sentences for correction has been added to the concluding chapters on Syntax. There is reason to hope that the boys and girls who attack these problems will find the benefit, not merely in the confidence with which they will face the Examiner, whom most young seekers after Truth nowadays expect to meet round the other side of the Tree of Knowledge, but also in the formation of the habit of thinking for themselves. In this case the English Grammar lesson will prove to be a means of education and not simply an opportunity for instruction. Private students can obtain from the Key whatever assistance they require to enable them to answer correctly every Question in the book. Much of the information furnished in the Key, though unsuitable for junior pupils, may be of some interest and service to their teachers. The matter contained in these pages has but slight claims to originality. The writer of an elementary textbook, traversing ground well-trodden by many predecessors, would probably go astray, if he endeavoured at any cost to be original. Many of the following chapters owe something, and occasionally they owe much, to Mr Mason's English Grammar and to Prof. Bain's Higher English Grammar. Use has been made also of Dr Gow's suggestive Method of English, of Dr Angus's Handbook of the English Tongue, of Mr Low's English Language, of Dr Abbott's How to Parse, of Dr Morris's Historical Outlines of English Accidence, and of Professor Skeat's Principles of English Etymology and Etymological Dictionary. Acknowledgment of indebtedness to these and to other writers has in some places been made, but much of the well-worn material, of which an elementary work on English Grammar must be composed, is the common property of all who choose to write upon the subject. My cordial thanks are due to several friends for suggestions which have enabled me to improve in many respects the original draft of this book. To Dr Keynes, late Fellow of Pembroke College, Mr R. T. Wright, late Fellow and Tutor of Christ's College, and Mr J. H. Flather, of Emmanuel College, my obligations are great for help in the work of revision. With his customary kindness Professor Skeat has sent me many valuable criticisms. At the same time it must be clearly understood that, for the shortcomings of the following pages, the responsibility rests entirely with me. ALFRED S. WEST. CONTENTS. II. Constituents of the English Vocabulary III. The Indo-European or Aryan Family of Languages IX. Inflexion of Nouns. I. Gender X. Inflexion of Nouns. II. Number XI. Inflexion of Nouns. III. Case |