To be consistent, that
system which instructs by tracing a few of our words to their
origin, must unfold the whole in the same manner. But the student in
common schools and academies, cannot afford time to stem the tide of
language up to its source, and there dive to the bottom of the
fountain for knowledge. Such labor ought not to be required of him.
His object is to become, not a philosophical antiquarian, but a
practical grammarian. If I comprehend the design (if they have any)
of our modern philosophical writers on this subject, it is to make
grammarians by inculcating a few general principles, arising out of
the genius of the language, and the nature of things, which the
learner, by the exercise of his _reasoning powers_, must reduce to
practice. His own judgment, _independent of grammar rules_, is to be
his guide in speaking and writing correctly. Hence, many of them
exclude from their systems, all exercises in what is called _false
Syntax_. But these profound philological dictators appear to have
overlooked the important consideration, that the great mass of
mankind, and especially of boys and girls in common schools, _can
never become philosophers;_ and, consequently, can never comprehend
and reduce to practice their metaphysical and obscure systems of
grammar.
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