the pron.; (examp. of error from DR. BLAIR) —do., with a nom. limited by adjuncts —do., with composite or converted subjects —do., with each, every, one, &c., as leading words —do., by change of nominative —Verb, the form of, to be adapted to the style —when requires a separate nom. expressed —Verb, AGREEM. of, with a nom. noun collective —do., with joint nominatives —do., with two connected nominatives in appos. —do., with two conn. nominatives emphatically distinguished —do., with two conn. nominatives preceded by each, every, or no —do., with nearest of connected nominatives, and understood to the rest; whether the usage is proper in Eng. —do., with connected nominatives of different persons —do., with connected subjects, one taken affirmat. and the other negat. —do., with two subjects connected by as well as, but, or save —do., with connected subjects preceded by each, every, or no —do., in ellipt. construc. of joint nominatives —do., with distinct subject phrases connected by and —do., with disjunct. nominatives —do., with disagreeing nominatives connected disjunctively —do., when connected nominatives require different forms of the verb —do., with distinct phrases disjunct, connected —Verbs, connected by and, or, or nor, how must agree —discordant, how managed with respect to agreem. —Verb, mixture of the diff. styles of, ineleg. —diff. moods of, not to be used under the same circumstances —when two connected terms require diff. forms of, what insertion is necessary —Verbs of commanding, desiring, expecting, &c., to what actions or events refer —of desisting, omitting, &c., with a part. following, rather than an infin. —of preventing, what should be made to govern —Verb, finite, punc. of —ellips. of, shown —derivation of, from nouns, adjectives, and verbs —poet. peculiarities in the use of

Verbosity, as affecting strength

Verse, in oppos. to prose, what
    —Blank verse, as distinguished from rhyme
    —Verse, general sense of the term; its derivation and literal
      signif.; the visible form of verse
    —Verse, as defined by JOH., WALK., et al.; do. by WEBST.
    —Verse, Eng., the difficulty of treating the subject of, and from
      what this arises
    —A verse, or line of poetry, of what consists
    —Verse, or poetic measure, the kinds, or orders of, named; (see
      Iambic Verse, Trochaic Verse, &c.)
    —Verse, the proper reading of

VERSIFICATION, treated
    —Versification, defined
    —Versification, POE'S (E. A.) notions concerning; his censure of
      BROWN'S former definition of; his rejection of the idea of versif.
      from the principle of rhythm; his unfortunate derivat. of rhythm
      from [Greek: hurithmos,] and vain attempts to explain the term: the
      farrago summarily disposed of by BROWN
    —EVERETT'S "System of Eng. Versification," account of, and strictures
      on

Vision, or imagery, explained

Vocative case of Lat. and Gr. gram., not known in Eng.

Voice, ACTIVE, and PASSIVE, whether necessary terms in Eng. gram.

Vowel, defined
    —Vowels named
    —W and Y, when vowels; comp.
    —Vowel sounds, or vocal elements, the different, how produced
    —what are those in Eng.
    —how each may be variously expressed by letters; notation of
    —Vowels, two coming together, where may be parted in syllabication.

W.

W, its name and plur. numb.
    —simpler term than Double-u perhaps desirable; DR. WEBST. on the
      lett.
    —W, when a vowel
    —with vowel foll., sound of
    —before h, how pronounced
    —in Eng. never used alone as a vowel
    —no diphthongs or triphth. in Eng., beginning with.

Wages, noun, plur. by formation; its construe, with a verb.

Walker, J., estimate of his Critical Pronouncing Dictionary —in his lexicography how far followed DR. JOH.

Was, contrary to usage preferred by some to were, in the imperf. sing, of the subj.

We, plur., as representing the speaker and others; how sometimes used in stead of the sing.; sometimes preferred by monarchs to I.

Webster, Dr. N., describes language as comprehending the voice of brutes
    —never named the Eng. letters rightly
    —his orthography as a standard; do. compared with that of DR. JOH.
    —the result to himself of his various attempts to reform our orthog.;
      the value of his definitions.

Weight, measure, &c., see Time.

Wert, as used in lieu of wast —its mood not easy to determine; authorities for a various use of.

What, its class and nature
    —to what usually applied; its twofold relat. explained
    —its numb.; example of solec. in the use of
    —as a mere adj., or as a pron. indef.
    —its use both as an adj. and as a relative at the same time; do. for
      who or which, ludic. and vulg.
    —declined
    —how to be disposed of in etymolog. parsing; how to be parsed
      syntactically
    —how becomes an interj.
    —used appar. for an adv.; uttered exclamatorily before an adj., to be
      taken as an adj., ("WHAT PARTIAL judges are our," &c.,)
    —followed by that, by way of pleonasm, ("WHAT I tell you in
      darkness, THAT," &c.,)
    —with but preceding, ("To find a friend, BUT WHAT" &c.,)
    —vulg. use of, for that
    —derivation of, from Sax., shown.

Whatever or whatsoever, its peculiarities of construe., the same as
those of what; its use in simp, relation
    —its construc. as a double relative; whether it may be supposed
      ellipt.
    —its declension.

When, where, or while, in what instance not fit to follow the verb is
    —When, where, whither, as partaking of the nature of a pron.;
      construc, of do., with antecedent nouns of time, &c., how far
      allowable
    —derivation of, from Anglo-Sax.

Whether, as an interrog. pron.; as a disjunc. conjunc. —conjunc. corresponsive to or —as do., its derivation from Sax.

Which, relative
    —its former use; to what objects now confined
    —its use after a personal term taken by meton. for a thing; do., as
      still applicable to persons
    —is of all the genders, (in oppos. to MURR., WEBST., et. al.,)
    —is less approp. than who, in all personifications
    —its construc. when taken in its discrim. sense,
    —how differs from the rel. that
    —BLAIR'S incorrect remarks respecting
    —Which, as rel. or interrog., declined
    —Which, sometimes takes whose for its poss.,
    —represents a prop. name taken merely as a name, ("Herod
    —WHICH is but," &c.,)
    —do. nouns of mult, expressing persons, when such are strictly of the
      neut. gend., ("The COMMITTEES WHICH" &c.,)
    —in what cases is less approp. than that
    —does not fitly represent an indicative assertion, ('"Be ATTENTIVE,
      without WHICH," &c.,)
    —its Sax. derivation shown
    —The which, obsol.,
    —Which, interrog., what demands,
    —to what objects applied
    —now used for the obsol. whether.

Whichever, whichsoever, signif. and construc. of
    —declension of.

Who, relative
    —to what usually applied
    —has superseded which, formerly applied to persons, ("Our Father
      WHO art" &c.,)
    —to be preferred to which, in all personifications
    —how differs from the rel. that
    —Who, as rel. or interrog., declined,
    —Whose, use of, for the defec. poss., of which
    —Than whom, (see Than.)
    —Who, interrog., what demands
    —may be the anteced. of the rel. that
    —Who, derivation of, from Sax.

Whoever, and whoso or whosoever, signif. and construc. of
    —declens. of
    —Whoso and whatso, antiq., import and use of,

Whole, improp. use of, for all. ("Almost the WHOLE inhabitants," HUME.,).

Why, after nouns of cause, (see When, &c.)
    —Why, wherefore, therefore, their class.

Will, verb, how varied
    —use of, as a principal verb.

Wis, verb, pret. wist, signif. and use of
    —Had I wist,

With, for and, (see Cum:)
    —added to adv. of direc., with emphat. imperat. ("Up WITH it").
      Withal its class and construc. Without, obsol. use of, for
      unless or except. Withouten, paragog. and poet. form.
      Withinside of Won't, whence formed; its pronunc.

Worcester, Dr. J. E., his Universal and Critical Dictionary WORDS,
treated.
    —Word, defined.
    —Words distinguished, and the divisions of, defined.
    —(See Compound Word.)
    —Words, Rules for the figure of;
    —simp., when compounding is to be avoided
    —when to be joined, or to be written separately
    —Words, the nature of, explained
    —the consid. of, as comm., and as prop.,
    —brevity sought in the comm. use of
    —the identity of, in what consists
    —unsettled and variable usage with respect to the figure of
    —Words that may constitute diff. parts of speech, their construc.
      not to be left doubtf.
    —the reference of, to other words, do.
    —senselessly jumbled, charac. of
    —entirely needless, how to be disposed of
    —unintelligently misapplied, what indicates,
    —Words, PUNCT. of: in pairs; alternated; put absol.; in appos.;
      repeated
    —Words, derivation of, treated
    —most of those regarded as primitives in Eng., may be traced to
      ulterior sources
    —the study of, its importance
    —how the knowledge of, may be promoted with respect to Eng.
    —Words, the use of, as affecting Purity
    —do., as affect. Propriety
    —do., as affect. Precision
    —do., as affect. Perspicuity
    —do., as affect. Strength

Worshiper, whether properly written with a single or a double p

Worth, its class and construc.

Worthy, admits not ellips. of prep, of before obj. following

Writing, to write, what meant by

X.

X, its name and plur. num. —format. of the plur. of nouns in —why never doubled —written for a number —its sounds

Y.

Y, its name and plur. numb.;
    —borrowed first by the Romans from the Greeks, by whom called Ypsilon
    —in Eng. is either a vowel or a conson.
    —classed with the semivowels
    —final, changed or unchanged before terminations
    —do., when, by former practice, retained in verbs ending in y,
      before conson. terminations
    —sounds of
    —in poet. format. of adjectives

Ye, nom. plur., solemn style —its use as the obj. case —as a mere explet. in burlesque —its use in the lang. of tragedy —used for thee —in the Eng. Bible not found in the obj. case —Ye and you, promisc. use of, in the same case and the same style, ineleg.

Yes, yea, in a simp. affirmation, construc. and class of —derivation of, from Anglo-Sax.

You, use of, for thou
    —You, with was, ("YOU WAS BUILDING,") approved by DR. WEBST. et
      al., as the better form for the sing. numb.
    —You, and VERB PLUR., in reference to one person, how to be
      treated in parsing. Your, facet. in conversation, and how uttered
      ("Dwells, like YOUR miser, sir," &c., SHAK.,) Yourself, its
      pecul. of construc.

Your Majesty, your