The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-04-29 00:00:00

WANTED AN ENGLISH GRAMM

'AR.

The Times has published the two following letters:—
Sir,—To your leading article of the 19th on the re-
quirements of our Elementary Teachers I have nothing
to add, but would suggest that schoolmasters may have
more reason to complain than is generally supposed.
Her Majesty's Inspector lately examined my country
school, and was taking the third standard children,
nine years of age, in grammar. The Code requires that
such children shall point out nouns, adjectives, and
verbs. Three, I believe, failed, and the grant was
lost because they could not point out the parts of
speech of "cannon ball," "rearward ships," and
"falling stars." I was told by the Inspector that
"cannon," "rearward," and " falling " were adjectives.
Now, it appears to me that if the English language
is not to be corrected to please schoolmasters, a new
and easy grammar is, at least, required to meet the
capacity of a labouring man's child of nine years of age.
—I am, Sir, your obediently,
AN OLD COUNTRY PARSON.

" Grammaticus " writes :—" An Old Country
Parson' seems to have been somewhat taken aback on
being informed by a school inspector that in cannon
ball' cannon 'is an adjective. A good many others
will share his surprise. The school inspector seems to
be unable to distinguish the combination of an adjec-
tive and a noun from that of two nouns forming a
compound, of which the first element expresses, not an
inherent attribute, but an external relation. Cannon
ball' is a combination of precisely the same logical
and grammatical import as apple•tree," teaspoon,' or
school inspector.' Whether the combined words are
written separately, joined by a hyphen, or written as
one word makes no essential difference whatever.
A word is not necessarily an adjective because it if
Annexed to another. Many adjectives, like silver an
gold, have lost their adjectival suffixes, and are nc
distinguishable in form from the words used as nonnb
Bat I should recommend the School Inspector to study
the difference between a gold watch' and 'a
digger' before he 'plucks' children of nine yet
age for not not saying that apple," tea,' or
is an adjective."
WORKING MEN 14 NEW YOR
.• -

StL
gold
jars of
school'

The IV eto,York Times states th4t a recent careful investi-
gation into the munition of the labour market in that city
shows that the mechanical industries have not recovered
from the depression caused by the financial panic of 1873.
"The Trade Unions now number only about one-
third of their total strength three years ago. This is
pecially to be seen in the building trades, the societies
in 1873 numbering over 10,000, while at the present
time the number on their rolls in good standing is not
much above 3,000. In 1873 the various Unions had
48,180 members, while at the present time they contain
less than 18,000, of which 3,790 are out of employment.
A careful estimate of the workmen outside of trade or-
ganizations shows the probable number to be 58,350,, of
whom 21,420 are idle. The plumbers, gas-fitters,
painters, and those engaged in the building trades
appear to have suffered most. In some of the depart-
ments of the iron trade the manufacturers have, suc-
ceeded in maintaining full forces and full prices: Of
those who have suffered, the stove-makers have per-
haps fared the worst. Work is also very dull among
the shipwrights, the coopers, the tailors, and the
hatters. Although the condition of the boot and shoe
makers is not as good as it was one year ago, the
prospects of this class are regarded as rather brighter
than those of many others."