31 Mr 14 frais 425 W 93e 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. 258397 |