Advertisement. The ninth and eleventh editions of this work have been much enlarged and improved. Exercises adapted to the rules, have, in many instances, been copiously supplied. In particular, the exercises in parsing have not only been very considerably augmented; they have also been moulded into a new form and arrangement, which the author hopes will facilitate to young persons the acquisition of this fundamental part of grammatical knowledge. An Abridgment must necessarily be concise, and it will, in some points, be obscure. Those teachers, therefore, who do not make use of the author's larger grammar, in their schools, will find an advantage by consulting it themselves. Many of the rules and positions are, in that work, supported and illustrated by particular disquisitions; and the connexion of the whole system is clearly exhibited. The sixteenth edition of the duodecimo Grammar has, in these respects, received considerable improvements. The Grammar and Exercises in two volumes octavo, may be consulted with still greater advantage. Holdgate, near York, 1803. Advertisement TO THE BOSTON SECOND STEREOTYPE EDITION. THE principal object of this Edition of Grammar, has been to supply some of the defects, which have been experienced in the use of Mr. Murray's abridgment, and so to enlarge it, that it may the more effectually assist the pupil in parsing and in the correction of the English Exercises.-All that is important, in the large Grammar, concerning Syntax and Punctuation, has been carefully condensed within the compass of this volume. Care has also been taken to preserve the "Abridgment" entire, and not to violate nor distort, in the enlargement, any principle of the Author, but to give his own rules and principles, as nearly in his own language, as the nature of the work would admit. How far the Editor has been successful in his attempts, is for a candid Publick to decide. The list of questions, it is believed, will give value to the book, and prove a useful incitement to application and correctness in the pupil. It is also believed, that this book will be found, not only, more convenient for use than a larger one; but, likewise, suffici ently copious to answer the purpose of Teachers and Pupils generally, and thereby prevent the necessity and expense of another book. Persons desirous of obtaining an extensive and critical knowledge of Grammar, it is not expected, will content themselves simply with the use of a compendium. Boston, Jan. 1824. The proofs of this Edition have been carefully compared and corrected, by a copy printed under the inspection of Mr. Mur ray himself. N. B. TO THE SECOND EDITION. As the plates of the first Edition of this work, were destroyed by fire, a Second has been prepared with additions, and other improvements, interspersed through the Book, which, it is believed, wi render it much more useful and valuable than were former impressions. The Rules, Appendages, and Notes, in this Grammar, are numbered to correspond to the English Teacher, and the "Boston Stereotype Edition of Murray's Exercises" prepared by the EDITOR. ENGLISH GRAMMAR is the art of speaking and writing the English language with propriety. It is divided into four parts, viz. OrthogrAPHY, ETYMOLOGY, SYNTAX, and PROSODY. ORTHOGRAPHY. LETTERS Orthography teaches the nature and powers of letters, and the just method of spelling words. A letter is the first principle, or least part, of a word. The letters of the English language, called the English Alphabet, are twenty-six in number. These letters are the representatives of certain articulate sounds, the elements of the language. An articulate sound, is the sound of the human voice, formed by the organs of speech. Letters are divided into vowels and consonants. A vowel is an articulate sound, that can be perfectly uttered by itself; as, a, e, o; which are formed without the help of any other sound. A consonant is an articulate sound, which cannot be perfectly uttered without the help of a vowel ; as, b, d, f, l; which require vowels to express them fully. The vowels are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes w and y. |