FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF AN ENGLISH SENTENCE TOGETHER WITH A NEW SYSTEM OF ANALYTIC MARKS BY THE REV. W. G. WRIGHTSON, M.A. CANTAB. London MACMILLAN AND CO. 1882 The Right of Translation and Reproduction is Reserved. PREFACE. THE following work is a contribution towards the study of English grammar on such principles as may make our mothertongue the best possible foundation for the study of kindred types of speech. It is a work on that Analysis of a Sentence which, by laying bare the elements of spoken thought, affords the only solid foundation for comparative grammar. As a gradual growth, the structure of a language must always be examined on historic principles. Hence I have been obliged to refer to some of the earlier forms of speech, and in particular to that Old English which was spoken by our Anglo-Saxon ancestors. The prominence accorded to O.E. might be justified on the ground that it affords the earliest specimens of the language which has developed into the English of to-day. There is, however, another reason. The O.E. in use from A.D. 450 to A.D. 1100 is inflectional to so considerable an extent, that it prepares the mind of a mere English scholar to apprehend the nature of the so-called classical languages. With regard to the treatment of my subject, I must make a few remarks. |