at the first strain of actual practice, and results in disappointment and disgust. It must be understood, therefore, that the present work will only enable the young student to deal with sentences of perfectly plain and ordinary construction. By the time he nas gone through it, he will be able to analyse sentences of very moderate difficulty; but he must not be daunted if he finds that for the present, he can do no more. I think he will find that what he knows, he knows well; and he will afterwards attack the more difficult constructions, as they are presented to him in my larger grammars, with interest and confidence. The Exercises in this edition have been greatly amplified, and entirely remodelled upon the plan adopted in my recently published "Shorter English Grammar." This is one of the most important parts of the work. Young learners cannot master wordy discussions presented to them in a book. They require clear, short, and accurate definitions and rules, brought within their comprehension by the oral explanation and illustrations of an intelligent teacher, and followed up by abundant practice, embodied in carefully graduated exercises. In dealing with these also the work of beginners should, as far as possible, be gone through viva voce. I have endeavoured to make these exercises as varied, useful, and lively as possible. Young learners hate prosy, stilted sentences. They enter much better into the grammar of an illustration, if the subject-matter of it is something familiar to their daily lives and thoughts; and an occasional laugh at some homely topic does a good deal towards dispelling the listlessness which is apt to creep over a class. DUKESELL, CHRISTCHURCH ROAD, STREATHAM, January, 1879. C. P. MASON. HISTORICAL OUTLINE. THE various languages spoken by mankind admit of being grouped together in certain great families, the members of each of which resemble each other more or less closely in the words used to express ideas, and in the grammatical framework of forms and inflexions by which the words are combined. One of these families of languages has been called the Indo-European, or Aryan family. It includes the Sanscrit, Persian, Slavonian, Latin, Greek, Keltic, and Teutonic languages. The Teutonic branch of this family is divided into two principal stocks, the Scandinavian and the German; and the German stock is again subdivided into High German languages (spoken in the mountainous districts of the south of Germany) and Low German languages (spoken in the northern lowlands of Germany). English belongs to the Low German branch of the. Teutonic stock, and is akin to Frisian, Dutch, Flemish, Platt-Deutsch, and Mœso-Gothic. The inhabitants of Gaul and Britain, when those countries were invaded by the Romans, were of Keltic race, and spoke various dialects of the Keltic group of languages. The conquered Gauls adopted the Latin language, and the Franks and Normans, who at a later time established themselves in the country, adopted the language of the people they conquered. Thus it has come about that French is for the most part a corrupted form of Latin, belonging to that group of languages which is called 'Romance.' The Keltic inhabitants of Britain did not adopt the Latin language, but retained their own Keltic dialects. One of these is still spoken by the Keltic inhabitants of Wales. English is the language brought into England by the Saxons and Angles, who in the fifth century conquered and dispossessed the British or Keltic inhabitants, and drove the remnants of them into the remote mountainous corners of the island, especially Wales, Cornwall (which was called West Wales), and Strathclyde (comprising Cumberland, Westmoreland, and the Western Lowlands of Scotland). They were a Teutonic race, coming from the lowland region in the northwestern part of Germany. The name Angle appears to have belonged at first only to one division of these Teutonic invaders; but in course of time, though long before the Norman Conquest, it was B extended over the rest, and the entire body of the Teutonic inhabitants of our country called themselves and their language English, and their country England (Angle-land). In speaking of themselves they also, at least for a time, employed the compound term AngloSaxon. English thus became the predominant language in our island from the Firth of Forth* to the English Channel, and has continued so for more than thirteen centuries. During this time, it has, of course, undergone many changes. It has adopted many new words from other languages, and its forms have been altered to some extent; but it has lasted in unbroken continuity from its introduction until now. Modern English is only a somewhat altered form of the language which was brought into England by the Saxons and Angles, and which in its early form, before the changes consequent upon the Norman Conquest, is commonly called Anglo-Saxon. The grammatical framework of Modern English is still purely Anglo-Saxon. The As regards its form, Anglo-Saxon (or old English) differed from modern English in this respect, that it had a much greater number of grammatical inflexions. Thus nouns had five cases, and there were different declensions (as in Latin); adjectives were declined, and had three genders; pronouns had more forms, and some had a dual number as well as a singular and plural; the verbs had more variety in their personal terminations. greater part of these inflexions were dropped in the course of the three centuries following the Norman Conquest, the grammatical functions of several of them being now served by separate words, such as prepositions and auxiliary verbs. This change is what is meant when it is said that Anglo-Saxon (or ancient English) was an inflexional language, and that modern English is an analytical language. The greater part of the foreign words that have been incorporated into English, and are now part and parcel of the language, may be divided into the following classes : 1. Words of Keltic origin.—The Anglo-Saxons adopted a few Keltic words from such Britons as they kept among them as slaves or wives. These words consist chiefly of geographical names, such as Avon, Don, Usk, Exe, Ouse, Pen (in Penrith, Penzance), Mendip, Wight, Kent, &c.; and words relating to common household matters, such as kiln, crook, clout, darn, gruel, mattock, mop, rug, wire, &c. 2. Words of Scandinavian origin.-Men of Scandinavian race (Picts, Norsemen, and Danes) made repeated incursions into this island during several centuries, and established themselves in force on the eastern side of the island, in East Anglia, Northumbria, and part of Mercia. In consequence of this a good many Scandinavian words made their way into common use, and Danish or Scandinavian forms appear in many names of places in the districts occupied by * Lowland Scotch is a genuine Anglian dialect, and has kept closer to the Teutonic tipa than modern English. |