Words and Their Uses, Past and Present: A Study of the English Language |
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Page i
... fact and of opinion a few important modifications will be found ; one new chapter has been added . The sum of these alterations and corrections will , I hope , be regarded as such an improvement of the book as will make it more worthy ...
... fact and of opinion a few important modifications will be found ; one new chapter has been added . The sum of these alterations and corrections will , I hope , be regarded as such an improvement of the book as will make it more worthy ...
Page iii
... is said , that in language usage is both ir fact and of right the final law and the ground of law . But with any one who takes that for granted I cannot argue . We do not approach each other near enough for collision . AND FOREWORDS . iii.
... is said , that in language usage is both ir fact and of right the final law and the ground of law . But with any one who takes that for granted I cannot argue . We do not approach each other near enough for collision . AND FOREWORDS . iii.
Page iv
... fact which is sure to find some day suffi- cient illustration from other corollary facts grouped around . But we must do away once and for all with all notions of irregularity , and therefore drop the term which keeps such notions alive ...
... fact which is sure to find some day suffi- cient illustration from other corollary facts grouped around . But we must do away once and for all with all notions of irregularity , and therefore drop the term which keeps such notions alive ...
Page vi
... fact , than was part and parcel of studies in English literature generally , and particularly that of the Elizabethan period . But as these questions were speered at me , I thought it would be pleasant and profitable to answer them in ...
... fact , than was part and parcel of studies in English literature generally , and particularly that of the Elizabethan period . But as these questions were speered at me , I thought it would be pleasant and profitable to answer them in ...
Page 4
... fact I have not only set forth the reasons , but have endeavored to explain them with such detail as would enable my readers to see them for themselves , and take them to heart , instead of merely accepting or reject- ing my assertion ...
... fact I have not only set forth the reasons , but have endeavored to explain them with such detail as would enable my readers to see them for themselves , and take them to heart , instead of merely accepting or reject- ing my assertion ...
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Common terms and phrases
absurd action adjective American Anglo-Saxon authority auxiliary verb British called century Chaucer common compound correct criticism dative dictionary distinction eminent England English language etymology example existence express fact feminine following passage formal grammar French gender give grammar grammarians Greek guage heard hundred idiom ignorance inflection instance king lady Latin Latin language learned letter lish meaning meant merely misuse mood newspapers noun object participle passive passive voice peculiar perfect person phrase plural possession predicate present preterite pronoun puellam question readers reason RICHARD GRANT WHITE risum seems sense sentence Shakespeare simple singular speak speakers speech style substantive superfluous sure tence tense thing thou thought tion total depravity transitive verb transpire usage verb verbal verbal noun voice Webster's Dictionary woman word writers written wrote
Popular passages
Page 238 - If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir.
Page 342 - And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.
Page 157 - Aonian mount, while it pursues Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all temples the upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for thou know'st; thou from the first Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread, Dove-like, sat'st brooding on the vast abyss, And mad'st it pregnant...
Page 344 - Elmer; who teacheth me so gently, so pleasantly, with such fair allurements to learning, that I think all the time nothing whiles I am with him.
Page 397 - In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold; Alike fantastic, if too new, or old: Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.
Page 75 - That cherubim, which now appears as a God to a human soul, knows very well that the period will come about in eternity, when the human soul shall be as perfect as he himself now is : nay, when she shall look down upon that degree of perfection, as much as she now falls short of it.
Page 69 - The sense of feeling can indeed give us a notion of extension, shape, and all other ideas that enter at the eye, except colours ; but at the same time it is very much straitened and confined in its operations to the number, bulk, and distance of its particular objects.
Page 71 - There are few words in the English language which are employed in a more loose and uncircumscribed sense than those of the fancy and the imagination.
Page 71 - He can converse with a picture and find an agreeable companion in a statue. He meets with a secret refreshment in a description, and often feels a greater satisfaction in the prospect of fields and meadows, than another does in the possession.
Page 360 - tis so frequent, this is stranger still. Of man's miraculous mistakes, this bears The palm, " That all men are about to live," For ever on the brink of being born : All pay themselves the compliment to think They one day shall not drivel, and their pride On this reversion takes up ready praise; At least their own; their future selves...