Language Arts & Disciplines Books

I came out at Haslingden town-end with my old acquaintance, "Rondle o'th Nab," better known by the name of "Sceawter," a moor-end farmer and cattle dealer. He was telling me a story about a cat that squinted, and grew very fat because—to use his own words—it "catched two mice at one go." When he had finished the tale, he stopped suddenly in the middle of the road, and... more...

A. A-, prefix (1), adding intensity to the notion of the verb.—AS. á for ar-, ar-, Goth. us-. For the quantity of the á see Sievers, 121. Cf. . A-, prefix (2), standing for A, prep., and for Icel. á; see . A-, prefix (3), standing for Of, prep.; see . A-, prefix (4), standing for AS. and-, against, in return, toward.—AS. and-, ond-, on- (proclitic). Cf. A-, prefix (5), standing for At, prep.,... more...

PREFACE. This work aims primarily at giving a list of Scandinavian loanwords found in Scottish literature. The publications of the Scottish Text Society and Scotch works published by the Early English Text Society have been examined. To these have been added a number of other works to which I had access, principally Middle Scotch. Some words have been taken from works more recent—"Mansie... more...

PART I: ORTHOGRAPHY. It has been thought proper to use nineteen characters in the language, among which are not included f, j, k, w, x, y, nor l, although the sound of l is somewhat heard in the soft enunciation given by the Indian to the letter r. The k is sufficiently supplied in the syllabic sounds que and qui, where the u is silent, although gue and gui are each of two syllables. There has been a... more...

INTRODUCTION The articles here presented are modern and unhackneyed. Selected primarily as models for teaching the methods of exposition employed in the explanation of mechanisms, processes, and ideas, they are nevertheless sufficiently representative of certain tendencies in science to be of intrinsic value. Indeed, each author is a recognized authority. Another feature is worthy of mention. Although... more...

ENGLISH A COMPOSITE LANGUAGE “A very slight acquaintance with the history of our own language will teach us that the speech of Chaucer’s age is not the speech of Skelton’s, that there is a great difference between the language under Elizabeth and that under Charles the First, between that under Charles the First and Charles the Second, between that under Charles the Second and Queen Anne; that... more...

I Introductory: Language Defined Speech is so familiar a feature of daily life that we rarely pause to define it. It seems as natural to man as walking, and only less so than breathing. Yet it needs but a moment’s reflection to convince us that this naturalness of speech is but an illusory feeling. The process of acquiring speech is, in sober fact, an utterly different sort of thing from the process... more...

I. LETTER-WRITERS. Since old Leisure died, we have come to think ourselves altogether too fine and too busy to cultivate the delightful art of correspondence. Dickens seems to have been almost the last man among us who gave his mind to letter-writing; and his letters contain some of his very best work, for he plunged into his subject with that high-spirited abandonment which we see in... more...

Usage and Custom are the Rules and Measures of every Language, and the Rules of Grammar have nothing more to do, than to teach it. The Grammar is to be fashioned from the particular Language, it treats of, and not the Language from the Grammar. For want of following this regular Plan, our Modern GRAMMARIANS have introduced the Grammar Rules of other Languages into their own; as if all Language was... more...

INTRODUCTIONBY DR. EDWIN C. HEWETT. I have long thought that the careful, discriminating study of words is much neglected in our schools. And I am glad to approve, and help to forward, anything that will promote such a study. Not only will such a study improve a person's language greatly, but it will, at the same time, do much to improve the clearness and precision of his thinking; thought and... more...