The Revival of English Grammar

Author(s): Albert H. Tolman

Source: The School Review , Feb., 1902, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Feb., 1902), pp. 157-165
Published by: The University of Chicago Press

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/1075885

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 BOOK REVIEWS

THE REVIVAL OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR

THE study of English grammar consisted for a long time

modeled upon those of the highly inflected Latin language to th
tongue, which is almost wholly uninflected. The difficulties an
resulted from this unwise procedure were tacitly assumed to be
the English tongue. The coat was all right, but the boy was t
see, the study of English grammar has by no means freed itself,
leading rules and statements borrowed from Latin gramma
surely dawned when a leading scholar argues, in a remarkable
matical system of modern English is distinctly superior to that
other highly inflected languages.' The present writer believes
Professor Jespersen, in its main lines, is unanswerable. The hi
record of progress, not of decay and retrogression, and the mo
are an improvement upon the older synthetic type. It is safe t
word-order, the freedom from inflections, and the abundant u
auxiliary verbs, which characterize modern English, are a distin
the contrasted phenortiena of the older languages.
Richard Grant White, in his striking book, Words and Thei
flatly that "nearly all of our so-called English grammar is mere
mar " (p. 304). He declared, among other things, that in Eng
not, and generally does not, agree with its nominative case in
... active verbs do not govern the objective case, or any oth
not govern the objective case, or any other " (p. 296). These
extreme; but there are many suggestions in White's remarkable
books upon English grammar should have adopted before this.
nouns, for example, does not exist in present English, and the
talked about. It is as purely a myth as Sairey Gamp's " Mrs.
Whitney tells us frankly in his Essentials of English Grammar:
There is no noun in our language which really has an obje
partly by analogy with the pronouns, and partly because many ot
with English, and even the English itself in earlier times, do d
from the subject in nouns as well as in pronouns, we usually spe
an objective case (p. 32).
The fact that earlier English and other languages show a
nouns may well be one of the main reasons why we still speak
cussing present English; but, in reality, this fact is a powerful arg
so. The objective case of nouns is not merely a figment as re
today; it is something which the language has rejected. It repre
which we have come out. It is, therefore, not a harmless fictio
falsehood.

But may we not call each distinct use of a noun a separate case ? This would
'Progress in Language, OTTO JESPERSEN, Ph.D., Swan Sonnenschein & Co. 1894.
157

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 158 THE SCHOOL RE VIEW

disregard the older conception according to which each

case. Among the grammars to be mentioned later, that
of the " dative case " of nouns, and that of Harvey of
not give also a " vocative case," and an " adverbial cas
of nouns after prepositions be distinguished from their u
ing a " prepositional case" ? It is plain that there is litt
be lost by giving to the word " case " a new meaning,
teachers of English grammar.
That the finite verb agrees with its subject is still taug
the confusion of pupils and the despair of teachers. In
amamus, vos amatis, and illi amant, the verb actually a
understand, the form amamus cannot be used except wh
person and plural number. This is agreement, gramm
facts as this that gave rise to the whole body of grammat
To say that the verb agrees with its subject in number
I love, we love, you love, they love, is a deliberate ignorin
of the facts of the case. Instead of accepting the plai
agreement between the verb and subject, and that English
metaphysical agreement, and waste our time and confus
thing which does not exist. One might as well discuss w
Harris" was a blonde or a brunette. As White puts it: " C
rule which they cannot understand, as the law of a relation
Why, then, should our elaborate system of "make-b
course and be glorified ? In such expressions as I am, h
agree with its subject in number and person; and it i
love, you love, they love, the verb in each case is used wit
subject. In some of the forms of the verb to be, and in th
thou as subject, we have actual agreement between verb
cases there is no agreement of the finite verb with its s
except in the third person singular of the present indic
agreement whenever a distinct form of the verb marks a
and were), or whenever a distinct form marks a particu
am, is, and loves), and to say nothing about agreement w
form, is the simple rule that the present writer would ur
able to see the matter as he does.

The uselessness of " make-believe grammar" was undoubtedly responsible for a

marked reaction against all formal teaching of English grammar, which was very
noticeable for a time. This movement received emphatic expression when the Con-
necticut State Board of Education discontinued the state examinations in English
grammar, giving the following reasons:
(I) The study of grammar or analysis does not help us either to speak or write
our language. (2) As a study technical grammar is hateful to any child, and belongs
to our advanced course, if anywhere. Its use in an elementary school is contrary to
all approved pedagogical theories. (3) There is not time for such work and for other
subjects that belong to our civilization. (4) We are convinced that the discipline said
to be derived from the study of grammar can be secured by the study of other subjects :
for instance natural science, which of itself furnishes practical knowledge.'
' Cited in F. A. BARBOUR'S History of English Grammar Teaching, Educational
Review, December, I896. Date of action of Connecticut board not givet, but previous
to March, 1891.

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 BOOK RE VIEWS I59

The statements just quoted are not

Samuel S. Green's English Analysis, p
plemented more and more by sentence a
The intelligent analysis of English sen
thought there expressed. This discip
it sharpens the student's powers of insi
in every department of his work. Th
generally accepted as indispensable is
Fifteen, and by the great number of
appearing, at some of which we are to
grammar "has long held sway in the s
and that "a survey of its educationa
that it is to retain the first
place in the
With the study of sentence analysis
said a wag, "means diagram-mar." A
many ways ;' and the pupil who employ
his mind all the parts and relations of
ment of diagramming comes to be sou
the sentence; those peculiar features
lost sight of; and the time which sho
panying practice in oral expression is w
trees, and grammatical chicken-coops
this paper, those of Allen, Kimball, K
the sentence-diagram.
However, if any teacher burdened w
necessary to make use at times of som
work together, and by which each stude
the different parts of a number of sent
mended to glance at the method of w
and Composition,2 by Gordon A. Southw
ysis of the sentence is made without
of underscoring, overscoring, parenth
in writing the sentence more than on
putting it into some twisted form, ar
ingless in themselves, the child recogni
In Mr. Southworth's book "composit
before the separate parts of speech.
as a relation" (pp. 162-166) seems to t
and satisfactory presentation of the s
grammar. The view presented is that
eral or common form, for all uses but
show ownership or possession." Howe
nouns is also presented in full, for the
Let us now take up one by one a nu
' See GERTRUDE BUCK, The Sente
1897.

2 T. R. SHEWELL & Co., second edition, Igoi.

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 6 o THE SCHOOL REVIEW

Harvey's New English Grammar,r a revision o

definitions. Such an introduction seems to the p
young student is hardly asked or expected to
"orthography" and "etymology" (p. 13) are surp
are plumped into the child's mind is the prime
matical usage calls those verbs "impersonal" w
(p. 124). The book has a thorough index to its gr
The method of MacEwan's Essentials of the En
in the following extract from the preface: "P6si
lished elementary facts, with apt and abundant v
of reviewing as well as of communicating such f
sistently observed. A prospective view of each s
chart, and a review is afforded by a summary a
upon Whitney's Essentials of English Grammar;
that the most admirable feature in that excellent book was its inductive method. It is
sufficiently clear to say, "A transitive verb expresses an action terminating on an
object " (MacEwan, p. 45); but Whitney stimulates the student to think, and helps
him to recognize that grammatical terms are conventional and often unsatisfactory
when he first presents a number of sentences in which the verbs take objects, and then
says concerning them :
A verb of [this] class is said to be a TRANSITIVE verb, or to be used TRANSI-
TIVELY (transitive means "going over," that is, the action of the verb is fancifully
said to " pass over" from the subject to an object) (p. Ioo).
The text-books of Miss Hyde and Professor Allen are intended to be used in
the higher grades of grammar schools. Miss Hyde 3 combines much practice in com-
position with grammatical study. Her book is mainly inductive in its method; it
seems to be the well-considered production of a skillful teacher.
Professor Allen's little work 4 is the briefest among those here reviewed. The
study of composition and grammar at the same time is not attempted. The mode of
presenting the subject is dogmatic; but the statements made are so clear, sane, and
wisely put, that the evils of this method are very much mitigated. The judgment and
discrimination of the pupil are appealed to. The statement concerning the nature of
pronouns (p. 52) and the treatment of the subjunctive mood (pp. 143-6) may be espe-
cially commended. The treatment of what is sometimes called the potential mood
will be discussed later.

The following extracts will give some idea of the book of Brown and De Garmo:

"THOMAS W. HARVEY, A New English Grammar, 277 pp. American Book Co

19goo.

2ELIAS J. MACEWAN, The Essentials of the English Sentence, 31o pp. D. C

Heath & Co., 19oo.
3 MARY F. HYDE, Practical English Grammar, with Exercises in Composition, 328
pp. D. C. Heath & Co., Igoo. (Book II of "A Two-Book Course in English.")
4EDWARD A. ALLEN, A School Grammarof/the English Language, 168 pp. D. C.
Heath & Co., 19oo.
5GEORGE P. BROWN, assisted by CHARLES DE GARMO, Elements of English
Grammar, 255 pp. Werner School Book Co., 19oo.

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 BOOK RE VIEWS 16 1

The commanding purpose of Part I i

between ideas and thoughts, and the wo
(2) to show that the relations of words,
upon the relations between the ideas th
expresses (p. 8).
The idea, forests, is the picture that I f
trees. The word, forests, is the group of
sounds used in speaking it (p. 25).
Much practice may be necessary in orde
the object as perceived by the senses and
the mind (p. 12).
It seems to the present writer that the p
sometimes harmful rather than helpful.
between the word and its meaning would
thing in the older methods of grammar-s
always making two bites of a cherry in t
when they tell us that " a preposition alway
word whose meaning the object-word m
object-word that modifies the meaning o
with truth in the preface of a book that w
separate the name from the thing named m
is only baffling to the beginner..... Sur
child will ever mistake the word apple for
The grammar of E. Oram Lyte 1 pays m
ing the sentence before the parts of speec
text-books. The present reviewer cannot
tems of written analysis and written parsin
represent wise methods of instruction.
Of the two books by John B. Wisely,
English Grammar is the more original and
It has been the purpose of the author t
such questions upon them as will lead the st
for himself. To this end, all definitions and statements of facts of whatever kind
have been studiously avoided, as depriving the student of so much mental activity
as would be any
committing required
law orinprinciple
thinking ofthem out for
grammar fromhimself . ... There
a text-book. is noand
The laws need of
prin-
ciples which underlie the construction of sentences, are all embodied in sentences,
and the student may study them directly, first hand, just as he studies the flower
in botany or the rock in geology; and if he forget the rule, he has only to examine
a few sentences and restate it for himself.

This book is certainly a very thoroughgoing attempt to teach English grammar

inductively. Of course, the induction is carefully guided, and each one of the various
problems is separated from irrelevant matter. The present writer believes that a
skillful and patient teacher could achieve excellent results with this stimulating book
but it might be necessary to depart at various points from the ideal of the author.
Indeed, it may be said that Mr. Wisely departs from the ideal himself by giving refer-
ences under each subject to various school grammars of the usual type. The use o
these references would result in the inductive study of grammars, not of grammar.
'Advanced Grammar and Composition, 368 pp., American Book Co., 1899.
'Studies in the Science of English Grammar, 185 pp.; A New English Grammar,
227 pp.; The Inland Publishing Co., Terre Haute, Ind.

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 162 THE SCHOOL RE VIEW

The books of Brown and DeGarmo, and that

sentence is made up of three parts. Mrs. Mea
One would naturally expect the sentence to co
the judgment which it expresses; but since we c
combined in one symbol, as, The horse run
include these two offices under the term predi
two parts only." (P. 21.) Here and elsewhere
supposed demands of psychology and logic c
English grammar. The discussion of nouns
use and the danger of diagrams (pp. 236-7)
judicious text-book.
Five books will now be considered which we
the teaching of English grammar. The oldes
the probable exception of the one by Kittred
planned for use in the high school. All five ai
tion. The full titles of the books in question a
[Professor] G. R. CARPENTER, Principles o
Macmillan Co., 1898.
HERBERT J. DAVENPORT and ANNA M. EM
xiv + 268 pp., The Macmillan Co., 1898.

H. G. BUEHLER, A Modern English Gram

1900oo.

[Professor] GEORGE L. KITTREDGE and SARAH L. ARNOLD, The Mother

Tongue, Book II, An Elementary English Grammar, xxii --331 pp., Ginn & Co.,
1900.
The so-called "potential mood" is a difficult matter to treat wisely and help-
fully. Whitney's classification of the verb-phrases with may, can, must, might, could,
would, should, and ought to, into potential, conditional, and obligative forms, or modes
(Essentials, ?? 287-91), does not seem to the present writer to be really illuminating.
It will be interesting to note how this matter is handled by the five books that are
now before us. It will be best to omit from consideration the form ought to.
The book of Kittredge and Arnold is the only one of the five which does not
attempt to discriminate in some way between the so-called "indicative use " and tihe
"subjunctive use" of these auxiliaries. Baskervill and Sewell say: "May is used as
either indicative or subjunctive, as it has two meanings. It is indicative when it
expresses permission, or, as it sometimes does, ability, like the word can. it is sub-
junctive when it expresses doubt as to the reality of an action, or when it expresses
wish, purpose, etc." (p. 160). Professor Carpenter speaks of certain uses of may as
"equivalents of the subjunctive" (p. 134). Davenport and Emerson state that " the
potential mood is omitted, because, if thought be adopted as the basis of classification,
there is no room for a potential, all the forms which are commonly put in this mood
naturally falling within the indicative or the subjunctive" (p. 88). Buehler assigns to
the subjunctive mood in addition to the forms generally placed there, certain " phrasal
subjunctives " (p. 249), formed by means of may and other auxiliaries. Kittredge and

'IRENE M. MEAD, The Lnglish Language and its Grammar, 277 pp., Silver,
Burdett, & Co., 1896.
2 [Professor] W. M. BASKERVILL and J. W. SEWELL, An English Grammar,
349 pp., American Book Co., 1896.

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 BO OK RE VIE WS 163

Arnold call all the forms with may, can, must, migh
tial verb-phrases" (p. 283), and simply ask that th
out in the sentence in which it occurs. In spite o
" potential," this method of treating these expres
Professor Allen, in the book already mentioned
aries" to may, can, must, might, could, would, an
statement of the different uses of each word. H
indicative and subjunctive uses of each auxiliary.
The subjunctive mood has so nearly died out of
a questionable and hazardous proceeding to give t
metaphysical existence, and then to use this fic
most of the so-called subjunctive uses of the aux
no regular subjunctive forms can possibly be subs
satisfied with the term " modal auxiliaries" or "auxiliaries of mood " as a name for
the seven words concerned; and he believes that the pupil should be able to po
out the exact force of a verb-phrase made with one of these in any given sente
Farther than this he would not go. In view of the fact that Professor Allen call
may indicative in " I may go" (= It is possible that I shall go) (p. 148), while Dav
port and Emerson call it subjunctive (p. 89), it seems best not to raise the questio
all in an ordinary grammar class. "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where
the ungodly and the sinner appear ?" At this point there is a good chance to
off some "make-believe grammar."
The sensible "Introduction" of Baskervill and Sewell makes a favorable

impression. Their grammar is both scholarly and practical. The sectio

that Need Watching" is an excellent feature. It seems a questionable
ever, to give up more than two-thirds of the book to a detailed study of
parts of speech before the treatment of the sentence is reached.
Professor Carpenter's grammar offers in Part I of its appendix pr
clearest and best elementary statement that exists concerning the nature
cation of English sounds, and the relation of the dictionary to standard
tion. This section is contributed by Professor E. H. Babbitt. Part V of t
contains a bibliography which will be of great service to teachers. This
school grammar to adopt from Sweet the helpful classification of verbs int
verbs (weak) and vowel verbs (strong). Professor Carpenter's independen
tional grammar may be seen in his judgment that the sentence " Who di
can scarcely be regarded as incorrect in colloquial English (p. 87). Min
this excellent book to which I object are: that the indirect object is nam
dative case" (pp. 63, 70); and that the auxiliary be is said to be used "in
tenses of the active voice" (p. 130), as in the sentence "I am going t
tomorrow." It seems to the present writer unwise to give two different
form him, and two different names to the form am going (is, are going
is used as the indirect object, that fact should be pointed out, and the
when am going has a future meaning; but is it not extremely desirable
these forms shall have a fixed name ?

Davenport and Emerson seek to present the "principles of grammar" in such a

way as to "avoid placing the teacher of foreign languages at cross purposes with th
teacher of English -to the end that one instructor may not laboriously unteach wh
the other has as laboriously taught." The following words from the introductor

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 164 THE SCHOOL REVIEW

"note to the teacher" deserve to be placed on the

tion is given in English grammar:
Do not insist greatly upon formal classification
leading importance. Welcome from the student th
the sentence under examination; the syntax ma
aspects accordingly as [according as] the though
different shades of meaning.
Encourage the pupil to disagree with text-book
his own responsibility the making of generaliz
vastly greater importance than his conclusions. D
here, but likewise there is valuable opportunity fo
disagreement (p. viii).
The present reviewer has found this book very
will be helped by the appendix, where some quest
was desirable in the body of the work.
The author of Buehler's A Modern English Grammar is himself engaged in
the work of secondary instruction. The book begins with the study of the sentence,
and the subject of sentence analysis is practically completed before the study of the
parts of speech is taken up. Typographically this grammar is a model; and the
illustrative sentences are so printed as to make clear through the eye the grammatical
and logical relations that are to be brought out. This is accomplished without dis-
torting the sentences, except in a few "diagrams." The prime intention of the few
exercises in composition is to impress grammatical and logical distinctions upon the
mind of the pupil. Buehler treats infinitives and participles as separate parts of
speech. Will this prove to be a new application of the maxim "Divide and con-
quer" ?
The Mother Tongue, Book II, of Kittredge and Arnold, is An Elemenlary
English Grammar. Some points in this book have already been commented on. A
marked characteristic is the presence of notes in fine type explaining some of the
more striking facts of historical English grammar. This idea is an admirable one.
Although the pupils are not expected to learn these paragraphs, it is often as easy to
understand the real origin of an idiom as it is to form for one's self a vague and mis-
leading conception of the matter. Good examples of these notes are found on pages
129, 163, 21I. Many careful directions are given to teachers, suggesting how each
portion of the work may best be taken up and the points at which reviews may
profitably be made, and indicating the purpose of particular sections. The caution
against supplying words for mere convenience in parsing (p. 191) is an instance of
the careful way in which dangers are guarded against. The book seems a note-
worthy combination of sound scholarship and skillful pedagogy.
Believing that "a rational investigation of the structure of English sentences is
far more important than any other phase of grammar," Miss Kimball has written
The English Sentence X " not to supplant any text-book in grammar, but rather to
provide for a profitable continuation of grammar study in high schools and normal
schools." This useful little work is devoted entirely to the analysis of sentences. Miss
Kimball is discriminating, and while pointing out distinctions clearly, does not
attempt to determine everything. The impossibility of always distinguishing between
the infinitive in -ing and the participle of the same form is well brought out (p. 142).
, LILLIAN G. KIMBALL, The Structure of the English Sentence, vi + 244 PP.,
American Book Co., Igoo.

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 BOOK RE VIE WS 165

The expressions "recasted sentences" (p. 14),

should be corrected.

It may be well, in conclusion, to speak of a few books of reference on Engli

grammar. Thie New English Dictionary (the Clarendon Press), of which Vol. V
appeared, going through the letter K, is the great authority on the history of
meanings and forms of English words. Bain's Higher English Grammar (Hol
Co.) is a useful handbook ; it has a full table of contents, but no index. Teach
who read German can find in Miitzner's great Englische Grammatik (3 vols., Be
the stores of material from which many shorter grammars have been made.
second volume of Storm's Englische Philologie (2d ed., in 2 vols., Leipzig, 1896) c
tains careful summaries of the important books upon present English usage,
loquialisms, vulgarisms, etc. The full index to all this material, and Storm's o
judicious comments, make his compilation more useful for most purposes than
original works themselves. Incidental mention has already been made of Sw
New English GrZammar (Part I, 1891; Part II, 1898; the Clarendon Press).
striking work is commended to the attention of teachers. Since Sweet delight
discussing grammatical matters in an original way, and freely invents new term
when he feels in need of them, only those who are willing to do some thinking
be helped by this stimulating book.
ALBERT H. TOLMAN
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

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