A Grammar of Late Modern English

that in going thus early to press, I have laid myself open to the charge of rashness. Still I have my doubts that there would have been wisdom in deferring the publication of my work much longer, considering that any day circumstances may arise which might render the labour of many years practically useless.

The fact that my grammar addresses itself to Continental, especially Dutch, students, who have passed the elementary stage, will account for its general character. I have abstained from giving definitions of grammatical terms, except in those cases where the manner of treatment seemed to make this desirable or necessary. I have touched only briefly on those points with which my readers may be supposed to have become familiar, or which seemed to require little or no elucidation. Conversely I have taken considerable trouble to unravel knotty questions, to account for socalled anomalies, and find out the principles underlying certain turns of expression. In some cases I have thought it advisable to point out the difference between Dutch and English idiom, and also to give the Dutch translation of peculiar locutions and phrases. It has been my constant endeavour to distinguish carefully between different forms of diction: i.e. between those occurring in literary, poetic, ordinary, colloquial and vulgar style. In some cases quotations have been arranged chronologically, with a view of exhibiting the prevalence of a given idiom through several periods. Much time and labour have been expended in setting forth the details of my subject in an orderly and rational arrangement, without which the study of grammar is a very weariness of the flesh.

Although fully alive to the necessity that every grammarian should confine himself as much as possible to the current grammatical terms, I have felt obliged to coin some new ones. I am rather sanguine that they will be readily understood, and that the majority of them will be regarded as useful additions to grammatical nomenclature.

The new grammatical terms referred to, are:

nominal, as a common word for noun and adjective, also adopted by SWEET; nominal predicate and verbal predicate, to denote the two forms in which the predicate appears;

nominal part of the predicate, in distinction from the copula or the verbal part of a nominal predicate;

adnominal adjunct, as a common

name for all modifiers of nouns or

pronouns, and distinguished into attributive and predicative 1) ;

1) Predicative adnominal adjuncts answer to bepalingen van gesteldheid in Dutch grammars and to what PAUL (PRINCIPIEN, § 97) calls prädikative Attribute. Certain varieties are denominated objective complements by NESFIELD (HISTORICAL ENGLISH AND DERIVATION. § 190), complemental nominative or objective by MURRAY (i. v. as, 11, c), and object-complement by H. SWEET (N. E. GR., § 267).

sham-subject and sham-object, by which is meant the indefinite pronoun it in the functions of subject or object');

composite sentence, as a common term for compound and complex sentences; undeveloped clause, i. e. a verbal or a nominal with its adjuncts that is equivalent to a subordinate clause;

subordinate statement, subordinate question, and substantive clause, which require no comment.

An important feature of my grammar, perhaps the one by which it will most commend itself, is the copiousness of the quotations by which most of the observations made are illustrated. These quotations have partly been borrowed from dictionaries and from other grammars. But by far the majority of them have been collected by myself from numberless and varied sources: not only literary and scientific books, but also periodicals and newspapers. The writers whose works have been laid under special contribution are Jos. ADDISON, F. ANSTEY, MRS. ALEXANDER, GRANT ALLEN, JANE AUSTEN, EDW. BELLAMY, SIR WALTER BESANT, ANNIE BESANT, WILLIAM BLACK, MISS M. E. BRADDON, CHARLOTTE BRONTË, ROB. BROWNING, R. BUCHANAN, MISS F. H. BURNETT, LORD BYRON, HALL CAINE, GEOFFREY CHAUCER, W. CONGREVE, HUGH CONWAY, MARIE CORELLI, MRS. CRAIK, F. MARION CRAWFORD, B. M. CROKER, CH. DICKENS, A. CONAN DOYLE, G. DU MAURIER, GEORGE ELIOT, T. H. S. ESCOTT, HENRY FIELDING, J. A. FROUDE, MRS. GASKELL, DOR. GERARD, G. GISSING, OL. GOLDSMITH, SARAH GRAND, J. E. GREEN, TH. HARDY, BEATRICE HARRADEN, ANTH. HOPE, ASC. R. HOPE, E. W. HORNUNG, MRS. HUNGERFORD, TH. HUGHES, TH. H. HUXLEY, WASHINGTON IRVING, JER. K. JEROME, CH. KINGSLEY, RUDY. KIPLING, CH. LAMB, ANDREW LANG, G. H. LEWES, H. Wadsworth LONGFELLOW, EDNA LYALL, JUSTIN MCCARTHY, LORD MACAULAY, CAPT. MARRYAT, FLORENCE MARRYAT, GEORGE MEREDITH, JOHN MILTON, MISS MONTGOMERY, G. MOORE, WILLIAM MORRIS, W. E. NORRIS, MRS. OLIPHANT, BARRY PAIN, JAMES PAYN, F. C. PHILIPS, ALEX. POPE, THOMAS DE QUINCEY, CH. READE, H. RIDER HAGGARD, GEORGE SAINTSBURY, SIR WALTER SCOTT, W. SHAKESPEARE, RICH. BRINSLEY SHERIDAN, HERBERT SPENCER, SIR RICH. STEELE, R. L. STEVENSON, JON. SWIFT, W. MAKEPEACE THACKERAY, ALFRED TENNYSON, MRS. HUMPHRY WARD, MRS. HENRY WOOD, MISS YONGE. Full references are attached only to the quotations collected by myself. But in the case of borrowed quotations, where verification was impossible, and of such as have been taken from fugitive literature, this fulness would not have answered any useful purpose, and has not, therefore, been attempted. Of some quotations the reference has somehow got lost. A few of the illustrative instances had to be supplied by myself. In the

1) The sham-subject is called loos onderwerp by DEN HERTOG (NEDERLANDSCHE SPRAAKKUNST, I, § 12). Compare also PAUL, PRINCIPIEN, § 91.

references the Arabic numbers when not preceded by any letter or sign, almost regularly mark the page; excepted are only those attached to quotations from dramatic works and from the AUTHORIZED VERSION.

The expansion of some of the less obvious abbreviations is given below. In preparing this work I have largely profited by other grammars and by many articles that have appeared in ENGLISCHE STUDIEN, ANGLIA, and TAALSTUDIE. My acknowledgments are especially due to Prof. W. FRANZ, Prof. OTTO JESPERSEN, Dr. W. SATTLER, Prof. J. STORM, Dr. C. STOFFEL, and Dr. H. SWEET. In the text I have made frequent references to the works of these scholars and of many others, directing the student to where he might go for further enlightenment on the subjects discussed.

While the work was in course of preparation, I have occasionally been guided by the advice of my brother, Dr. ALB. POUTSMA, and of my friend, Mr. C. GRONDHOUD. Both these gentlemen have also relieved me of part of the tedium incidental to the correcting of the proofs, and, as the sheets were passing through the press, they have given me many hints which could be turned to excellent account. Their kind services will be held in thankful remembrance through my remaining days.

In conclusion I need hardly say that suggestions are kindly solicited, and that any criticisms will be gratefully accepted.

The second section of about equal bulk with the first, and treating of the composite sentence, will, I trust, see the light in the beginning of

next year.

EXPANSION OF SOME ABBREVIATIONS.

ALL SORTS

ATH.
AUDL.

BANKR. HEART

CLIVE

Cop.

-CONF.

Esc., ENGL.

H. E. GR.

HIST.

= ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS OF MEN, by SIR WALTER BESANT.

= ATHENEUM.

= LADY AUDLEY'S SECRET, by MISS BRADDON.
= A BANKRUPT HEART, by FLOR. MARRYAT.
= LORD CLIVE, by LORD MACAULAY.

=

DAVID COPPERFIELD, by CHARLES DICKENS.

CONFESSIONS OF AN OPIUM-EATER, by THOM. DE QUINCEY. =T. M. S. ESCOTT; ENGLAND, ITS PEOPLE, POLITY AND PURSUITS.

= A HIGHER ENGLISH GRAMMAR, by ALEX, BAIN.
= THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND, by LORD MACAULAY.

HOW TO BE HAPPY HOW TO BE HAPPY THOUGH MARRIED.
= HYPATIA, by CHARLES Kingsley.

HYP.

MARC.

N. E. GR.

NEVER TOO LATE

ORV. COL.

ORM.

Oc.

POPES

SHIPS

SH. HIST.

TESS

=

MARCELLA, by MRS. HUMPHRY WARD.

= A NEW ENGLISH GRAMMAR, by HENRY SWEET.
= IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO MEND, by CH. READE.
= ORVILLE COLLEGE, by MRS. HENRY WOOD.

= LORD ORMONT AND HIS AMINTA, by GEORGE Meredith.
OCEANA, by J. A. FROUDe.

RANKE'S HISTORY OF THE POPES, by LORD MACAULAY. =SHIPS THAT PASS IN THE NIGHT, by BEATRICE HARRADEN. = A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES, by Just. MCCARTHY.

TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES, by THOMAS HARDY.