country which gave him birth. As to the art of writing-that ingenious method of rendering speech permanent by painting articulate sounds, and thus making the communication of ideas independent of distance of time or space-the sound and luminous principles of general grammar ought to be considered as a perfect theory, from which all nations which have adopted an alphabetical or syllabical method of writing have more or less departed. However imperfect may be the usage in point of orthography, nevertheless to that we must yield; from that, we must learn how each nation has agreed to write the words which compose its language. A total reform in orthography, which should aim to render writing perfectly conformable to pronunciation, must be regarded, as it respects most nations, as a philosophical chimera to which custom will never yield; and a partial reform, which, correcting in certain points the discordance existing between writing and pronunciation, should suffer a part of the abuses to remain, would, in some sort, consecrate those it had spared, and would not, moreover, be without great disadvantages, especially as it regards the science of etymology. For the same reasons, I have suppressed what might be said on the subject of punctuation, the system of which is so imperfect, even among those nations which have most multiplied its signs. I have almost always preserved those technical expressions which were consecrated by usage, however imperfect they were, that the child who shall have studied these principles, may nevertheless be able to make use of those elementary books designed for the study of the languages. Many paragraphs and even whole Chapters will be found enclosed in []. These should be passed over by children who are studying for the first time these Principles of Grammar. I may sometimes have fallen into error, especially on a subject to which I have devoted no very large portion of my time. Perhaps too I may not always have seized the most simple, the most precise, and at the same time the most intelligible expression. I shall receive with gratitude the remarks of all whom their natural talents, a profound study of the subjects, or long experience in the department of public instruction, shall have qualified to rectify the mistakes into which I may have fallen. I shall esteem myself happy if this little work should merit their attention, and if they should judge it fitted to render easy to children a study sufficiently dry of itself, and often forbidding from the aspect under which it is presented. To make myself useful is my only wish to have attained this end, will be to me the most flattering reward. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.* BY THE AUTHOR. I have permitted the preceding Advertisement to remain as in the first edition; but I ought to add a word in relation to the changes I have made in this. Those who will take the trouble to compare the two editions, will find that the alterations consist in a few corrections, some difference in the arrangement of the matter, and a great many additions. The reception with which the public has honored the first edition of these "Principles of General Grammar," imposed an obligation upon me to spare no labor in order to render them more exact and complete; and by habitual application of these principles, by meditation upon the difficulties which presented themselves, and, finally, by comparing the habits of many different languages, whose particular grammars I have studied for that purpose, I have collected a mass of observations which have enabled me to resolve difficulties and to reduce to a common analogy things which appeared widely to deviate from it. The corrections and additions made in this new edition are, at least for the most part, the fruit of this labor. I do not pretend, however, that among these additions there are not many which can with difficulty be understood by children and beginners. Of this number is the disquisition concerning the extension and comprehension of Appellative Nouns into which I have entered in Chap. 4th of Part 1st. I could not however omit these remarks, as they were necessary to serve as a foundation for the distinction which I was about to make between Circumstantial and Qualificative Adjectives, which appears in Chap. 7th of the same Part. The 3d Chap. of Part 2d, in which I treat the subject of Cases, has received a great many additions, which I think cannot but throw light upon the design of these grammatical inflexions, which are unknown to our language. Chap. 4th of the same Part, in which I have treated of Tenses, and the 8th Chap. on the subject of the Modes of *We have here retained the Preface to the 2d edition of these Principles of General Grammar, inasmuch as but a small number of alterations have been made in the edition we now present to the public, and those, besides, of little importance. They consist merely in a reformation of the style in some places, and the removal of some little obscurity in certain expressions. There has been, however, no change in regard to the principles or the general plan of the work. The 2d edition of the Principles of General Grammar" was translated into German and published in 1804 at Halle and Leipzic by Mr. J.Sev. Vater, then Professor in the University of Halle and now Professor and Librarian in that of Konigsberg. This learned continuator of the Mithridates of Adelung, is the author of Hebrew, Polish, and German Grammars, and of several other works relative to General Grammar and to the study of languages. He has just published at Berlin in Latin and German a catalogue of the languages of the world, under this title: Linguarum totius orbis index alphabeticus quarum Grammaticae Lexica, Collectiones vocabulorum recensentur, patria significatur, historia adumbratur." (Note to 3d Edition.) verbs, have been considerably enlarged, and, so to speak, entirely made anew these two Chapters are those in which I have discovered the greatest number of inaccuracies. What relates to the Tenses, will present, I think, no serious difficulties: as to the theory of Modes, it was necessary either to renounce the idea of explaining it, or to ascend to the operations of our intellectual faculties, to analyze them, to classify them, and deduce from them the variations of modes: it was necessary further, in order to complete the subject, to consider Propositions which are the expressions of the operations of the understanding and the motions of the will, at first independently, and then under those relations which bind and chain them in discourse. Had I possessed more talent, I might perhaps have infused more interest into the explanation of this truly philosophical subject; but, at least, may give this testimony for myself, that I have neglected no means which could enable me to treat it with precision and perspicuity. The 3d Part, with the exception of the first Chapter and a portion of the 2d, is entirely new; and the models of Analysis of the English and Latin languages, contained in the 5th and 6th Chapters, must be considered as the result of the whole work. This 3d Part should not be studied, until a perfect knowledge of the first two parts has been acquired: the 4th Chapter, especially, requires a mind already familiar with analysis. I must here insist upon the advice which I have already given, not to require beginners to study in the first two parts, those portions included in brackets. A distinction should also be made between these portions of the work themselves: some should be studied at a second perusal, while the study of others should be deferred still later. It is only by repeated application of these principles that we can hope to naturalize them, as it were, in the minds of children, and to awaken their understanding, which must act in this work still more powerfully than their memory. It is, therefore, the duty of instructors, after being thoroughly imbued with these principles themselves, to cause their pupils to apply them often, and to a great number of examples. In this way the pupils will, as it were, instinctively employ them, or rather, they will discover in themselves, by the exercise of their own understanding, those principles which were at first trusted to their memories; and when they shall thus have appropriated them to themselves, they will run no risk of forgetting them. In giving propositions or phrases to be analysed, however, this kind of labor should be proportioned to the degree of the pupil's advancement; and if he meet with problems the solution of which he has never been taught, (which should be avoided as much as possible,) great care should be taken to cause them to be understood, that he may never find the system at fault. I ought, perhaps, to apologize for having coined some terms which may possibly displease fastidious ears. My justification in this respect is confined to the remark, that I have used with the greatest caution a liberty which cannot be denied to him, who is obliged to look at objects under new points of view, and thus to create new existences, so to speak, in the intellectual world. Among the number of the most flattering testimonies of approba tion, which the first edition of these "Principles of General Grammar" has obtained, I ought to reckon the pains which Mr. N. Lang Nissen, Professor of the Greek language at Copenhagen, has taken, to translate it into the Danish language, at the request of Messrs. Manter and Gulberg and I seize this opportunity of presenting my thanks to these learned men for the favorable opinion which they have expressed in respect to my work, and to M. Nissen in particular, for the observations he has made in the preface to his translation, relative to some principles which I had adopted, and which he believed ought not to be allowed. I have weighed the remarks of M. Nissen with the greatest attention, and he will see that, after his example, I have made of the Numeratives, in this edition, a chapter by itself. If I have not yielded to his other observations respecting the words to which he assigns the usual denominations of Demonstrative, Relative or Conjunctive, Possessive, Indefinite and Interrogative Pronouns, it is because I still continue convinced, that none of these words belong to the class of Pronouns. Without entering into any discussion of this subject, as it would be contrary to the plan of my work, I was yet bound to throw more light upon my principles, and further to unfold the motives of my opinion. It was a homage which I owed to the worth of M. Nissen, and perhaps I shall be so fortunate as to obtain his suffrage. I could have wished to have been able to connect with this second edition a sketch of Latin grammar, drawn up conformably to my system the last chapter of Part III. will supply to a certain extent the place of such a work, which multiplied avocations have prevented me from executing. CONTENTS. CHAP. I. Of the Proposition. It is necessarily composed of a subject, an Attribute and a Verb, and always accompanied by a Compellative, expressed or understood - CHAP. II. Of the Verb. Substantive and Attributive Verbs. CHAP. III. Of the Subject and Attribute of a Proposition. The Subject may be either Simple or Compound: The Simple Subject may be either Complex or Incomplex. The Attri- bute may be either Simple or Compound: the Simple Attri- bute may be either Complex or Incomplex CHAP. IV. Of the Noun. Proper Nouns. Appellative Nouns. CHAP. VI. Of the Pronoun. Pronouns of the 1st, 2d, and 3d per- CHAP. VII. Of the Adjective. Two different uses of the Adjec- tive. Circumstantial Adjectives. Qualificative Adjectives 34 CHAP. VIll. Of Numeratives CHAP. IX. Of the Preposition. Distinction between the employ- CHAP. XIII. Mixed Words. Pronominal Adjectives. Conjunc- |