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    The Comic English Grammar
    The Comic English Grammar
    The Comic English Grammar
    Ebook188 pages1 hour

    The Comic English Grammar

    By Percival Leigh and Murat Ukray

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    A NEW AND FACETIOUS INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGLISH TONGUE
    By Percival Leigh
    Embellished with upwards of forty-five Characteristic Illustrations
    By JOHN LEECH.


    Fashion requires, and like the rest of her sex, requires because she requires, that before a writer begins the business of his book, he should give an account to the world of his reasons for producing it; and therefore, to avoid singularity, we shall proceed with the statement of our own, excepting only a few private ones, which are neither here nor there.


    To advance the interests of mankind by promoting the cause of Education; to ameliorate the conversation of the masses; to cultivate Taste, and diffuse Refinement; these are the objects we have in view in submitting a Comic English Grammar to the patronage of a discerning Public.
    Few persons there are, whose ears are so extremely obtuse, as not to be frequently annoyed at the violations of Grammar by which they are so often assailed. It is really painful to be forced, in walking along the streets, to hear such phrases as, "That 'ere omnibus."
    "Where've you bin?"
    "Vot's the odds?" and the like. Very dreadful expressions are also used by cartmen and others in addressing their horses. What can possibly induce a human being to say "Gee woot!"


    "'Mather way!" or "Woa not to mention the atrocious "Kim aup!" of the barbarous butcher's boy.
    It is notorious that the above and greater enormities are perpetrated in spite of the number of Grammars already before the world. This fact sufficiently excuses the present addition to the stock; and as serious English Grammars have hitherto failed to effect the desired reformation, we are induced to attempt it by means of a Comic one.


    With regard to the moral tendency of our labors, we may be here permitted to remark, that they will tend, if successful, to the suppression of evil speaking ; and as the Spartans used to exhibit a tipsy slave to their children with a view to disgust them with drunkenness, and


    We will not allow a man to give an old woman a dose of rhubarb if he have not acquired at least half a dozen sciences; but we permit a quack to sell as much poison as he pleases. When one man runs away with another's wife, and, being on that account challenged to fight a duel, shoots the aggrieved party through the head, the latter is said to receive satisfaction.


    We never take a glass of wine at dinner without getting somebody else to do the same, as if we wanted encouragement; and then, before we venture to drink, we bow to each other across the table, preserving all the while a most wonderful gravity. This, however, it may be said, is the natural result of endeavoring to keep one another in countenance.


    The way in which we imitate foreign manners and customs is very amusing. Savages stick fish-bones through their noses; our fair countrywomen have hoops of metal poked through their ears. The Caribs flatten the forehead; the Chinese compress the foot; and we possess similar contrivances for reducing the figure of a young lady to a resemblance to an hour-glass or a devil-on-two-sticks.
    There being no other assignable motive for these and the like proceedings, it is reasonable to suppose that they are adopted, as schoolboys say, "for fun."


    We could go on, were it necessary, adducing facts to an almost unlimited extent; but we consider that enough has now been said in proof of the comic character of the national mind. And in conclusion, if any other than an English or American author can be produced, equal in point of wit, humor, and drollery, to Swift, Sterne, Dickens, or Paulding, we hereby engage to eat him; albeit we have no pretensions to the character of a "helluo librorum."
    "English Grammar," according to Lindley Murray, "is the art of speaking and writing the English language with propriety."


    <
    LanguageEnglish
    PublishereKitap Projesi
    Release dateApr 8, 2015
    ISBN9786155564857

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      The Comic English Grammar - Percival Leigh

      The Comic English Grammar

      [ILLUSTRATED]

      By

      Percival Leigh

      Illustrated by Murat Ukray

      ILLUSTRATED &

      PUBLISHED BY

      e-KİTAP PROJESİ & CHEAPEST BOOKS

      www.cheapestboooks.com

      www.facebook.com/EKitapProjesi

      Copyright, 2014 by e-Kitap Projesi

      Istanbul

      ISBN: 978-615-5564-857

      * * * * *

      About Author

      Percival T. Leigh, Comic writer. Studied medicine at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. L.S.A. 1834; M.R.C.S. 1835. For some years practised medicine; then abandoned that profession for writing. Joined staff of Punch shortly after periodical was founded; remained contributor to time of his death, though what he wrote in his later years was unusable. Among his Punch contributions was the text accompanying Richard Doyle's illustrations for Manners and Customs of ye Englyshe. Contributed to George Cruikshank's Table-Book; occasionally to Bentley's Miscellany and other periodicals. Author of The Comic Latin Grammar, The Comic English Grammar, both published 1840; and other similar books.

      Leigh was not a close friend of Dickens, but he was at various times one of Dickens's guests; he played a role in Dickens's presentation, 1845, of Every Man in His Humour. Among references to Dickens in Leigh's writings is the comment that the talented author of the Pickwick Papers was one of the main figures responsible for making the Victorian Age the Age of Comicality; Dickens's genius, wrote Lelgh, has revolutionized the republic of letters ... and has become, as it were, a mirror, which will reflect to all posterity the laughter loving spirit of his age (Introduction, Comic Latin Grammar).

      Leigh became a contributor to H.W. at Dickens's invitation. Some weeks before the first number appeared, Dickens wrote to say that he would be sincerely pleased to have Leigh as one of the contributors. Dickens was enthusiastic about Leigh's Tale of the Good Old Times, which expressed ideas on social progress similar to Dickens's own; he suggested some slight changes that would adapt [the tale] perfectly to my purpose. The subject of A Sample of the Old School Dickens thought excellent, and the purpose commendable. He suggested that the article be written in the first person; as it appeared in H.W., it was so written (to Leigh, February 23, March 10, April 8, 1850; typescripts Huntington Library). With his scientific and medical training, Leigh was also useful to Dickens in writing papers on science for the layman. When Dickens obtained from Faraday the lecture notes of certain of Faraday's lectures, he entrusted them to Leigh to serve as the basis of H.W. articles.

      Four of Leigh's H.W. contributions were reprinted in Harper's, with acknowledgment to H.W. Five were included in the Putnam volumes of selections from H.W.:Home and Social Philosophy, 1st and 2nd series. One was included in Choice Stories from Dickens' Household Words, published in Auburn, N.Y., 1854.

      * * * * *

      THE COMIC ENGLISH GRAMMAR:

      A NEW AND FACETIOUS INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGLISH TONGUE

      By Percival Leigh

      Embellished with upwards of forty-five Characteristic Illustrations

      By JOHN LEECH.

      1845

      Table of Contents

      The Comic English Grammar

      About Author

      Table of Contents

      Preliminary Discourse

      Part I Orthography

      Chapter I of the Nature of the Letters And of a Comic Alphabet

      Chapter II of Syllable

      Chapter III of Words In General

      Part II Etymology

      Chapter I a Comical View of the Parts of Speech

      Chapter II of the Articles

      Chapter III

      Section I of Substantives In General

      Section II of Gender

      Section III of Number

      Section IV of Case

      Chapter IV of Adjectives

      Section I of the Nature of Adjectives And the Degrees of Comparison

      Section II a Few Remarks On the Subject of Comparison

      Chapter V of Pronouns

      Section I of the Personal Pronouns

      Section II of the Relative Pronouns

      Section III of the Adjective Pronouns

      Chapter VI of Verbs

      Section I of the Nature of Verbs In General

      Section II of Number And Person

      Section III of Moods And Participles

      Section IV of the Tenses

      Section V The Conjugation of the Auxiliary Verbs to Have And to Be

      Section VI The Conjugation of Regular Verbs Active

      Section VII Irregular Verbs

      Section VIII of Defective Verbs

      Chapter VII of Adverbs

      Chapter VIII of Prepositions

      Chapter IX of Conjunctions

      Chapter X. of Derivation

      Part III Syntax

      Part IV Prosody

      Chapter I of Pronunciation

      Section I of Accent

      Section II of Quantity

      Section III On Emphasis

      Section IV of Pauses

      Section V of Tones

      Chapter II of Versification

      Chapter III Punctuation

      Address to Young Students

      ***

      Preliminary Discourse

      Fashion requires, and like the rest of her sex, requires because she requires, that before a writer begins the business of his book, he should give an account to the world of his reasons for producing it; and therefore, to avoid singularity, we shall proceed with the statement of our own, excepting only a few private ones, which are neither here nor there.

      To advance the interests of mankind by promoting the cause of Education; to ameliorate the conversation of the masses; to cultivate Taste, and diffuse Refinement; these are the objects we have in view in submitting a Comic English Grammar to the patronage of a discerning Public.

      Few persons there are, whose ears are so extremely obtuse, as not to be frequently annoyed at the violations of Grammar by which they are so often assailed. It is really painful to be forced, in walking along the streets, to hear such phrases as, That 'ere omnibus.

      Where've you bin?

      Vot's the odds? and the like. Very dreadful expressions are also used by cartmen and others in addressing their horses. What can possibly induce a human being to say Gee woot!

      'Mather way! or Woa not to mention the atrocious Kim aup!" of the barbarous butcher's boy.

      It is notorious that the above and greater enormities are perpetrated in spite of the number of Grammars already before the world. This fact sufficiently excuses the present addition to the stock; and as serious English Grammars have hitherto failed to effect the desired reformation, we are induced to attempt it by means of a Comic one.

      With regard to the moral tendency of our labors, we may be here permitted to remark, that they will tend, if successful, to the suppression of evil speaking ; and as the Spartans used to exhibit a tipsy slave to their children with a view to disgust them with drunkenness, so we, by giving a few examples here and there, of incorrect phraseology, shall expose, in their naked deformity, the vices of speech to the ingenious reader.

      The comical mind, like the jaundiced eye, views everything through a colored medium. Such a mind is that of the generality of our countrymen. We distinguish even the nearest ties of relationship by facetious names. A father is called dad, or poppa; an uncle, nunkey and a wife, a rib, or more pleasantly still, as in the advertisements for situations, an encumbrance."

      We will not allow a man to give an old woman a dose of rhubarb if he have not acquired at least half a dozen sciences; but we permit a quack to sell as much poison as he pleases. When one man runs away with another's wife, and, being on that account challenged to fight a duel, shoots the aggrieved party through the head, the latter is said to receive satisfaction.

      We never take a glass of wine at dinner without getting somebody else to do the same, as if we wanted encouragement; and then, before we venture to drink, we bow to each other across the table, preserving all the while a most wonderful gravity. This, however, it may be said, is the natural result of endeavoring to keep one another in countenance.

      The way in which we imitate foreign manners and customs is very amusing. Savages stick fish-bones through their noses; our fair countrywomen have hoops of metal poked through their ears. The Caribs flatten the forehead; the Chinese compress the foot; and we possess similar contrivances for reducing the figure of a young lady to a resemblance to an hour-glass or a devil-on-two-sticks.

      There being no other assignable motive for these and the like proceedings, it is reasonable to suppose that they are adopted,

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