Word Study and English Grammar Part 1

Word Study and English Grammar.

by Frederick W. Hamilton.

PREFACE

This volume, and those which follow it in Part VI of this series, is a compilation from various sources. The occasion does not call for an original treatise, but it does call for something somewhat different from existing text-books. The books prepared for school use are too academic and too little related to the specific needs of the apprentice to serve the turn of those for whom this book is intended. On the other hand the books for writers and printers are as a rule too advanced for the best service to the beginner. The authors of this Part, therefore, have tried to compile from a wide range of authorities such material as would be suited to the needs and the experience of the young apprentice.

The "Rules for the Use and Arrangement of Words" are taken with some modifications from "How to Write Clearly," Edwin A. Abbott, Boston; Roberts Bros. This is a very excellent little book but is now, I believe, out of print. The tables of irregular verbs are the same as those used in "English Grammar for Common Schools," Robert C. and Thomas Metcalf, New York; American Book Co.

The student is recommended to study some good grammar with great care.

There are many good grammars. The one used in the schools in the apprentice's locality will probably do as well as any.

The student should learn to use the dictionary intelligently and should accustom himself to using it freely and frequently.

The student should also learn to use words correctly and freely. There are many good books devoted to the study of words, some of which ought to be easily available. One of the latest and one of the best is "Putnam's Word Book" published by Putnams, New York. It costs about a dollar and a half.

WORD STUDY AND ENGLISH GRAMMAR

_Importance of the Subject_

Word study and English grammar are important to the young printer for several reasons. In the first place, disregard of the correct use and combination of words is a distinct mark of inferiority and a serious bar to business and social advancement. A man's use of words is commonly taken as a measure of his knowledge and even of his intelligence.

Carelessness in this regard often causes a man to be held in much less esteem than he really deserves.

In the second place, it is quite as important that the printer should know something about the words and sentences which he puts on paper as it is that he should know something about the paper on which he puts them, or the type, ink, and press by means of which he puts them there.

In the third place, knowledge of words and their uses is indispensable to correct proofreading which is itself a branch of the printer's craft.

A working knowledge of words and their relations, that is, of rhetoric and grammar is therefore a tool and a very important tool of the printer.

This little book is not intended to be either a rhetoric or a grammar.

It is only intended to review some of the simplest principles of both subjects, to point out a few of the commonest mistakes, and to show the importance to the apprentice of the careful study and constant use of some of the many books on words, their combinations, and their uses.

_The Word Families_

All the words in the English language belong to one or another of nine families, each of which family has a special duty. If you will always remember to which family a word belongs and just what that family does, you will be saved from many very common errors. These nine families are: 1, nouns; 2, adjectives; 3, articles; 4, verbs; 5, p.r.o.nouns; 6, adverbs; 7, prepositions; 8, conjunctions; 9, interjections. This order of enumeration is not exactly the same as will be found in the grammars.

It is used here because it indicates roughly the order of the appearance of the nine families in the logical development of language. Some forms of interjections, however, may very probably have preceded any language properly so called.

_Nouns_

A noun is a word used as the name of anything that can be thought of, _John_, _boy_, _paper_, _cold_, _fear_, _crowd_. There are three things about a noun which indicate its relation to other words, its number, its gender, and its case. There are two numbers, singular meaning one, and plural meaning more than one.

The plural is generally formed by adding _s_ to the singular. There are a small number of nouns which form their plurals differently, _mouse_, _mice_; _child_, _children_; _foot_, _feet_. These must be learned individually from a dictionary or spelling book. There are some nouns which undergo changes in the final syllable when the _s_ is added, _torch_, _torches_; _staff_, _staves_; _fly_, _flies_. These also must be learned individually. There are some nouns which have no singular, such as _cattle_, _clothes_, some which have no plural, such as _physics_, _honesty_, _news_, and some which are the same in both singular and plural, such as _deer_, _trout_, _series_. Care must be taken in the use of these nouns, as in some cases their appearance is misleading, e. g., _mathematics_, _physics_, and the like are singular nouns having no plural, but owing to their form they are often mistaken for plurals.

Compound nouns, that is to say, nouns formed by the combination of two or three words which jointly express a single idea, generally change the princ.i.p.al word in the forming of the plural, _hangers-on_, _ink rollers_, but in a few cases both words change, for example, _men-servants_. These forms must be learned by observation and practice.

It is very important, however, that they be thoroughly learned and correctly used. Do not make such mistakes as _brother-in-laws_, _man-servants_.

Perhaps the most important use of number is in the relation between the noun and the verb. The verb as well as the noun has number forms and the number of the noun used as subject should always agree with that of the verb with which it is connected. Such expressions as "pigs is pigs,"

"how be you?" and the like, are among the most marked evidences of ignorance to be found in common speech. When this paragraph was originally written a group of high school boys were playing football under the writer's window. Sc.r.a.ps of their talk forced themselves upon his attention. Almost invariably such expressions as "you was," "they was," "he don't," "it aint," and the like took the place of the corresponding correct forms of speech.

Collective nouns, that is the nouns which indicate a considerable number of units considered as a whole, such as _herd_, _crowd_, _congress_, present some difficulties because the idea of the individuals in the collection interferes with the idea of the collection itself. The collective nouns call for the singular form of the verb except where the thought applies to the individual parts of the collection rather than to the collection as a whole, for instance, we say,

The crowd looks large.

but we say,

The crowd look happy.

because in one case we are thinking of the crowd and in the other of the persons who compose the crowd. So in speaking of a committee, we may say

The Committee thinks that a certain thing should be done.

or that

The Committee think that a certain thing should be done.

The first phrase would indicate that the committee had considered and acted on the subject and the statement represented a formal decision.

The second phrase would indicate the individual opinions of the members of the committee which might be in agreement but had not been expressed in formal action. In doubtful cases it is safer to use the plural.

Entire accuracy in these cases is not altogether easy. As in the case with all the nice points of usage it requires practice and continual self-observation. By these means a sort of language sense is developed which makes the use of the right word instinctive. It is somewhat a.n.a.logous to that sense which will enable an experienced bank teller to throw out a counterfeit bill instinctively when running over a large pile of currency even though he may be at some pains to prove its badness when challenged to show the reason for its rejection.

The young student should not permit himself to be discouraged by the apparent difficulty of the task of forming the habit of correct speech.

It is habit and rapidly becomes easier after the first efforts.

The relation of a noun to a verb, to another noun, or to a preposition is called its case. There are three cases called the nominative, objective, and possessive. When the noun does something it is in the nominative case and is called the subject of the verb.

The man cuts.

When the noun has something done to it it is in the objective case and is called the object of the verb.

The man cuts paper.

When a noun depends on a preposition, it is also in the objective case and is called the object of the preposition.

The paper is cut by machinery.

The preposition on which a noun depends is often omitted when not needed for clearness.