04-17-29LWB A Wakr PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. The object of this book, the first section of which has just left the press, is to give a survey of the most striking features of Late Modern English, as it presents itself to Continental, especially Dutch, students. Although the work professes to be concerned with the English of the last two hundred years, it is especially the literature of this and the previous generation that has been subjected to closer investigation. Occasional glimpses have been given of older stages of the language, chiefly for the purpose of accounting for otherwise unintelligible idioms, or showing prototypes of the many archaisms affected by writers of the present day. Also in illustrating usages that from an early date have subsisted to the present day, examples have often been taken from SHAKESPEARE and the AUTHORIZED VERSION. The way in which I have set about my task differs from that of most other grammarians. The time-honoured system of distinguishing strictly between accidence and syntax, and discussing the former in all the intended detail before approaching the latter, little suited my purpose, and was, therefore, rejected from the first. Following the lead of two eminent Dutch grammarians, the late C. H. DEN HERTOG, and the late T. TERWEY, I have divided my subject into the two following parts: a) the Sentence, b) the Parts of Speech. The first part has been subdivided into two sections: 1) the Elements of the Sentence, 2) the Composite Sentence. In the first of these sections I have inserted a brief exposition of the way in which sentences may be divided as to their meaning, as a necessary introduction to an intelligible discussion of the arrangement of the elements of the sentence. I have not included derivation, word-formation, and phonetics in my programme, these subjects lying for the present outside the field of my special studies. As to the views advanced in my grammar, I may honestly say that they are the outcome of a constant endeavour to ascertain facts, and for the most part of independent investigation, often extending over a considerable length of time. In some cases, I regret to say, I have not been able to arrive at final, or even satisfactory results, and I am fully aware that, in going thus early to press, I have laid VI PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. myself open to the charge of rashness. Still I have my doubts that there would have been wisdom in deferring the publication of my work much longer, considering that any day circumstances may arise which might render the labour of many years practically useless. The fact that my grammar addresses itself to Continental, especially Dutch, students, who have passed the elementary stage, will account for its general character. I have abstained from giving definitions of grammatical terms, except in those cases where the manner of treatment seemed to make this desirable or necessary. I have touched only briefly on those points with which my readers may be supposed to have become familiar, or which seemed to require little or no elucidation. Conversely I have taken considerable pains to unravel knotty questions, to account for so-called anomalies, and find out the principles underlying certain turns of expression. In some cases I have thought it advisable to point out the difference between Dutch and English idiom, and also to give the Dutch translation of peculiar locutions and phrases. It has been my constant endeavour to distinguish carefully between different forms of diction: i. e. between those occurring in literary, poetic, ordinary, colloquial, and vulgar language. In some cases quotations have been arranged chronologically, with a view of exhibiting the prevalence of a given idiom through several periods. Much time and labour have been expended in setting forth the details of my subject in an orderly and rational arrangement, without which the study of grammar is a very weariness of the flesh. Although fully alive to the necessity that every grammarian should confine himself as much as possible to the current grammatical terms, I have felt obliged to coin some new ones. I am rather sanguine that they will be readily understood, and that the majority of them will be regarded as useful additions to grammatical nomenclature. The new grammatical terms referred to, are: nominal, as a common word for noun and adjective, also adopted by SWEET; nominal predicate and verbal predicate, to denote the two forms in which the predicate appears; nominal part of the predicate, in distinction from the copula or verbal part of a nominal predicate; adnominal adjunct, as a common name for all modifiers of nouns or pronouns, and whose function is either attributive or predicative 1); 1) Predicative adnominal adjuncts answer to bepalingen van gesteldheid in Dutch grammars, and to what PAUL (Prinzipien3, § 97), calls prädikative Attribute. Certain varieties are denominated objective complements by NESFIELD (Historical English and Derivation, § 190), complemental nominative or objective by MURRAY (O. E. D., i. v. as, 11, c), and object-complement by H. SWEET (N. E. Gr., § 267). sham-subject and sham-object, by which is meant the indefinite pronoun it in the functions of respectively subject and object 1); composite sentence, as a common term for compound and complex sentences; undeveloped clause, i. e. a verbal or a nominal with its adjuncts that is equivalent to a subordinate clause; subordinate statement, subordinate question, and substantive clause, which require no comment. An important feature of my grammar, perhaps the one by which it will most commend itself, is the copiousness of the quotations by which most of the observations made are illustrated. These quotations have partly been borrowed from dictionaries and from other grammars. But by far the majority of them have been collected by myself from numberless and varied sources: not only literary and scientific books, but also periodicals and newspapers. Full references are attached only to the quotations collected by myself. But in the case of borrowed quotations, where verification was often impossible, and of such as have been taken from ephemeral literature, this fulness would not have answered any useful purpose, and has not, therefore, been attempted. Of some quotations the reference has somehow got lost. A few of the illustrative examples had to be supplied by myself. In the references the Arabic numbers when not preceded by any letter or sign, almost regularly mark the page; excepted are only those attached to quotations from dramatic works, and from the AUTHORIZED VERSION. In preparing this work I have largely profited by other grammars, and by many articles that have appeared in ENGLISCHE STUDIEN, ANGLIA, and TAALSTUDIE. My acknowledgments are especially due to Prof. W. FRANZ, Prof. OTTO Jespersen, Dr. W. SATTLER, Prof. J STORM, Dr. C. STOFFEL, and Dr. H. SWEET. In the text I have made frequent references to the works of these scholars and of many others, directing the student to where he might go for further enlightenment on the subjects discussed. While the work was in course of preparation, I have occasionally been guided by the advice of my brother, Dr. ALB. POUTSMA, and of my friend, Mr. C. GRONDHOUD. Both these gentlemen have also relieved me of part of the tedium incidental to the correcting of the proofs, and, as the sheets were passing through the press, they have given me many hints which could be turned to excellent account. Their kind services will be held in thankful remembrance through my remaining days. In conclusion I need hardly say that suggestions are kindly solicited, and that any criticisms will be gratefully accepted. 1) The sham-subject is called loos onderwerp by DEN HERTOG, (Nederlandsche Spraakkunst, I, § 12). Compare also PAUL, Prinzipien, § 91. |