1
       CHAPTER I.
       CHAPTER II.
       CHAPTER III.
       CHAPTER X.
       CHAPTER XI.
       CHAPTER I.
       CHAPTER II.
       CHAPTER III.
       CHAPTER IV.
       CHAPTER V.
       CHAPTER VI.
       CHAPTER I.
       CHAPTER II.
       CHAPTER III.
       CHAPTER IV.
       CHAPTER V.
       CHAPTER VIII.
       CHAPTER I
       CHAPTER II
       CHAPTER III.
       CHAPTER IV.
       CHAPTER V.
       CHAPTER VI.
       CHAPTER I.
       CHAPTER II.
       CHAPTER III.
       CHAPTER IV.
       CHAPTER I.
       CHAPTER II.
       CHAPTER III.
       THE GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH GRAMMARS,             2
       CHAPTER IV.
       CHAPTER V.
       CHAPTER VI.
       CHAPTER VII.
       CHAPTER VIII.
       CHAPTER IX.
       CHAPTER X.
       CHAPTER XI.
       CHAPTER I.
       CHAPTER II.
       CHAPTER III.
       CHAPTER IV.
       CHAPTER V.
       CHAPTER VI.
       THE
       GRAMMAR
       OF
       ENGLISH GRAMMARS,
       WITH
       AN INTRODUCTION
       HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL;
       THE WHOLE
       METHODICALLY ARRANGED AND AMPLY ILLUSTRATED;
       WITH
       FORMS OF CORRECTING AND OF PARSING, IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION, EXAMPLES
       FOR PARSING, QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION, EXERCISES FOR WRITING, OBSERVATIONS
       FOR THE ADVANCED STUDENT, DECISIONS AND PROOFS FOR THE SETTLEMENT OF
       DISPUTED POINTS, OCCASIONAL STRICTURES AND DEFENCES, AN EXHIBITION OF THE
       SEVERAL METHODS OF ANALYSIS,
       AND
       A KEY TO THE ORAL EXERCISES:
       TO WHICH ARE ADDED
       FOUR APPENDIXES,
       PERTAINING SEPARATELY TO THE FOUR PARTS OF GRAMMAR.
       BY GOOLD BROWN,
       THE GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH GRAMMARS,             3
       AUTHOR OF THE INSTITUTES OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, THE FIRST LINES OF ENGLISH
       GRAMMAR, ETC.
       "So let great authors have their due, that Time, who is the author of authors, be not deprived of his due, which
       is, farther and farther to discover truth."--LORD BACON.
       SIXTH EDITION--REVISED AND IMPROVED.
       ENLARGED BY THE ADDITION OF A COPIOUS INDEX OF MATTERS.
       BY SAMUEL U. BERRIAN, A. M.
       PREFACE
       The present performance is, so far as the end could be reached, the fulfillment of a design, formed about
       twenty-seven years ago, of one day presenting to the world, if I might, something like a complete grammar of
       the English language;--not a mere work of criticism, nor yet a work too tame, indecisive, and uncritical; for, in
       books of either of these sorts, our libraries already abound;--not a mere philosophical investigation of what is
       general or universal in grammar, nor yet a minute detail of what forms only a part of our own philology; for
       either of these plans falls very far short of such a purpose;--not a mere grammatical compend, abstract, or
       compilation, sorting with other works already before the public; for, in the production of school grammars, the
       author had early performed his part; and, of small treatises on this subject, we have long had a
       superabundance rather than a lack.
       After about fifteen years devoted chiefly to grammatical studies and exercises, during most of which time I
       had been alternately instructing youth in four different languages, thinking it practicable to effect some
       improvement upon the manuals which explain our own, I prepared and published, for the use of schools, a
       duodecimo volume of about three hundred pages; which, upon the presumption that its principles were
       conformable to the best usage, and well established thereby, I entitled, "The Institutes of English Grammar."
       Of this work, which, it is believed, has been gradually gaining in reputation and demand ever since its first
       publication, there is no occasion to say more here, than that it was the result of diligent study, and that it is,
       essentially, the nucleus, or the groundwork, of the present volume.
       With much additional labour, the principles contained in the Institutes of English Grammar, have here been
       not only reaffirmed and rewritten, but occasionally improved in expression, or amplified in their details. New
       topics, new definitions, new rules, have also been added; and all parts of the subject have been illustrated by a
       multiplicity of new examples and exercises, which it has required a long time to amass and arrange. To the
       main doctrines, also, are here subjoined many new observations and criticisms, which are the results of no
       inconsiderable reading and reflection.
       Regarding it as my business and calling, to work out the above-mentioned purpose as circumstances might
       permit, I have laid no claim to genius, none to infallibility; but I have endeavoured to be accurate, and aspired
       to be useful; and it is a part of my plan, that the reader of this volume shall never, through my fault, be left in
       doubt as to the origin of any thing it contains. It is but the duty of an author, to give every needful facility for
       a fair estimate of his work; and, whatever authority there may be for anonymous copying in works on
       grammar, the precedent is always bad.
       The success of other labours, answerable to moderate wishes, has enabled me to pursue this task under
       favourable circumstances, and with an unselfish, independent aim. Not with vainglorious pride, but with
       reverent gratitude to God, I acknowledge this advantage, giving thanks for the signal mercy which has
       upborne me to the long-continued effort. Had the case been otherwise,--had the labours of the school-room
       been still demanded for my support,--the present large volume would never have appeared. I had desired some
       THE GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH GRAMMARS,             4
       leisure for the completing of this design, and to it I scrupled not to sacrifice the profits of my main
       employment, as soon as it could be done without hazard of adding another chapter to "the Calamities of
       Authors."
       The nature and design of this treatise are perhaps sufficiently developed in connexion with the various topics
       which are successively treated of in the Introduction. That method of teaching, which I conceive to be the
       best, is also there described. And, in the Grammar itself, there will be found occasional directions concerning
       the manner of its use. I have hoped to facilitate the study of the English language, not by abridging our
       grammatical code, or by rejecting the common phraseolgy [sic--KTH] of its doctrines, but by extending the
       former, improving the latter, and establishing both;--but still more, by furnishing new illustrations of the
       subject, and arranging its vast number of particulars in such order that every item may be readily found.
       An other important purpose, which, in the preparation of this work, has been borne constantly in mind, and
       judged worthy of very particular attention, was the attempt to settle, so far as the most patient investigation
       and the fullest exhibition of proofs could do it, the multitudinous and vexatious disputes which have hitherto
       divided the sentiments of teachers, and made the study of English grammar so uninviting, unsatisfactory, and
       unprofitable, to the student whose taste demands a reasonable degree of certainty.
       "Whenever labour implies the exertion of thought, it does good, at least to the strong: when the saving of
       labour is a saving of thought, it enfeebles. The mind, like the body, is strengthened by hard exercise: but, to
       give this exercise all its salutary effect, it should be of a reasonable kind; it should lead us to the perception of
       regularity, of order, of principle, of a law. When, after all the trouble we have taken, we merely find
       anomalies and confusion, we are disgusted with what is so uncongenial: and, as our higher faculties have not
       been called into action, they are not unlikely to be outgrown by the lower, and overborne as it were by the
       underwood of our minds. Hence, no doubt, one of the reasons why our language has been so much neglected,
       and why such scandalous ignorance prevails concerning its nature and history, is its unattractive,
       disheartening irregularity: none but Satan is fond of plunging into chaos."--Philological Museum, (Cambridge,
       Eng., 1832,) Vol. i, p. 666.
       If there be any remedy for the neglect and ignorance here spoken of, it must be found in the more effectual
       teaching of English grammar. But the principles of grammar can never have any beneficial influence over any
       person's manner of speaking or writing, till by some process they are made so perfectly familiar, that he can
       apply them with all the readiness of a native power; that is, till he can apply them not only to what has been
       said or written, but to whatever he is about to utter. They must present themselves to the mind as by intuition,
       and with the quickness of thought; so as to regulate his language before it proceeds from the lips or the pen. If
       they come only by tardy recollection, or are called to mind but as contingent afterthoughts, they are altogether
       too late; and serve merely to mortify the speaker or writer, by reminding him of some deficiency or
       inaccuracy which there may then be no chance to amend.
       But how shall, or can, this readiness be acquired? I answer, By a careful attention to such exercises as are
       fitted to bring the learner's knowledge into practice. The student will therefore find, that I have given him
       something to do, as well as something to learn. But, by the formules and directions in this work, he is very
       carefully shown how to proceed; and, if he be a tolerable reader, it will be his own fault, if he does not, by
       such aid, become a tolerable grammarian. The chief of these exercises are the parsing of what is right, and the
       correcting of what is wrong; both, perhaps, equally important; and I have intended to make them equally easy.
       To any real proficient in grammar, nothing can be more free from embarrassment, than the performance of
       these exercises, in all ordinary cases. For grammar, rightly learned, institutes in the mind a certain knowledge,
       or process of thought, concerning the sorts, properties, and relations, of all the words which can be presented
       in any intelligible sentence; and, with the initiated, a perception of the construction will always instantly
       follow or accompany a discovery of the sense: and instantly, too, should there be a perception of the error, if
       any of the words are misspelled, misjoined, misapplied,--or are, in any way, unfaithful to the sense intended.