Part 18 (1/2)

”Hope springs eternal in the human breast; Man never _is_, but always =to be= blest”

_Pope_

”Who _was_, and who _is_, and who _is_ =to come=”--_Bible_ It is not that a man thinks himself already in possession of a sufficiency, but hopes =to be= qualified, etc

I _ao_ to-morrow I _am_ ready _to hear_ you recite your lesson He _has been waiting_ a long time _to see_ if some new principles will not be introduced He is prepared _to appear_ before you whenever you shall direct We _are_ resolved _to employ_ neuter verbs, potential and subjunctive moods, ier False grammars _are_ only fit-_ted to be_ laid aside We are in duty bound _to regard_ and _adopt_ truth, and _reject_ error; and we _are_ deter else

We are not surprised that people cannot coly difficult tolike sound sentiment But I will not stop to iven ht be said upon the character and use of verbs; but as these lectures are not designed for _a systeht_, but to expose the errors of existing systems, and prepare the way for a e, I shall leave this depart you will be able to comprehend our views, and appreciate their importance We have been somewhat critical in a part of our remarks, and more brief than we should have been, had we not found that ere clained as a h has been said, I am sure, to convince you, if you were not convinced before, why the study of grammar is so intricate and tedious, that it is to be accounted for froht are false in principle, and can not be adopted in practice; and that soe easy, interesting, and practical Such a work is here attempted; but it remains with the public to say whether these plain philosophical principles shall be sustained, matured, perfected, and adopted in schools, or the old roundabout course of useless and ineffectual teaching be still preserved

LECTURE XIV

ON CONTRACTIONS

A temporary expedient--Words not understood--All wordsand for in _ly_--Exao--Astray

--Awake--Asleep--Then, when--There, where, here--While, till--Whether, together--Ever, never, whenever, etc--Oft--Hence

--Perhaps--Not--Or--Nor--Than--As--So--Distinctions false--Rule 18--If--But--Tho--Yet

We have concluded our res _named_, _defined_ and _described_, and their _actions_, _relations_, and _tendencies_, have been considered under the classes of Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs To these classes all words belong when properly explained; a fact we desire you to bear constantly in e But there are e as well as uised that theiris not easily comprehended Of course they are difficult of explanation These words we have classed under the head of _Contractions_, a term better calculated than any other we have seen adopted to express their character We do not however lay any stress on the appropriateness of this appellation, but adopt it as a temporary expedient, till these words shall be better understood They will then be ranked in their proper places a the classes already noticed

Under this head may be considered the words usually known as ”adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections” That the etyenerally understood will be conceded, I presume, on all hands In our opinion, that is the only reason why they have been considered under these different heads, for in nu in their import to correspond with such distinctions Why ”an adverb expresses so a verb, adjective, or other adverb;” why ”a conjunction is chiefly used to connect sentences, so as out of _two_ to make only _one_ sentence;” or why ”prepositions serve to connect words with one another, and show the relation between them,” has never been explained They have been _passed over_ with little difficulty by teachers, having been furnished with lists of words in each ”part of speech,” which they require their pupils to commit tothem But that these words have been defined or explained in a way to be understood will not be pretended In justification of such ignorance, it is contended that such explanation is not essential to their proper and elegant use If such is the fact, we e, and exonerate children froy

But these words have , and sustain a enerally, abbreviated, coin and forenerally known

Horne Tooke calls thes_ of Mercury” He says ”tho wewithout them, it would be with much difficulty, very heavily and tediously” But when he undertakes to show that they were _constructed_ for this object, he mistakes their true character; for they were not invented for that purpose, but were originally employed as nouns or verbs, from which they have been corrupted by use And he seems to admit this fact when he says,[19] ”_abbreviation_ and _corruption_ are always busiest with the words which arevery apt to desert and drop off in a long e happens to lie near the confines of an enee a set of literary ether and manufacture a lot of words, finished thro out and exactly adapted to the expression of thought Had that been the case, language would doubtless have appeared in a ular, stiff, and formal dress, and been deprived of ures, its richest and boldest expressions Necessity is the mother of invention It was not until people had _ideas_ to coht a ht frons were adopted as would best answer their purpose But language was not then framed like a cotton mill, every part cole expressions, _sign_-ificant of things, or _ideas_ of _things_ and _actions_, were first employed, in the most simple, plain, and easy e, by observing the character, relations, and differences of things, words were changed, altered, compounded, and contracted, so as to keep pace with such advance on perfect and distinct principles, ether and forine, of astonishi+ng power, and great utility In the adaptation of steaines operated were somewhat modified Some wheels, shafts, bands, screws, etc, were omitted, others of a different kind were added, till the whole appeared in a new character, and the engine, before fixed to a spot, was seen traversing the road with iine, so far fro unessential, were indispensable to the construction of the new one, and should be clearly understood by him ould build or _use_ the latter

So, in the fore, simple _first_ principles must be observed and traced thro all their ramifications, by those ould obtain a clear and thoro knowledge of it, or ”read and write it with propriety”

In mathematics, the four simple rules, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, for science depends Theto their various capabilities, will give a coe of all that can be known of numbers, relations, and proportions, an acme to which all may aspire, tho none have yet attained it The principles of language are equally simple, and, if correctly explained, may be as well understood

But the difficulty under which we labor in this department of science, is the paucity of _ e has been eht, for six thousand years, and in that long space has undergone e modifications At the dispersion froues” occasioned thereby, people were thrown upon their own resources, and left to pick up by piecemeal such shreds as should afterwards be wove into a system, and adopted by their respective nations Wars, pestilence, and faion, brought the different nations into intercourse with each other; and changes were thus produced in the languages of such people Whoever will take the trouble to compare the idioms of speech adopted by those nations whose affairs, civil, political, and religious, are most intimately allied, will be convinced of the correctness of the senties, words would not only change their for, so as to correspond with the ideas of those who use them Some would become obsolete, and others be adopted in their stead Many words are found in the Bible which are not in co, as well as soed in that book, since it was translated and first published in 1610 With these examples you are fa them I have already made some extracts froain before I close this lecture

The words which we class under the head of Contractions, are so altered and disguised in their appearance, that their etyenerally understood It ation into their origin and e the truth, and owna full explanation of all the words which belong to this class I will be candid, if I a considered difficult, h to convince you of the feasibility of the ground we have assumed, and furnish a sample by which to pursue the subject in all our future inquiries into the etyy of words

But even if I fail in this matter, I shall have one coression; for no philologist, with few exceptions, has done any thing like justice to this subject Our cora_ of these words, but have treated them as tho they had none Classes, like pens or reservoirs, are made for them, into which they are thrown, and allowed to rest, only to be na disturbed Sometimes, however, they are found in one enclosure, sometimes in another, more by mistake, I apprehend, than by intention; for ”prepositions” under certain circumstances are parsed as ”adverbs,” and ”adverbs” as ”adjectives,”

and ”conjunctions” as either ”adverbs” or ”prepositions;” and not unfrequently the whole go off together, like the tail of the dragon, drawing other respectable words along with thenomen of ”adverbial phrases,” or ”conjunctive expressions;” as, Can you write your lesson? _Not yet quite well enough_ ”_But and if_ that evil servant,”[21] etc Mr Murray says, ”the same word is occasionally used _both as_ a conjunction _and as_ an adverb, and sometimes _as_ a preposition

Let these words be correctly defined, theirbe ferreted out from the rubbish in which they have been enclosed; or have their dismembered parts restored to them, they will then appear in their true character, and their connexion with other words will be found regular and easy

Until such work is accomplished, they may as well be called contractions, for such they _ else; for that appellation we regard as more appropriate than any other

In the atteuided by sound philosophic principles and the light of patient investigation; and whatever advances we may make shall be in strict accordance with the true and practical use of these words

Let us begin with _Adverbs_

I have not tiation of the rammarians have fallen in their attempts to explain this ”part of speech” Mr Murray says they ”seeinally to have been _contrived_ to express compendiously in _one word_, what must _otherwise_ have required two or more; as, ”he acted _wisely_” They could have been ”_contrived_” for no such purpose, for we have already seen that they are ether, which are used to express relation, to define or describe other things Take the very exaiven _Wisely_ is made up of tords; _wise_ and _like_ ”He acted wisely,” wise-like What did he _act_? _Wisely_, we are taught, expresses the ”_manner_ or quality” of the verb _act_ But _act_, in this case, is a neuter or intransitive verb, and _wisely_ expresses the _manner of action_ where there is none! But heelse What did he act?

If he produced no _actions_, how can it be known that he _acted_ wisely or unwisely? _Action_ or _acts_ is the direct object of to _act_ Hence the sentence fully stated would stand thus: ”He acted _acts_ or _actions_ like wise actions or acts” But stated at length, it appears aukward and clumsy, like old fashi+oned vehicles We have modified, improved, cut down, and made eliptical, all of our expressions, as we have previously observed, to suit the fashi+ons and custoarments to correspond with the latest fashi+ons