The Opelousas patriot. [volume] (Opelousas, Parish of St. Landry, La.) 1855-1863, 1859-04-16
For the Patriot.

I ~
"A new system of English Grammar by
the { 1y Of which youths and adults may be-
CONF accomplished GrammoraI's III 'i'se Vi
four months, without the and Vi u teaehef'
|, BY Sidney S. Caldwell.
Published for the author a, the Southern
| Methodist Publishing House, Nashville, Tenn,
1859.
Such is the title of a work Just laid before
me: And as it is ever proper to encourage
cookbook making. and especially good-book
making at home; l feel disposed TO occupy a
place III your columns with a notice Vt this
Book.
1t is a vol. of 296 pages neatly gotten M,
and well bound. His plan | btieve is original
The principles incuIcaled :,ei'n"r, nearly al
lied to those taught by kIrkk-m than any
other. fI would be hard II. fad a work on
the grammar of The Eusiish( language more
perfect than 1t is.
In the carsory review given it, | am com
PEELED t.'>py the plan Of the work il the beSt
have seen and especially do ] approve Of
his nrthography. Perhaps >olue Of his detiDi-
,lnl,s could be hp,terpd. For instance, Iage
Is. Quest. 9TH, " What are thoughts =? Ans.
" They are the natural instincts which occur 10
the brain of the whole animal creation. -
Thoughts may be either natural or artificial
aid II would he better expressed 10 say; They
are the result Of intellectual organization,
acting on eht lies. IL perhaps is beyond onr
province To shy that llln'e animals which fol
low the headings Of instinct. think. They may
think, they may not. Quest. 9Th, What are
ideas :" AUS They are the impressions
which. ,hougM uake ufun the mind Of nan
after mature refc> ~" II E) they are i'm
ire>>ions which the !.ural Instincts make
upon the mind of man, "a, mature deiibcra.
ton There are sop'e who have !. ideas" and
deliberate bnt little. These ma ~ Instincts
] suppose are something behind lliealll. The
mind is the CANVASS and the "naiursa in
r stilcts y the painter.
Though, properly speaking has only a rela
tive existence, and If dependent I'm man) upon
mental or intellectual organization for, ii;
existence. Thoughts are sometA@s leaders tt
the formation of ideas. Thoughts are proper
ly the conceptions Of the parts Of a whole
Ideas are the conceptions Of wholes taken as
wholes. 1t will not do to be too metaphysical
in definitions for beginners in grammar. liz
assigns with Smith aud Others, contrary tt
J, kirklam: three persons to nouns. Here il
, either an a%bsurdity in The definitions Of pro
:. nouns in kirkham or an ab>urdity in hi
teaclalg. / am disposed to believe however
!, tina, his definition Of the prunoun is incnrr,c c
! or that there are exceptions. l, Join Of Bos
!. ton. In this sentence of whom do l speak !? =.
speak Of John Of Boston.
All grammarians say the third person is thu
/ person spoken of. l speak of john. Blu
: : prnneuus agree in person with their nouns:
| Here is a dilemma. The only ways that l Sc
to rid ourselves of This difficulty ; are either Il
. say John is useless in the phrase, or to SO,
/, that the third person sometimes represents tn
/ person speaking /; or the first person is some
: times spoken Of or that there are exception
! to the rule that 'sprononns always agree i
5 person with their nouns.'' Which plan shaI
i we take? Let's say that, prononus repre>en
e persons: John ip the sentence represents tn
e person speaking as speaker. John is The reprt
$ sentative OF The same person, but in anotle
n relation, or condition Il E) the condition {
e being spoken of. 1t is all perfectly simple, an
: still nouns have only two persons-the SECOND
!. and third. Again, Gender. He adopts. til
J, three gender system. when it is positively true
that there are but two gendsEEs.. in l4sstpr7
# we say there are three genders. When tn
nom is without gender, Just say withnr
t gender: when the gender is unknown u
5 Parent. bird, etc. just say gender unknow,
r No principle will thereby he trampled upor
= or fundamental truth denied.
Again, Ease. Mr.. j. j. Morris of. Ala. i
v bis new grammar has some very sensible crit
t cisnE on Case. He goes too far however i
. that he ohlilerates The possessivp case entirely
: and makes all possessives : de6nitives., :. Pnns
D sessive ease denotes possession = is the sum q
t all the definitions of the possessive case. "
\ have a. Rogers Razor Who is the possesso
! OF the razor?. or Rogers? l Of course.
am the possessor. But of what kind If
l razor? A Rogers Razor. Here Rogers is;
descriptive word, and does not dellple ,usses
! sion, But ,he amount of it is this. / have
Rogers Razor, is an incorrect sentence. |
should be. have a Rogers Razor, leaving oil
The sign Ut the possessive.
This work however may safely be adopte,
as the grammar of The South. | was glad /,
see it receive such attention by our Genera
Assembly as I" be adopted as the grammar o
the State Schools.
. 3. T. WHITE.
TI.h p.Trn