THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL • GRAMMAR OF THE FRENCH TONGUE; WITH NUMEROUS INSTRUCTIVE EXERCISES. BY C. GROS. LONDON: Printed by Weed and Rider, Little Britain, FOR G. AND W. B. WHITTAKER, AVE-MARIA LANE; AND T.BOOSEY 1818. PREFACE. So many grammars of the French language have already been published in this country, that doubtless many persons will deem it useless, if not ridiculous, to publish another. Yet, whatever may be the peculiar merit of each of those works, there are few masters who have not felt that on many points they leave the student more or less in obscurity, so that there is a necessity of consulting several of them, in order to find all the explanations that may be wanted. This remark, which has frequently occurred to us during the twenty years we have devoted to teaching our native language in this country, has long impressed us with the idea that an important service might be rendered to the public, by extracting from them all that should be found good and truly useful, and constructing, of these materials, a single book, which might thus become the most complete that has yet appeared. In 1810, when we were engaged to revise the Grammar of Levizac, by the late Mr. Dulau, we communicated to him our ideas on this subject; and it was agreed that we should carry the plan into execution, by taking that grammar as the basis of our work; but that, in order not to render it all at once too dissimilar from what it was, the operation should be but gradual, and at each edition we should retrench useless matter, make the requisite additions, and simplify whatever was either obscure or diffuse. In the fifth edition, we had already made a considerable change in the general distribution, and, by the approbation which the public seemed to bestow on our labour, we hoped to be able to continue it; but, unhappily, this hope was extin guished by the premature death of our learned friend. We did not, however, think it right to renounce a project which many well-informed persons, to whom we had communicated it, judged to be very useful. We therefore occupied ourselves in collecting the necessary materials; but, being no longer fettered by the obligation of working after the ideas of another, we gave to our work such an extent as we should not have dared to risk, if we had continued to be only the editors of Levizac's Grammar. Our principal aim being, therefore, to collect whatever can be found that is good in the grammars previously published, the reader is not to be surprised at frequently meeting with the same phrases, word for word; and, especially in the department of exercises, we have selected principally from Levizac, this being the part of his work which is best executed, and which presents only those phrases which are perfectly conformable to the principles of the language; such, unhappily, is not always the case in the exercises of several other grammars, in which there are some to be found that are truly barbarous. But with respect to the plan and arrangement, we have acted according to what a long experience has convinced us would be most calculated to accelerate the progress of the student. We have taken particular care not to hazard any rule without having well examined it beforehand, as well in its own operation as in its exceptions; and when we have found ourselves obliged to abandon the ideas generally adopted, this has been only after the most mature deliberation, and even after having consulted persons in whose understanding we could place the greatest confidence. It is by no means any systematic spirit which has actuated us, and still less the pleasure of advanc ing new and extraordinary things; but solely the force of truth. Yet, as upon some elementary points our procedure departs, in an essential manner, from the ordinary course, we think it our duty to account to the public for the motives by which we have been determined. 1st. We have arranged, in the class of articles, several words called by some grammarians pronouns, by others adjectives, by others pronominal adjectives, and lastly, by several regarded sometimes as pronouns, and sometimes as adjectives. We are firmly persuaded that, with the excep tions of a small number of homonymes, such as, si, if; si, so; son, his; son, sound; son, bran, &c.; the same word cannot be of several different natures; and, on all occasions, when it seems to deviate from that which is peculiar to it, this is only because there is an ellipsis in the phrase, and on restoring what is implied or understood, the word instantly resumes its natural form. It only remains, then, to ascertain what is the true nature of the words which we have considered as articles. If, according to the definition generally adopted, a pronoun be a word which stands in the place of a noun, it would be difficult to say in what case the words chaque, every; mon, my; ton, thy; son, his or her, &c. stand in the place of a noun, since none of these words can be employed without being followed by the noun they modify. With respect to the others, if in some instances they are not followed by a noun, it is only when the word which they modify is understood by ellipsis. Perhaps an excuse might more readily be found for those who consider them as adjectives; but, what is the nature of an adjective? It is |