Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1860-08-18
G0MMW 1N1OATTO0N3
ron TUE KEOwgE COURIER.

FDtt THE REOWEE COURIER
TIL, Lamar System of English Grammar.
Mr.. Elttor; Please be so liind'as to alloy
me space in your very valu bic Journal to no
t'cc in a few articles the above work, published
during last var at Athens, Ga. and which
the Author claims as being tho first and oaly
Grammatical Treatise which has ever been
written in the Language, based upon the re
MUS and idiom of the English Tongue.
Mr.. LAMAR tells the reader that all at.
.tcmpts to write the Grammar OF our vcrnacu-
lar, "upon the Murray system and oxult-
lngly asks to be shown one not based "upon
the Murray system-havc proved magnificent
failures because the authors, like LGNDLY
MURRAY, have taken the Grammar of the
latin Language for their criterion and hence
they have exhausted their whole literary in
gcnuty IN striving to erect an English super.
structivo upon Lrtin basis-an English cd
ilicc out of Latin material or to change the
figure, to pssimiatc and unite two antagonstic
elements which cannot possibly share any al
fnty for each other; or to adopt the fgura-
tive and graphic style of the author---lo unite
horses head to man
Now sir, We have become acquainted with
the most prominent features of this great
grammatical 2,rodiyy-this literary curiosity
OF the nineteenth century and we have not
the least hcSitancy in pronouncng it broad
and nnwarrantcd innovation---a magniGceat
hunbug-moSt consun,nGtc impos:tion-a
twin-sster to those tens Of cphcmeml catch
penny productions daily tceming from the
Northern Press. But enough. We apprc-
hend TINT you, and the majority of the readers
ot the C1urier, will agree with us after you
and they shall have become acquainted with
its general features.
Mr.. LAMAR has changed tho classification
and nomenclature of the Parts of Speech
Beginning with the Noun, he has discarded
aportion of its properties or notifications, and
changed the names of some of the others He
makes no distinction between the different
classes g Nouns, not even the proper and the
Gommnn NEun--applying to the Noun but
ton Gea,lcys. . He has changed the three
Gases of the Nom into three (" Reln-
Nons,' calling the Toninativc case "the Sub
Ject Relatioa," the p ,sessivc Case " The Cen
iioe Rclotios." and th,' Objective Case "Mc
ty', ,t Rclahoa." He h. transformed the
Adjective into " Descriptive, the Article,
Adjective, Pronouns, &C., into Z" il fn'tiCcs,"
and the lnterjcction into an L" Erct, ration"
lie takes the position that there is no di tine
i5i5ii III .shc n@t2re, nso and modification On he
Personal and Relative Pronoun and hence
Now we wish to remark in this connection,
that this is an egrcgious blunder--a most
manifesG and unpardonablo crror-an error
which, 1t seems to us, no one would be guilty
'of committing, had he been thorough only in
his horn Gooh OF grammar, muck less one
who processes to have an accurate knowledge
'ot the grammar, anal ysis, construction and phi
losophy of the English language
Mr. LAMAR appears to be almost wonder
struck at the ignorance of Mcssrs. MURRAY
AZ Co. in terming any of the pronauns personal,
when IN fact, they sometimes stand for horses
COWS, trees, &c, taking the position, it will be
observed, that the personal pronouns have
bocn so cTilcd, because it has been imagined
that their only Office is to represent persons.
~ NV, is this the reason why these pronouns
havc been denomiRatcd personal 1,romomas /?
Most certainly not Grammaticallv consider
4od, the speaker bears three relations to the
@rmes or Nuns of which he speaks when
nc speaks of himself his namo is said to
to be of the first person when he speaks to
or addresses another the name of the person
so spoken to or addressed, is of thesecond rcr-
son; and when he speaks of another his name
lis of the third person. Now that clnss of
words in our language which arc denominatcd
personal pronounS have form to show which
pcrson IL meant, whether the speaker is speak
ing of himseifto another, or of another and,
hence, from these circumstances, and fran.
his circumstance only, have these words been
dcnominated personal pvonouns, and az Mr..
LAMAR enormously supposes, because Messrs..
MURRAY g. Co. supposed they always stand
for persons. This is the only reason why
they are called personal pronoups; but where
arc three other material distinctions or differ
enccs between tho personal and relative pro.
noun The personal pronoun he's n form in
each person to share its number, while tho
relative pronoun has not any such form. In
the third person singular tho personal pronoun
las a form to show its gender, while the rela-
tive pgopoun hos none. The personal pro-
aeun may be the subject of a complete propo-
sition, while the relative pronoun is never used