Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1859-09-09
oUR OWN

Per tle aauahl. Rr7rall
T. Is a after Of much regret that so little
interest is manif sted by the masses in relation
TO the English language. Few either speak OF
write it with due proprie;y. Even many
teachers of high SC ools, academies, and col
Ieges, are vastly defective in their own YER
n~acuiar- NiHs-tenths Of the preachers, and
perhaps as great a proportion Of the lawyers,
show but little regard TO the rules Of syntax.
Aesr.ain president Of a certain female col
iegs, whose "local habitadoa" is not q thou
sand miles away from this goodly city, in his
printed rules, says every young lady shall.
furnish heir own towels ere. lie forgot, OF
(perhaps a strict regard 20 truthwouid compel
IS to say that he never knew that pronouus
must agree with their nouns in number.
An7t er teacher in West Tennessee, taught
his students to consider "side-saddle'' Of the
feminine gender, because used exclusively bv
a female. He put "bonnet,7 "parasol,' scar
bob, ? "side-comb,7 etc, in the sam rende.
for the same reason. What be viii do with
hat I an at a loss to conjecture, since tina.
has become as much an article o. feminine as
Of male attire.
Another teacher has singular views Of the
adjective, its nature, Office, and comparison. He
coutendsd with me, that "ripe1 ought;o be con-
pared thus, positive ripe, comparative, msL0u,
supsrstise ronea! The sbsurdiy Of this will
Be very apparent, Il we compare the adjective
wise in this manner, in the expression, "He
g a ripe scholar In the comparative il would
read, she e a mcllor scholar in the super
'ativs, she is a rotten schnlarr' This n
lar specimen Of The ~Psdsgogue tribe, said thar
"boisT" was The comparative Of "bo1.o lin
CURED for the suPsriatiye, and he replied that
il was burst.o
few weeks since, ] was astonished 10 hear
that Two or three teachers Of some celebrity,
we're gravely disputing in relation to the foL
loving simple sentence, viz: Charles resem-
5ies bis father The difficulty with them,
was what 70 do with the word "father.- One
Of then, "a D.. D. said that father was in
opposition with "Charles.1 This is g~lsringiv
incorrect. Nouns eanno. be in opposition, IN
less they mean The same person or thing, and
besides this, they must beiengtorne same mem-
Der Of the sentence G. either 10 the subject
or 20 the predicate. Charles and father do
not mean the sane Person-Charles is the sub
Jet, and father is a part Of the predicate.
Another insisted that father was In the obise-
tive ease, and governed byfo understood. This,
though more plausible than the other, Is
equally incorrect Father is in the Objective
case, being governed BY the transitivs verb
=" resem5led-" See Kirkham's Grammar, 55th
page, 9th line from the top. See, also, Bull
lions Analytical Grammar, 6Oth page. To
make this plain. let US put for "father, its
proper substitute, the pronoun. VIII we saw.
&" Chsrles resembles he" or " Charles resem-
bles kimf7
T.. It is a common and highly peruicious
error, that the study Of Latin and Greek, en-
tirely superssdes the necessity Of studying
English Grammar. L is undeniabls, that a
knowledge Of these languages greatly facili-
tates be acquisition Of English bot there are
pceuiariuss belonging to our language, land
they are neither few nor triding,) that no one
viii understand, that does not study them with
due care and diligence. hesitate not in say
ing, that no one ever ecsme a correct writer
or speaker Of English by studying the classics
alone.
?. The character Of the text books in use. i
another fruitful source Of inaecuraey. Smitb,s
Grammar is in general use in schools. u is
mere ePitome-a crude s~bridgment Of the sci
enes, teaching but little, and most Of that little
wrong. It has lone more toward retar5ing
the progress Of English literature than any
other work now exiant. No first rate gram-
marian, that wishes bis students to advance
rapidly, and to become critical grammsrians,
will use it a. a text book. Kirkham's Gram
mar Is a great improvement upon Murrsy's,
and FAR preferable to Smiths, but it is now
nearly obsolete. Buffers Grammar has many
excellent features, and some that we do not
admire. Among the numerous works on this