THE ETYMOLOGY AND SYNTAX OF MURRAY'S ENGLISH GRAMMAR SYSTEMATICALLY ARRANGED, AND CONTAINING MUCH ADDITIONAL MATTER, WITH COPIOUS EXERCISES BY CHARLOTTE KENNION. LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO. 4, STATIONERS' HALL COURT. 490. PREFACE. THE Author's design, in presenting the following work to the Public, is to assist young persons in the study of the elementary parts of the English language; and, by giving them a correct view of the general principles of Grammar, to facilitate their acquisition of other languages. It may, perhaps, be thought in some measure presumptuous to attempt to improve a portion of a work, which has, for so many years, been the standard book on the subject of English Grammar, and indeed almost the only one, which has had general circulation in the public and private seminaries of our land. If any apology is necessary for an effort so apparently bold and adventurous, it will be found in the fact, that in placing Murray's Grammar and Exercises in the hands of a pupil as a book of instruction, it has been necessary, in order to convey, step by step, an intelligent knowledge of the principles of grammar, to make, in almost every page, such alterations, additions, omissions, and transpositions, as have involved great labour, and serious loss of time. While, therefore, as the title-page imports, Murray is made the basis of the plan, there will be found very material alterations, which it is confidently hoped, will be considered improvements. For many passages that will be deemed the most valuable portions of the present work, as well as for the general system of parsing, the author is indebted to an able, though concise, Manuscript Grammar, put into her hands by a gentleman, whose attainments in a grammatical acquaintance with most of the ancient, as well as modern languages and dialects, together with a refined taste in elegant literature, rendered his instructions not only truly valuable, but exquisitely attractive. To have the pleasure of making this public acknowledgment to the merits of Richard Besley, Esq., while it can confer no honour on him, is a gratification too agreeable to allow the opportunity to pass without embracing it. A few Rules are introduced which are not drawn from either of the sources already mentioned, and which, it is believed, are not found in any grammar in our language. Some of these are interspersed in the work, in places which appeared appropriate: a few are added at the close, as supplementary, because, in addition to their not finding a suitable position elsewhere, it was supposed that learners in general might not be sufficiently advanced to be able, at an earlier stage, to enter into the consideration of the matter they contain. At the close of the volume, eighty lines of our Immortal Poet are fully parsed, as an example of what it is highly advantageous for young persons to be able to do. Many of our best pieces of poetry are not enjoyed by the young, because they are not understood: if they are correctly repeated, it is from the power of the rythm over the faculty of memory, and not from entering into the feeling or sentiment of the writer; and if the learner were required to put the sense of the author into good prose,—a very useful exercise, he would frequently find himself utterly at a loss. Passages in the poems of Homer, Virgil, Horace, &c., may be similarly parsed, with most beneficial results to the student, as also, portions of the Scriptures in the original languages. For the plan of the work, and the system of |