COVELL'S DIGEST OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR A DIGEST OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, SYNTHETICAL AND ANALYTICAL, CLASSIFIED AND METHODICALLY ARRANGED; ACCOMPANIED BY A CHART OF SENTENCES, AND ADAPTED TO THE USE OF SCHOOLS. BY L. T. COVELL, PRINCIPAL OF THE FOURTH-WARD SCHOOLS, Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge. Prov. 23: 12. NEW YORK: D. APPLETON & CO., 443 & 445 BROADWAY. CINCINNATI: RICKEY, MALLORY & COMPANY. 1861. EducT 758.61.300 HARVARD ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, By D. APPLETON & COMPANY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. PREFACE. THE author of the following work, conscious of the responsibility which must be incurred by one who appears before the public in the character of a Teacher of Grammar, has endeavored faithfully to reduce to a concise yet comprehensive system the true principles of that language in which his thoughts are presented to the world: not to deviate widely from those works which have been highly approved, but to form a consistent and practical digest of established rules: not to be satisfied with the researches and labors of others, but to examine, think, and write for himself: not to subvert the popular system of grammar, but to add to it some new features, and to improve upon those already received. While this must be the result of great labor and skill, eighteen years of patient study and practical experience in teaching, give him, he trusts, some ground of confidence upon which to claim the attention and consideration of those, who, like himself, are engaged in the educational profession: a profession, at once, arduous, honorable, and laudable. About ten years since, at which time the present work was undertaken, the author was engaged in giving Lectures on English Grammar. During the three years thus employed, and his subsequent career in teaching, for his own information, he has critically examined the principal English Grammars which have been issued, of which there are about 400, and diligently compared their definitions and rules with each other, and tested them by a constant reference to the usage of standard writers. While intent upon this investigation, their various arrangements and methods of teaching have been as carefully considered; and he persuades himself that the improvements here offered will be found useful to the learner, and acceptable to the Teacher. In accordance with a correct and popular sentiment, now quite general, the author permits his work to speak for itself; and wishes its success to rest entirely upon its intrinsic merits. To this end, he would invite the reader to a careful perusal and estimation of its worth. So far as his views, plan, and labors, may contribute to the intellectual culture of the rising generation, it will be the height of his ambition, if, in the opinion of competent judges, he shall be regarded as having neither "run nor labored in vain." In the plan of the work, each principle has been carefully arranged, and |