ENGLISH GRAMMAR, ILLUSTRATED BY EXERCISES IN COMPOSITION, ANALYZING AND PARSING. BY ALLEN H. WELD, A. M., AUTHOR OF ANALYZING AND PARSING BOOK, LATIN LESSONS AND READER. TWENTIETH EDITION. PORTLAND Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by SANBORN & CARTER, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Maine. 1 STEREOTYPED BY THURSTON & CO. PORTLAND, ME. PREFACE. THIS work was prepared with the hope of rendering the study of English Grammar more interesting and profitable than is usually the case under the ordinary methods of instruction. Testimonials from the highest sources, received since the first edition was published, have led the author to believe that his efforts to this end have not been entirely in vain. The work has been carefully revised, and a considerable part of it re-written, for the present edition. It has been enlarged by the addition of Introductory Lessons, Orthography, Prody, and other matter necessary to make the work more complete as a Grammar of the language. The subjects of Etymology and Syntax, are divided into three Parts. In the first, the Parts of Speech are defined, and their offices and relations explained. The noun is first illustrated in a familiar way, but still in a manner to relieve the teacher of the labor which properly belongs to the learner, by exercises on the black board or slate, and by supplying nouns in sentences which are left incomplete. These exercises are sufficiently extended to give a clear understanding of the Part of speech under examination. The Verb is next explained by a similar method. The Noun and the Verb are now united to form a sentence. The idea of a sentence is impressed upon the mind of the learner by a variety of exercises, questions and explanations. He is taught that the Noun and the Verb are the most important parts of speech, and that without employing both, no idea can be fully expressed in language. The Parts of speech which extend or limit, or in any manner modify the meaning of the Noun, are next in their proper order clearly illustrated and defined, and in like manner, the modifications of the Verb are explained. The sentence which was begun with two words, viz: the Noun and the Verb, is thus gradually extended, as nature dictates in learning language, and in ». manner which can hardly fail of making the relation of words well understood by the learner. After the sentence has been thus constructed, and the office and relation of each Part of speech explained, and after the terms by which its different parts are denominated, have been illustrated and defined, Exercises in Analysis are introduced, by which the learner is taught to resolve a sentence into the ele |