Items related to Etymology And Syntax Of The English Language

Etymology And Syntax Of The English Language - Softcover

Alexander Crombie

 
9780371949375: Etymology And Syntax Of The English Language

Synopsis

Etymology And Syntax Of The English Language by Alexander Crombie. This nineteenth-century linguistic treatise surveys how English words are formed and arranged, arguing that language rests on two essential parts of speech—the noun and the verb—with other word classes existing as auxiliaries or supplements. Crombie traces the origin of signs, letters, and phonetic features, and then proceeds to a systematic examination of words, their classes, and their uses, including canons for judging usage. The book is divided into parts: Etymology (word classes and the offices of nouns and verbs), and then detailed chapters on the noun (proper vs common, number and gender), the article, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, participles, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections; Part II of the work covers syntax (concord, government, clause structure, and the arrangement of words in sentences); Part III contains critical remarks and illustrations on the nature of language and usage. Crombie argues that usage is the law of language but must be rational, present, and repu- diated with barbarisms and solecisms. The work remains a foundational reference in historical linguistics and English grammar.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.