PREFACE. New text-books on grammar appear annually, a fact which proves clearly the difficulty the teacher experiences in finding the ideal book for school use. Many of these books have admirable features, but few are adapted to the needs of the learner. The young pupil does not need an exhaustive treatise. What he does need is a concise statement of the actual facts of modern English — brief, clear definitions of the laws of language, and ample illustration of these principles by examples that illustrate, chosen from the masters of English. This second volume of a two-book course on English Grammar is designed to supply pupils of the seventh and eighth grades with a practical text-book. No attempt has been made to present a final treatise on the principles of grammar, or to correct the usages of the language. The method of the Primary Grammar was inductive and constructive, as suited to the needs of less mature pupils; the method of the English Grammar is expository and constructive. The essential facts of English, as used by scholars of the present day, are stated and defined, clearly and concisely. Every word or explanation not strictly necessary to clearness has been excluded; needless comment is more confusing than helpful. For this reason the English Grammar may be criticised when compared with other text-books. But it is believed that a good definition is worth a page of comment. Additional discussion may be left safely to the teacher. The next step is illustration. Each principle is abundantly illustrated by fresh examples drawn from well-known authors. Short, pithy sentences are here used by preference; the words of acknowledged masters in English literature are preferred to colloquial examples, or to extracts from less eminent, contemporary writers. Moreover, care has been taken that each illustration shall exemplify exactly the point in question, and that, other things being equal, a noble sentiment or a celebrated utterance shall be placed before the pupil rather than a negative or commonplace expression. A third matter is the exercises, which occur at frequent intervals. Here additional illustrations (as a rule, longer and widely varied in char annnlied for funthar practice in parsing or for discussion |