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WEBBER'S ENGLISH GRAMMAR.
AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR, on
an Analytical Plan, adapted to the Use of Students in Colleges,
and the Higher Classes in Academies and Common Schools.
By Samuel Webber, A. M.
The great fault of Murray is a want of perspicuity. The definitions are
often vague, and in some instances a definition of one term contains another,
that is not explained till some time after, in a more advanced part of the work;
nor do the definitions seem always to be correct. There are, besides, often
omissions of circumstances of importance; and the Syntax presents little but
a chaos of rules and remarks, without any guiding principles in the use of
language and the construction of sentences.
It seemed to the author that the way to correct these defects was to arrange
the whole system anew; to take up the subject from the very beginning,
and pursue it more analytically, tracing out and explaining the various
natures, properties and uses of words, instead of defining them, and drawing
out and exhibiting their forms and modifications from the different purposes to
which they are applied, and as expressive of their corresponding changes in
signification; going on gradually from step to step, and as far as possible
making each step clear itself, without anticipating any thing not sufficiently
obvious to persons having such a general comprehension of the meaning of
language, as to fit them for pursuing a subject that must be taught by language
solely.
The American Monthly Review says of Doct. Webber's Grammar, “The
author has treated the subject with great acuteness: he has resorted to explanations
which reward examination, by imparting a well-defined meaning,
resulting from through induction. The Syntax surpasses that of any of the
Grammars in common use; the rules are expressed with great care, and
generally with all the clearness which the subject admits. We think the
plan of the Syntax very judicious and successful.”
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