Page images
PDF
EPUB

THE

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

IN ITS

ELEMENTS AND FORMS.

WITH A

HISTORY OF ITS ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT.

ABRIDGED FROM THE OCTAVO EDITION.

DESIGNED FOR GENERAL USE IN

SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES.

BY WILLIAM C. FOWLER,

LATE PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC IN AMHERST COLLEGE.

NEW YORK:

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,

FRANKLIN SQUARE.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, by

HARPER & BROTHERS,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York.

PREFACE.

THE very favorable reception of my work, entitled "THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN ITS ELEMENTS AND FORMS," has encouraged me to select from it such portions as would contribute to make this a text-book for schools, and a book of reference for families, from which may be obtained a thorough knowledge of the principles and laws of the English language.

And in order to make it the more worthy of adoption as a standard work, and thus help to promote the education of the people in the department of language, I obtained the assistance of a practical teacher, who is eminently qualified by his philological attainments to suggest judicious selections from the larger work, as well as to propose emendations and additions, which would increase the value of this abridgment. I refer to FRANCIS A. MARCH, Professor of the English Language and Lecturer on Comparative Philology in Lafayette College.

To Professor JOSIAH W. GIBBS, LL.D. of Yale College, who has been well known as a successful laborer in comparative philology, and who has recently laid the students of the English language under great obligations to him by the publication of his work entitled “Philological Studies," I am indebted for the following sections: 57, 109, 111, 211, 221, 231, 286, 287, 293, 305, 307-342, and 346.

It should be added, that this abridgment is so far in

harmony with the octavo edition from which it is taken, that the teacher can use the larger work, and the pupil the smaller; though in most cases they will probably both use the same edition.

A single consideration is sufficient to show the importance of Grammatical studies. Thought derives its chief value from being communicated. The adequate communication of it depends chiefly on the use of language as the medium between man and man. The cor

rect use of language depends on a knowledge of the principles and the laws of the language on the part both of him who makes and of him who receives the communication; and a knowledge of the principles and the laws of the language is furnished by the study of Grammar.

Having spent many years as a teacher and a student, with a strong fellow-feeling, I dedicate this work, the fruit of much labor, to the Teachers in our country and their Pupils, in the hope that, whether used in the school or in the family, it may prove to be an important help in acquiring a knowledge of our noble language.

W. C. F.

« PreviousContinue »