A

PRACTICAL GRAMMAR:

IN WHICH

WORDS, PHRASES, AND SENTENCES ARE CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO
THEIR OFFICES, AND THEIR RELATION TO EACH OTHER.

ILLUSTRATED BY

A COMPLETE SYSTEM OF DIAGRAMS.

"Speech is the body of thought."

BY S. W. CLARK, A. M.,

PRINCIPAL OF EAST BLOOMFIELD ACADEMY.

SIXTH EDITION.

NEW YORK:

PUBLISHED BY A. S. BARNES & COMPANY,
NO. 51 JOHN-STREET.

CINCINNATI:-H. W. DERBY & COMPANY.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by

S. W.CLARK,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the North

ern District of New-York.

Stereotyped by C. Davison & Co., 32 Gold St.

Printer, cor. Dutch and John sts

PREFACE.

THE GRAMMAR of a Language, Quinctilian has justly remarked, is like the foundation of a building; the most important part, although out of sight, and not always properly valued by those most interested in its condition.

In the opinion of many modern educators there is a tendency, on the part of all, to neglect this important branch of English Education-not so · much from a conviction that the science is not important, as that there is a radical defect in the common method of presenting it to the attention of the scholar. This was the sentiment of the Author, when, some ten years since, he was called to the supervision of a Literary Institution in which was established a department for the education of Teachers. Accordingly, recourse was had to oral instruction; and for the convenience of teachers, a manuscript grammar was prepared, which embodied the principles of the science and the Author's mode of presenting it. These principles and this method have been properly tested by numerous and advanced classes during the seven years last past. The manuscript has, in the mean time, from continued additions unexpectedly grown to a book. It has received the favorable notice of teachers, and its publication has been, by teachers, repeatedly solicited. To these solicitations the Author is constrained to yield; and in the hope and belief that the work will "add to the stock of human knowledge," or at least tend to that result, by giving an increased interest to the study of the English Language, it is, with diffidence, submitted to the public.

In revising the work for publication, an effort has been made to render it simple in style, comprehensive in matter, adapted to the capacities of he younger pupil, and to the wants of the more advanced scholar. It is confidently believed that the METHOD of teaching Grammar herein suggested is the true method. The method adopted by most text-books, may be well suited to the wants of foreigners in first learning our language. They need, first, to learn our Alphabet-the powers and sounds, and the proper combinations of letters-the definition of words and their classifi

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