A Grammar of the English Tongue
()
About this ebook
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson (1709 – 1784) was an English writer – a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. His works include the biography The Life of Richard Savage, an influential annotated edition of Shakespeare's plays, and the widely read tale Rasselas, the massive and influential Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, and most notably, A Dictionary of the English Language, the definitive British dictionary of its time.
Read more from Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson: Selected Essays Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSamuel Johnson Quote Ultimate Collection - The Wit and Wisdom of Samuel Johnson Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHarvard Classics: All 71 Volumes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNotes to Shakepeare's Tragedies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete Works of Samuel Johnson Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe History of Rasselas: Prince of Abissinia Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Major Works of Samuel Johnson Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLives of the Poets, Volume 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJohnson's Lives of the Poets — Volume 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNotes to Shakespeare — Volume 01: Comedies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJourney to the Western Islands of Scotland Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Preface to Shakespeare Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Johnson's Dictionary: A Modern Selection Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To The Hebrides: Samuel Johnson's Journey to the Western Islands and James Boswell's Journal of a Tour Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Vanity of Human Wishes (1749) and Two Rambler papers (1750) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPreface to Shakespeare Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Works of Samuel Johnson, Volume 04 The Adventurer; The Idler Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPoetical Works of Johnson, Parnell, Gray, and Smollett: With Memoirs, Critical Dissertations, and Explanatory Notes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Works of Samuel Johnson Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJohnson's Lives of the Poets — Volume 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBook of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to A Grammar of the English Tongue
Related ebooks
Sämtliche Sherlock Holmes-Romane Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlain Facts for Old and Young Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPreface to a Dictionary of the English Language Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThat's it.: Its all about you… Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Dictionary of English and Romance Languages Equivalent Proverbs Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Unfinished: How to Approach Life's Detours, Do-Overs, and Disappointments Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Silly Adventures Of Sally, Simon, And Smarty Pants Sam Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIdiom Attack Vol. 2 - Doing Business (Sim. Chinese Edition): 战胜词组攻击 2 - 职场必备: Idiom Attack, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Moral Business: Classical and Contemporary Resources for Ethics in Economic Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Grammar: Them's the Rules Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5German - Learn 35 Words to Speak German Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsModern Proverbs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCompetitive Speaking: A Guide for Preparing and Winning High School and College Speaking Event Competitions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConcise Dictionary of Idioms Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Idiom Attack Vol. 2 - Doing Business (Trad. Chinese Edition): 成語攻擊 2 - 職場必備: Idiom Attack, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Red Badge of Courage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTam O'Shanter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEnglish Danish Bible - The Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke & John: Basic English 1949 - Dansk 1931 - Dansk 1871 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBible Insight Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmanda’s Dream Amandas Traum: English German Bilingual Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBilly Budd Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTom Hanks on Life, Movies, and Hollywood Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGot Speaking Fright? Who Ya Gonna Call? Toastmasters! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great Minds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEnglish German Bible No1: King James 1611 - Lutherbibel 1912 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Handful of Stars: Texts That Have Moved Great Minds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Journey of Divine Connections Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMcGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Idoms and Phrasal Verbs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeyond Good and Evil Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Classics For You
The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Things They Carried Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mythos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Master & Margarita Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Grapes of Wrath Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Confederacy of Dunces Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights (with an Introduction by Mary Augusta Ward) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebecca Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey: (The Stephen Mitchell Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Old Man and the Sea: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learn French! Apprends l'Anglais! THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY: In French and English Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Jungle: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Farewell to Arms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Have Always Lived in the Castle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little Women (Seasons Edition -- Winter) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5East of Eden Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnimal Farm: A Fairy Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ulysses: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sense and Sensibility (Centaur Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Count of Monte Cristo (abridged) (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Master and Margarita Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As I Lay Dying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Count of Monte-Cristo English and French Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for A Grammar of the English Tongue
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
A Grammar of the English Tongue - Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
A Grammar of the English Tongue
EAN 8596547011071
DigiCat, 2022
Contact: DigiCat@okpublishing.info
Table of Contents
I.
O.
U.
Y.
GENERAL RULES.
OF CONSONANTS.
B.
C.
D.
F.
G.
H.
J.
K.
L.
M.
N.
P.
Q.
R.
S.
T.
V.
W.
X.
Y.
Z.
ETYMOLOGY.
Of the ARTICLE.
AN, A.
THE.
Of NOUNS SUBSTANTIVE.
Of ADJECTIVES.
The Comparison of Adjectives.
Of PRONOUNS.
Of the VERB.
Of IRREGULAR VERBS.
Of DERIVATION.
SYNTAX.
PROSODY.
I.
Table of Contents
I has a sound long, as fīne; and short as fĭn.
That is eminently observable in i, which may be likewise remarkable in other letters, that the short sound is not the long sound contracted, but a sound wholly different.
The long sound in monosyllables is always marked by the e final, as thĭn, thīne.
I is often sounded before r, as a short u; as flirt, first, shirt.
It forms a diphthong only with e, as field, shield, which is sounded as the double ee; except friend, which is sounded as frĕnd.
I is joined with eu in lieu, and ew in view; which triphthongs are sounded as the open u.
O.
Table of Contents
O is long, as bōne, ōbedient, corrōding; or short, as blŏck, knŏck, ŏblique, lŏll.
Women is pronounced wimen.
The short o has sometimes the sound of close u, as son, come.
O coalesces into a diphthong with a, as moan, groan, approach: oa has the sound of o long.
O is united to e in some words derived from Greek, as œconomy; but as being not an English diphthong, they are better written as they are sounded, with only e, economy.
With i, as oil, soil, moil, noisome.
This coalition of letters seems to unite the sounds of the two letters, as far as two sounds can be united without being destroyed, and therefore approaches more nearly than any combination in our tongue to the notion of a diphthong.
With o, as boot, hoot, cooler; oo has the sound of the Italian u.
With u or w, as our, power, flower; but in some words has only the sound of o long, as in soul, bowl, sow, grow. These different sounds are used to distinguish different significations: as bow an instrument for shooting; bow, a depression of the head; sow, the she of a boar; sow, to scatter seed; bowl, an orbicular body; bowl, a wooden vessel.
Ou is sometimes pronounced like o soft, as court; sometimes like o short, as cough; sometimes like u close, as could; or u open, as rough, tough, which use only can teach.
Ou is frequently used in the last syllable of words which in Latin end in or and are made English, as honour, labour, favour, from honor, labor, favor.
Some late innovators have ejected the u, without considering that the last syllable gives the sound neither of or nor ur, but a sound between them, if not compounded of both; besides that they are probably derived to us from the French nouns in eur, as honeur, faveur.
U.
Table of Contents
U is long in ūse, confūsion; or short, as ŭs, concŭssion.
It coalesces with a, e, i, o; but has rather in these combinations the force of the w consonant, as quaff, quest, quit, quite, languish; sometimes in ui the i loses its sound, as in juice. It is sometimes mute before a, e, i, y, as guard, guest, guise, buy.
U is followed by e in virtue, but the e has no sound.
Ue is sometimes mute at the end of a word, in imitation of the French, as prorogue, synagogue, plague, vague, harangue.
Y.
Table of Contents
Y is a vowel, which, as Quintilian observes of one of the Roman letters, we might want without inconvenience, but that we have it. It supplies the place of i at the end of words, as thy, before an i, as dying; and is commonly retained in derivative words where it was part of a diphthong, in the primitive; as, destroy, destroyer; betray, betrayed, betrayer; pray, prayer; say, sayer; day, days.
Y being the Saxon vowel y, which was commonly used where i is now put, occurs very frequently in all old books.
GENERAL RULES.
Table of Contents
A vowel in the beginning or middle syllable, before two consonants, is commonly short, as ŏppŏrtunity.
In monosyllables a single vowel before a single consonant is short; as stag, frog.
Many is pronounced as if it were written manny.
OF CONSONANTS.