How to parse. ...

viii

iHO W TO PARSE.

suggestions of possible explanations, of a few among
the thousand anomalies that strew this wilderness and
despair of teachers. The author has at least succeeded
(Par. 283) in impressing upon himself, what he never
could remember before, the right spelling of " succeed,"
" proceed," and" exceed." Whether others will derive
the same benefit from the explanation is perhaps
doubtful; but the mere fact that an explanation exists
is a just cause for thanksgiving. Mr. Laurie's useful
Manual of Spelling has been of great service in the composition of this chapter.
Part II. Chapter I., is explained by its title, " Difficulties and Irregularities in Modern English." It is
intended for the higher (not for the highest) classes in
our first-grade schools. Here I must acknowledge very
large obligations to Matzner's two volumes on English
Syntax. Adopting his arrangement, I have selected
from these two volumes every difficulty that appeared
likely to be a difficulty to an English boy -I believe I
may add, in many cases, to an English man - as distinct
from a foreigner. A few examples from Campbell,
Scott, and Byron have been quoted from Mtitzner,
unverified; but in such cases, the reader is always
warned by a foot-note. The vast majority of the
examples have been modified or re-written to illustrate
the difficulty under consideration, or they are the fruits
of my own reading.
In this part of the work it has been of course necessary to illustrate modern English by older English of
different periods: and here, while again acknowledging
my obligations to Matzner, I must also add the name
of Dr. Morris, whose elaborate Historical Outlines of
English Accidence - a book that, the more you study it,
impresses you the more with the feeling that much is
left to study-have been laid under large contributions for this part of my work, and more especially for
the Appendix on the " Growth of the English language."
Here I have also to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of Mr. Skeat, who was kind enough to correct
the proof-sheets of the Appendix, and from whose