The Principles of Grammar; An Introduction to the Study of the Laws of Language by the Inductive Method (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos or missing text. Not indexed. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1898. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... APPENDIX DIAGRAMS To The Teacher.--It is important, as a matter of ready and graphic statement of language relations, that the pupil be able to express his analysis in the form of diagram. This process should, however, be carefully guarded from becoming in the pupil's mind a method of determining grammatical relations rather than of expressing them. There is danger here of the study degenerating into mere formalism. Diagraming is not a process, but a result--not a method of analysis, but the expression of the analysis completed; especially is it not a test of grammatical relations. Misinterpreted and misused, --conceived as the grammatical touchstone or the final purpose of grammatical training, --it is capable of vitiating the entire study. Classes are often found to be expert in the use of diagrams who seem to have small comprehension of analysis. Nothing more should be required of the pupil than that he be able to make his meaning evident by his diagram. If, for his immediate purposes, some method other than your own seems to him preferable, no objection need be raised. Only the general features of any scheme need be emphasized. Neither now nor later should he be required to master in detail the niceties of any system; he would far better learn none. Any diagramatic system which is exhaustive and fully consistent with itself, is so complicated as not to be worth the learning. The authors are inclined to prefer in their own class-work a system of diagraming upon the general lines following. The sentence is diagramed upon a horizontal line as its main or base line; this base line may, however, often be omitted. The primary division of the sentence, that into subject and predicate, is indicated by two parallel lines, thus: The predicate of the sentence is al...