Section VII.-Of the Ecphoneme; Section IX. Of the Other Marks; Section I.-Figures of Orthography; Section II.-Figures of Etymology; Section III.-Figures of Syntax; Section IV.-Figures of Rhetoric; Examples for Parsing, Praxis IX; Chapter VI.-Questions on Prosody; Chapter VII.-Exercises in Prosody; KEY to Oral Exercises in False Syntax; THE INSTITUTES OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR. ENGLISH GRAMMAR is the art of speaking, reading, and writing the English language correctly. It is divided into four parts; namely, Orthography, Etymology. Syntax, and Prosody. Orthography treats of letters, syllables, separate words, and spelling. Etymology treats of the different parts of speech, with their classes and modifications. Syntax treats of the relation, agreement, government, and arrangement, of words in sentences. Prosody treats of punctuation, utterance, figures, and versification. PART I. ORTHOGRAPHY. Orthography treats of letters, syllables, separate words, and spelling. CHAPTER I.-OF LETTERS. A Letter is an alphabetic mark, or character, commonly representing some elementary sound of a word. An elementary sound of a word, is a simple or primary sound of the human voice, used in speaking. The sound of a letter is commonly called its power: when any letter of a word is not sounded, it is said to be silent or mute. The letters in the English alphabet, are twenty-six; the simple or primary sounds in the language, are about thirty-six or thirty-seven. A knowledge of the letters consists in an acquaintance with these four sorts of things; their names, their classes, their powers, and their forms. The letters are written, or printed, or painted, or engraved, or embossed, in an infinite variety of shapes and sizes; and yet are always the same, because their essential properties do not change, and their names, classes, and powers, are mostly permanent. The following are some of the different sorts of types, or styles of letters, with which every reader should be early acquainted: 1. The Roman: A a, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, G g, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, L1, M m, N n, O o, P p, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z. XX, A ૧ 2. The Italic: Á a, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, LI, Mm, Nn, Oo, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy, Zz. Cc, D d, Ee, 3. The Script: A a, Bb, Ff, Gg, Hh, I i, J j, Mm, Nn, Oo, Of H h, Ll, Y y, Z z 4. The Old English: A a, B b, C c, d, Ee, Ff, Gg, h, I i, j, Kk, £ l, M m, N n, Oo, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T 1, U u, V v, W w, X x, V y, Z z. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.-LANGUAGE, in the primitive sense of the term, embraced only vocal expression, or human speech uttered by the mouth; but, after letters were invented to represent articulate sounds, language became twofold, spoken and written; so that the term language, now signifies, any series of Sounds or letters formed into words and employed for the expression of thought. OBS. 2.-Letters claim to be a part of language, not merely because they represent articulate sounds, or spoken words, but because they form words of themselves, and have the power to become intelligible signs of thought, even independently of sound. Literature being the counterpart of speech, and more plenteous in words, the person who cannot read and write, is about as deficient in language, as the well instructed deaf mute: perhaps more so; for copiousness, even of speech, results from letters. ÓBS. 3.-For the formation of words, letters have some important advantages over articulate or syllabic sounds, though the latter communicate thought more expeditiously. The written symbols subdivide even the least parts of spoken language, which are syllables, reducing them to a few |