A Complete Scientific Grammar Of The English Language PDF Download

Excerpt from A Complete Scientific Grammar of the English Language English Grammar is at present in the same condition in which Copernicus found Astronomy, when it was taught that the earth is the great centre of the Universe, and that the sun, moon, planets, and stars revolve about it once in twenty-four hours. The text books are filled with a mass of absurdity and contradiction totally unworthy of the name of science; and the time and labor of those who use them are worse than wasted. This state of things is a disgrace to the scholarship of the age, and calls loudly for a reformation. The absolute truth of these statements can easily be demonstrated; but there is no room in this volume for such matter. Lest, however, any one should think the author to be peculiar and extreme in his views, let a few others be heard. President Eliot, of Harvard University, says "I consider the present system of teaching English Grammar in our elementary schools irrational and fruitless." Prof. Child, of the same University, says "I do not know that I ever before saw an English Grammar which I would permit my children to look into, so great the chance has been that they would learn nothing or be taught something false." The New England Journal of Education agrees with Mr. Epes Sargent in calling our ordinary grammars "a blot on American scholarship." The New York Evening Post refers to the common system as "an ii rational system"; and the Maryland School Journal calls it "a nauseous mixture for unfortunate juveniles." Similar testimonies might be multiplied indefinitely; and they seem to harmonize perfectly with the author's views. They are undoubtedly sound testimonies; and there is in fact abundant reason for the almost universal dissatisfaction with English Grammar as taught in our schools. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.