though rich and harmonious, is only a local tongue. The Spanish, by means of conquests in Central and South America, has been widely extended; but its progress has been arrested. The Spanish colonies, founded on the most odious oppression, and perpetuated with a disregard to any principles of rational advancement, have in every instance revolted, and the people, to all appearance incapable of civilised rule or independent support, will in all likelihood sink before the external pressure of the Anglo-Saxon republicans; if so, the Spanish tongue will disappear from the American continent.

SPECIMENS OF LANGUAGES.

With the view of affording the unlearned reader an idea of the appearance of some of the principal languages, dead and living, we append the passages from the New Testament composing the Lord's Prayer, in Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Dutch, and English-for the sake of clearness, the Greek is printed in the Roman alphabet, the aspirate at the beginning of certain words being represented by the letter h. The reader is called on to observe the differThe next great language of modern Europe is the ence between the Greek and Latin words, and how German, which, as already mentioned, is spoken over evidently the Latin is the parent of the Italian, Spanish, a vast extent of country, and is distinguished for the and French, the latter, however, possessing the least great riches of its literature. Yet, this eloquent and resemblance in orthography and arrangement to its copious tongue is also not making aggressions on new original. He will also have an opportunity of compar domains, not becoming universal--a circumstance arising the German with its kindred tongue the Dutch, and ing from that fixity of habits in its people, which pre- both with their relation the Anglo-Saxon or English. vents them from pushing into new scenes of enterprise. The Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, and other branches of the Teutonic, are all substantially confined each to its own little spot, from which it does not appear likely that they will ever be extended.

The English language, which, as we have seen, is little else than Saxon tinged with Latin, seems to have been reserved for a singular destiny, in no respect foreseen at the period of its formation. First spreading over the British islands, and pushing out several varieties of Celtic, it has been conducted by national enterprise to the American continent and islands, where it is now the leading form of speech of civilised men, every where overwhelming the native and transplanted tongues. By similar processes of colonisation, it has been planted in the great Asiatic peninsula (India) and its islands, in Australia, Van Diemen's Land, New Zealand, the southern extremity and various parts of the western coast of Africa, besides other possessions of Britain in different parts of the world. Perhaps the most extraordinary incident in its eventful progress has been its plantation in Liberia, on the coast of Africa, by a society of Anglo-American colonists, and where it now forms the vernacular of a Negro race, the intelligent descendants of liberated slaves. Thus, while most tongues have been confined, by the force of circumstances, to the place of their birth, the English has gone forward in the van of civilisation to almost all accessible parts of the habitable earth; and, preserved from deflection by a common standard literature, will in all probability become a universal language.

The study of languages with a view to philosophic comparisons and conclusions, and also with the design of throwing light on man's social progress, has in recent times assumed the character of a distinct branch of learning, under the name of Philology; and among the patient scholars of Germany the study has been pursued to a great and honourable extent. France has likewise attained celebrity for its linguists. Except by the publication of Polyglott bibles, England has done little comprehensively in this department of letters, and few men have distinguished themselves as linguists, a facility in acquiring languages not falling apparently within the scope of the national mind and habits. The late Sir William Jones, who conquered all difficulties by his perseverance, was a remarkable exception. He was acquainted with twenty-eight languages. The method of study which he pursued, and which he recommends to others, was that which has been called double translation. It was his custom, after he had translated a passage into English from some foreign author, to restore his own translation to the language of the author, and then to compare this re-translation with the original. By this means, he was enabled to detect his own errors, and to acquire the peculiar style and idioms of each language. It has frequently been found highly advantageous to read the same work in different languages. By comparing the words, grammatical structure, and idioms of each language, the powers of comparison and reflection are called into active exercise, and the facts more strongly imprinted on the memory.

GREEK.

PATER HEMON ho en tois ouranois, hagiastheto to onoma sou. Eltheto he Basileia sou. Genetheto to thelema sou, hos en ourand, kai epi tes ges. Ton arton hemon ton epiousion dos hemin seme ron. Kai aphes hemin ta opheilemata hemon, hos kai hemeis aphiemen tois opheiletais hemon. Kai me eisenengkes hemas cis peirasmon, alla rusai hemas apo tou ponerou; hoti sou estin he Basileia, kai he dunamis, kai he doxa, eis tous aiónas. Amen.

LATIN.

PATER NOSTER, qui es in cœlis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in cœlo, et in nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos remittimus debitoribus nos terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie. Et remitte tris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a maloTibi enim est regnum, et potentia, et gloria, in sempiternum. Amen.

ITALIAN.

PADRE NOSTRO, che sei ne' cieli, sia santificato il tuo nome. Il tuo regno venga. La tua volontà sia fatta in terra come in cielo. Dacci oggi il nostro pane cotidiano. E rimettici i nostri debiti, in tentazione, ma liberaci dal maligno. Perciochè tuo è il regno, e come noi ancora gli rimettiamo a' nostri debitori. E non indurci la potenza, e la gloria, in sempiterno. Amen.

SPANISH.

PADRE NUESTRO, que estás en los cielos, sea sanctificado tu nombre. Véga tu reyno; sea hecha tua volûtad, como en el cielo, ansi tambien en la tierra. Danos oy nuestro pan quotidiano. y sueltanos nuestras deudas, como tambien nosotros soltamos a nuestros deudores. Y no nos metas en tentacion, mas libranos de mal. Porque tuyo es el reyno, y la potécia, y la gloria, por todos los siglos. Amen.

FRENCH.

NOTRE PERE qui es aux cieux, ton nom soit sanctifie. Ton règne vienne; ta volonté soit faite sur la terre, comme au ciel. Donne-nous aujourd'hui notre pain quotidien. Pardonne-nous offensés. Et ne nous abandonne point à la tentation, mais délivre nos péchés, comme aussi nous pardonnons à ceux qui nous ont nous du malin. Car à toi appartient le règne, la puissance, et la gloire, à jamais. Amen.

GERMAN.

UNSER VATER in dem Himmel, dein Name werde geheiliget Dein Reich komme. Dein Wille geschehe auf Erden, wie im Himmel. Unser tägliches Brod gieb uns heute. Und vergieb uns unsere Schulden, wie wir unsern Schuldigern vergaben. Uebel. Denn dein ist das Reich, und die Kraft, und die Herr Und führe uns nicht in Versuchung, sondern erlöse uns von der lichkeit, in Ewigkeit. Amen.

DUTCH.

ONZE VADER, die in de Hemelen zijt, uw naam worde geheiligd Uw Koningrijk kome. Uw wil geschiede, Gelijk in den hemel, vergeef ons onze schulden, Gelijk ook wij vergeven onzen schul Zoo ook op de aarde. Geef ons heden ons dagelijksch brood. En denaren. En leid ons niet in verzoeking, Maar verlos ons van den booze. Want Uw is het koningrijk, En de kracht, en de heerlijk heid, In de eeuwigheid. Amen.

ENGLISH.

OUR FATHER which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. The kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespass as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Printed and published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, Edinburg Sold also by W. 8. Orr & Co., London.

CHAMBERS'S

INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE.

NUMBER 63.

CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF CHAMBERS'S
EDINBURGH JOURNAL, EDUCATIONAL COURSE, &c.

INTRODUCTION.

GRAMMAR (from the Greek word gramma, a letter) is, m its largest sense, that branch of knowledge which refers to the component parts of language.

The purpose of language is to express our ideas. Similar classes of ideas necessarily arise in the minds of every portion of the human family; for the mind is every where the same, in kind if not in degree, and the circumstances and desires of mankind are every where less or more alike. To express these classes of ideas, men, in all countries and in all stages of society, use corresponding classes of words, although the words may themselves be different. For example, men every where see tangible objects around them. To these they apply distinct names or appellations, which form, it may be said, one class of words-NOUNS. They see things perform acts; as, for instance, they see cattle browse and kids dance. Thus arises another class of wordsVERES. They see white cattle and black cattle; hence ADJECTIVES. These and other kinds of words, or, to use the common phrase, parts of speech, are found equally in the language of the North American Indian and in the refined discourse of the European philosopher. To exhibit the nature and power of words, taken singly and in combination, viewed as a vehicle of thought or a medium of communication, is the first and highest object of grammar.

In the speech of every nation there are also many peculiarities, both in the formation of words to express varieties of sense, and in the way in which words are arranged, these being partly the result of intellectual peculiarities of the people, and partly the effect of accident. Grammar also takes cognisance of such peculiarities. Hence, there is not only universal gramfuar, which relates to whatever is common to the structure of all language, but likewise a grammar for each particular tongue; as, for instance, the Greek grammar, the Latin grammar, the French and the English gram mars. Our present business is with English grammar, er to set forth, as well as we can, within a small compass, the structure and the usages of the English language. There are four parts in English, as in other grammars, Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody. ORTHOGRAPHY, from the Greek words orthos, right, and graphe, a writing, is that part of grammar which teaches the nature and powers of letters, and the just method of spelling words. PROSODY, from the Greek word prosodia, the accent of a word, treats of the pronunciation of words, and of

the laws of versification.

lity and correctness in spelling. With regard to Prosody, we may further remark, that it relates to a mere luxury of language; because, to the effectual communication of thought, metrical arrangement of language is by no means necessary, and, in an elementary work on grammar, it may, without impropriety, be omitted. This leaves us Etymology and Syntax, which undeniably constitute the chief parts of grammar; and of these we shall treat as fully as our limits permit.

In ETYMOLOGY we shall be guided by this principle, which we hold to be established, that every word has of itself a distinct office to perform; and we shall be careful to exhibit the force and significance of words taken singly.

In SYNTAX we shall not attempt to lay down rules, as they are called, for every mode of expression, but rather to exhibit a few of the leading principles of our language, the complete understanding of which will supersede the necessity of minute observations on our part, as it will enable the student to make them for himself.

We cannot approve of the exhaustive system of teaching Syntax-framing a rule for every peculiarity that the language contains; much better is it to conduct the student at once to the principles, which are, as it were, the fountain-heads of rules. In the one way, we should but exhibit to him every thing by our torch-light; but, in the other, we kindle his own, and, having pointed out the road in which he is to travel, leave him to himself. When the student is familiar with the principles, it may be desirable to exercise himself on minute details, and a school-grammar should provide exercises on the minutest peculiarities of the language.

ETYMOLOGY.

ETYMOLOGY, from the two Greek words, etumon, the root of a word, and logos, a discourse, is that part of grammar which treats of the various classes into which words are arranged, of the different modifications they undergo to express difference of meaning, and of their origin and history,

I. CLASSIFICATION.

Words are the symbols of ideas, and they are classified and named, not from their form, but from the nature of the idea that they represent or stand for. The class of any particular word is only to be ascertained by observing the office which it performs. What it does, alone indicates what it is.

It would be quite impossible to say, previous to acOn both these departments we mean to say nothing, tual inspection, how many sorts of words, or, as they principally because, as we apprehend, they can only be are generally called, parts of speech, exist in any laneffectually taught by the living voice; besides, as far guage; but, upon examination, it is ascertained that as relates to Orthography, so few general rules have been all words used in the English language may be arranged ascertained, that they afford little help to the young or under eight heads. inexperienced student. Practice alone can give faci- |

The eight parts of speech are- -Noun, Adjective, Pro

This part of speech seems to have received its name from an accidental circumstance, and not from any thing essential to its nature. In the Latin language, it was usual to place the word modifying the noun after it, thus, tabula longa, while we prefix it, and say a long table; the Latin grammarians, therefore, called this class of words adjectives, from ad, to, and jectus, thrown, and we retain the term, although our modifying word goes first. If the student has learned to recognise the noun, he will feel no difficulty in knowing the adjective, because its office is to point out some peculiarity which distinguishes the noun.

the names of immaterial existences, acts, or states. Collective Nouns are those which, though singular in form, may suggest the idea of plurality. They are such as, army, clergy, crowd.

The imperfect participle of a verb (which will be treated of afterwards), when used as the name of an action, is called a Verbal Noun. In the sentence "The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing," the words seeing and hearing are called Verbal Nouns.

"Nouns adjective are the words which express quality considered as qualifying, or, as the schoolmen say, in concrete with some particular subject. Thus, the word green expresses a certain quality considered as qualifying, or as in concrete with the particular subject to which it is applied. Words of this kind, it is evident, may serve to distinguish particular objects from others comprehended under the same general appellation. The words green tree, for example, might serve to distinguish a particular tree from others that were withered or blasted." *

An ADJECTIVE is a word that qualifies a noun, that is, marks it out from other things that bear the same name. The characteristic of the adjective is, that it limits the application of the noun: thus, the term island is applicable to every portion of land surrounded by water; but if the adjective fertile be affixed to it, all islands not distinguished by the property of fertility are excluded from our consideration.

*Though we thus distinguish one class of nouns-those, namely,

which come from adjectives or are closely connected with themby the title abstract, we are far from wishing it to be inferred that common nouns are not apprehended by the same faculty. On the contrary, metaphysical propriety compels us to admit that such is the case; and if any of our readers feel an interest in the question, we request him, before condemning our opinion, to peruse the third chapter of the third book of Locke's Essay concerning Human Understanding, and also Adam Smith's Disserta

tion on the Formation of Languages.

required. Any artifice, therefore, to abridge the use of marks of such frequent recurrence, was highly to be desired. One expedient offered itself obviously, as likely to prove of the highest utility. Speakers constituted one class, with numerous names; persons spoken to, a second class; persons and things spoken of, a third. A generical name might be invented for each class a name which would include all of a class, and which singly might be used as the substitute of many. For this end were the personal pronouns invented, and such is their character and office. 'I' is the generical mark which includes all marks of the class speakers; 'thou' is a generical mark which includes all marks of the class persons spoken to; 'he,' 'she,' it,' are marks which include all marks of the class persons or things spoken of."*

All pronouns refer to some noun, which, as it generally goes before, gets the name of antecedent, but as it may come after, correlative would appear a better term. In the case of one class of pronouns, the reference is so obvious and immediate, that they have been called Relative, by way of distinction. These are, who, which, that, and as. Who is used when the reference is to a person; which, when it is to a thing; that and as refer either to persons or to things.

The Interrogative Pronouns, so called because they are used to ask questions, are who, which, what, and whether. When what is not used to ask a question, it gets the name of Compound Relative Pronoun, as it includes in itself the ideas of both correlative and relative; thus, "Give me what is in your hand" is equivalent to "Give me the thing which is in your hand." The inseparable word self, with its plural selves, is called the Reciprocal Pronoun, and denotes that the object and agent of the verb are the same.

Self is added to personal pronouns for the same purpose that own is affixed to pronominal adjectives; that is, to express emphasis or opposition. Thus, "I did it with my own hand;" that is, without the assistance of any other person: "He did it all himself;" that is, without help.

The Verb.

A VERB is a word that affirms something of a noun. The characteristic of the verb is affirmation; it may, indeed, in common with the adjective, denote a quality; but this is accidental, and not essential to its nature. The attribute and the assertion are often conjoined in one word, as in the sentence "The man rejoices," but they may be separated, and then an adjective will denote the attribute and a verb will indicate the assertion; thus, "The man is joyful." It is but fair to add, that this doctrine of the verb is not universally received, although, after weighing the adverse arguments of Horne Tooke and Mr Mill, we are inclined to consider it well founded.

guage. No affirmation can be expressed without the assistance of some verb. We never speak but in order to express our opinion that something either is or is not. But the word denoting this event, or this matter of fact, which is the subject of our affirmation, must always be a verb.” *

The Adverb.

An ADVERE is a word that qualifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb.

As a description of a fact in grammar, this is unobjectionable; but it cannot be received as a definition, since the word defined is made use of in the definition. Its application may be thus explained. If we wish to modify the noun or subject of a sentence, we must use an adjective; but if the predicate is to be modified, or any additional modification to be put on a word already qualifying it, the word then used must be an adverb: thus, in the sentence, "The sun shines," we have a simple subject," sun," and a simple predicate, "shines." If we wish to express any quality of the subject, we must use an adjective; and if the predicate is to be modified, we must bring in an adverb: thus, "The bounteous sun shines," and "The sun shines equally on all."

Adverbs may be divided into four great classes :1. Adverbs of Munner; as, well, ill, justly, wisely. 2. Adverbs of Time; as, now, then, soon, when. 3. Adverbs of Place; as, here, hence, there, where. 4. Adverbs of Quantity; as, much, considerably. The adverb, it may be observed, is an abbreviated mode of expression, and the idea could in all cases be conveyed by the use of two or more words. They have a close affinity to adjectives, not only in English but in most other tongues. Ruddiman justly says, "That adverbs seem originally to have been contrived to express compendiously in one word what must otherwise have required two or more." The truth of this doctrine will appear by an inspection of the following table of Adverbs of Place :

A PREPOSITION is a word that connects two words together, in such a manner as to indicate the relation which the things or ideas signified by them bear to each other.

This part of speech, like the adjective, which it resembles in other respects, has received its name from an accidental circumstance. It generally goes immediately before the object related to the other thing named; but the essence of the preposition, it should be carefully observed, is to signify relative position.

We subjoin a list of the prepositions in most common use, and we recommend the student to exercise himself in putting them all, one after the other, into sentences. In this way he will learn to apprehend their real significancy; and, instead of calling a word a preposition because it is so named in a compendium of grammar, he will recognise it from its function. Doubtless, by committing the list to memory, a practice as common as it is mischievous, he might soon be able to parse; but his knowledge would be mere deception, and he himself would be but "as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal."

On attending carefully to the nature of the idea presented by verbs, we find that, while they all assert, they differ in this respect, that some of them express a sort of action which affects or operates upon some person or thing different from the agent, and that others either denote no action at all, or else a sort of action which is limited to the actor. The first class is called Transitive, and the second Intransitive Verbs. If the student consider with attention the state of his own mind when he repeats, with intelligence, the sentences, "James strikes the table," and "James walks," he will have no difficulty in discerning the distinction that exists between a Transitive and an Intransitive Verb. We have already stated, but the importance of the About remark will justify its repetition, that as the noun denotes the thing spoken about, so the verb indicates Against what we affirm concerning it., Without affirmation there could be no communication of sentiment; and Amid hence the class of words by which affirmation is made Amidst has been dignified by the appellation of VERB, or the Around! word. "Verbs must necessarily have been coeval with the very first attempts towards the formation of lan

*Mill's Analysis of the Human Mind, vol. i. p. 142.

Above

After

Among
Amongst

Round
At

The following remarks on this part of speech by Adam Smith, and his scarcely less illustrious disciple, Mr Mill, will amply repay an attentive examination:"Prepositions are the words which express relation considered in concrete with the correlative object. Thus, the prepositions of, to, for, with, by, above, below, &c., denote some relation subsisting between the objects expressed by the words between which the prepositions are placed; and they denote that this relation is considered in concrete with the correlative object. Words of this kind serve to distinguish particular objects from others of the same species, when those particular objects cannot be so properly marked out by any peculiar qualities of their own. When we say 'The green tree of the meadow,' for example, we distinguish a particular tree, not only by the quality which belongs to it, but by the relation which it stands in to another object." And again, "Every preposition denotes some relation considered in concrete with the correlative object. The preposition above, for example, denotes the relation of superiority-not in abstract, as it is expressed by the word superiority, but in concrete with some correlative object. In this phrase, for example, The tree above the cave,' the word above expresses a certain relation between the tree and the cave, and it expresses this relation in concrete with the correlative object, the cave. A preposition always requires, in order to complete the sense, some other word to come after it, as may be observed in this particular instance."

To the same purpose Mill says "It is easy to see in what manner prepositions are employed to abridge the process of discourse. They render us the same service which, we have seen, is rendered by adjectives, in affording the means of naming minor classes, taken out of larger, with a great economy of names. positions always stand before some word of the class called by grammarians nouns substantive. And these nouns substantive they connect with other nouns substantive, with adjectives, or with verbs."+

The Conjunction.

* *

coupled depend all upon the same word, which is expressed to one of them and understood to the other." To much the same purpose Mr Mill says-"The conjunctions are distinguished from the prepositions by connecting predications, while the prepositions connect only words. There are seeming exceptions, however, to this description, the nature of which ought to be understood. They are all of one kind; they all belong to those cases of predication in which either the subject or predicate consists of enumerated particulars, and in which the conjunction is employed to mark the enumeration. Thus, we say, Four and four, and two, are ten.' Here the subject of the predication consists of three enumerated particulars, and the conjunction seems to connect words and not predications." We do not think that Mr Mill's argument is conclusive. There is no seeming about the matter. We wish it, however, to be distinctly understood that we do not charge his doctrine with being altogether erroneous; it is only not complete. It is right, so far as it goes; what we maintain is, that it is too limited.

Ruddiman is correct in maintaining, that in the example, "Honour thy father and thy mother," the word "honour" is again understood before mother; but this will not do in every case. The sentence, "Charles and John rode to town," may certainly be resolved into two clauses, "Charles rode to town," and "John rode to town." But can the sentence, "Charles and John carried fifty pounds," be resolved into the two, "Charles carried fifty pounds," and "John carried fifty pounds!" Obviously not. The conjunction and, in that case, connects the two words "Charles" and "John," and shows that conjointly they are the subject of the predicate "carried." In like manner, in the sentence, Pre-"The man of piety and virtue secures the favour of God," it is not implied that "the man of piety" secures the favour of God, and that "the man of virtue" secures the same; but that the man uniting the two qualities, the marks of which are united by the conjunction and, secures it. Mr Mill himself, indeed, would appear not to have felt quite satisfied as to the conclusiveness of the mode of reasoning which we have been animadverting on, for he immediately shifts his ground, and argues that, because in such a sentence as, "His bag was full of hares and pheasants and partridges," we may substitute the preposition with, and read, "His bag was full of hares, with pheasants, with partridges," the word and is properly to be considered a preposition. To this extraordinary specimen of reasoning it is sufficient to say, that by a similar process we might conclude, to use a homely illustration brought forward by Dugald Stewart on a like occasion, that because people can

A CONJUNCTION is a word used to join words and propositions together.

Conjunctions are of two sorts, Copulative and Disjunctive. The Copulative not only join the words, but indicate that the things are to be united; while it is the office of the Disjunctive to unite the words but keep separate the things. The youngest child cannot fail to perceive the difference between these two sentences: Will you have an apple and an orange ?" and "Will you have an apple or an orange?" In the first case, he is to get both things-we therefore use a copulative conjunction; in the second, he is to have one only-we" supply the want of forks by their fingers, that theretherefore use a disjunctive conjunction.

In one respect the preposition and conjunction agree -they both connect words; but each class does something not done by the other. The preposition indicates the nature of the connexion, which the conjunction does not; and, on the other hand, the conjunction can connect not merely single words but clauses or sentences. If I say, "Give me a knife and the book," you may present the objects named separately or together-the knife being under the book, in the book, or on it, and in each case my request will have been complied with; but if I "Give me a knife in the book," the relative position of the objects is fixed, and there is only one way of complying with my demand.

say,

fore a finger and a fork are the same thing." On the whole, we consider that nothing can well be clearer than that these great grammarians have taken up a wrong position; but perhaps we have said as much already as the importance of the subject warrants.

The Interjection.

An INTERJECTION is a word used to express emotion or excitement of mind.

Pure interjections are mere instinctive emissions of the voice, few in number and unimportant in character; and, as to other parts of speech used interjectively, the expression is, we apprehend, elliptical; but this circumstance cannot properly change the nature and cha We have asserted that the conjunction couples indi-racter of a word. Horne Tooke considers that "intervidual words as well as propositions; but, as in this we jections have no more claim to be called parts of speech go against authorities so respectable as Ruddiman, than the neighing of a horse or the lowing of a cow Harris, and Mill, we must take some pains to make but as there are words in the language which express good our position. Ruddiman says, "A conjunction is mental emotion and nothing else, we must have a name an indeclinable word, that joins sentences together, and for them, and it would be difficult to find a better than thereby shows their dependence upon one another;" the one in universal use. and, in a note to his rule of syntax-"Conjunctions couple like cases and moods"-he tells us, that "the reason of this construction is, because the words so

PARSING.

The student should now be able to analyse, or paraí, as it is generally called by English grammarians, any sentence submitted to him. Various artificial rules