A Grammar of the English Tongue - ESL Teachers Board

A Grammar of the English Tongue 58indispensably necessary, has published such petty observations as werebetter omitted.The verb, as in other languages, agrees with the nominative in number andperson; as, Thou fliest from good; He runs to death.Our adjectives and pronouns are invariable.Of two substantives the noun possessive is in the genitive; as, His father'sglory; The sun's heat.Verbs transitive require an oblique case; as, He loves me; You fear him.All prepositions require an oblique case: as, He gave this to me; He tookthis from me; He says this of me; He came with me.* * * * *PROSODY.It is common for those that deliver the grammar of modern languages, toomit the Prosody. So that of the Italians is neglected by Buomattei; that ofthe French by Desmarais; aad that of the English by Wallis, Cooper, andeven by Jonson, though a poet. But as the laws of metre are included in theidea of grammar, I have thought proper to insert them.PROSODY comprises orthoepy, or the rules of pronunciation; andorthometry, or the laws of versification.Pronunciation is just, when every letter has its proper sound, and everysyllable has its proper accent, or, which in English versification is the same,its proper quantity.The sounds of the letters have been already explained; and rules for theaccent or quantity are not easily to be given, being subject to innumerableexceptions. Such, however, as I have read or formed, I shall here propose.