MADE EASY AND ATTRACTIVE

BY

DIAGRAMS

CONTAINING ALL THE DIFFICULT SENTENCES OF HARVEY'S GRAMMAR DIAGRAMMED; ALSO, MANY
DIFFICULT SENTENCES FROM OTHER GRAMMARS; DESIGNED FOR BOTH

TEACHERS AND PUPILS

BY

FRANK V. IRISH, A.M.

Lecturer and Instructor in Teachers' Institutes. Formerly Teacher of Grammar, Analysis, Orthography,
and History in the North-western Ohio Normal School

"That which strikes the eye lives long upon the mind;

The faithful sight engraves the knowledge with a beam of light"

JOHN S. PRELL
Civil & Mechanical Engineer.

CINCINNATI

SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.

VAN ANTWERP, BRAGG & CO.

NEW YORK

ECLECTIC EDUCATIONAL SERIES.

Valuable books especially recommended for Teachers' Libraries; for use at Institutes; and by
Reading Circles.

Single Sample Copies, for examination with a view to first introduction, sent post-paid, by
mail, on receipt of the price annexed.

Supplies will be sent by express or freight on receipt of the price; if ordered by mail, add one
sixth for postage and mailing.

.. Complete Descriptive Catalogue and Price List of the Eclectic Educational Series sent free on
application to the Publishers.

Venable's Dialogues and Plays, 30 No's,

each.

80

To more complete diagramming demanded, one

diagram a few easy sentences, as our grammars do, does not satisfy the needs of either

66

presents a great variety of construction, and grapples the difficulties and intricacies of the English Sentence." Again, many systems of diagrams now in use are either too complicated for practical purposes, or do not truthfully picture the offices and relation of the different elements in a sentence. Whether the element is co-ordinate with or subordinate to another element should be clearly shown by the diagram. If an element is a modifier, the diagram should be so drawn that it shows just what it modifies. If an element modifies a part of the predicate, or a part of a phrase, the lines should be so drawn as to indicate that it modifies a certain word or group of words, and not the entire predicate or phrase. Finally, the diagram should picture with great clearness the office of connectives, especially the double office of conjunctive and relative adverbs, and relative pronouns.

By permission, I have used Prof. W. F. L. Sanders's system of diagrams, with the following changes, which I think to be improvements:

A different use of the dash; first, to separate the copula and attribute; second, to separate the preposition and its object; but never to separate a verb and its auxiliary. A different position of the introductory conjunction, expletive adverb, and an adverb modifying a separable phrase. The parsing of difficult words is indicated by the use of Arabic figures, placed under or over the words, and referring to the rules in Harvey's Grammar.

The very favorable reception of the author's small work, published some time ago, and the large number of flattering notices and testimonials from State Superintendents and other prominent educators, and from leading educational journals, are unmistakable evidences of the popularity of this system.

The utility of diagrams in teaching grammar and analysis is shown by the same process of reasoning by which we show the utility of Geometrical Diagrams in teaching Geometry; Maps, in teaching Geography; or Figures, in teaching Arithmetic. By diagrams an abstract truth is made tangible; the eye is permitted to assist the mind; and, in the language of the poet,

"Things that address the ear are lost and die in one short hour,
But that which strikes the eye lives long upon the mind:

The faithful sight engraves the knowledge with a beam of light."

The study of grammar can be made just as interesting as the study of arithmetic if the same means are employed. The child loves to see and do. In this respect more advanced pupils, and even teachers themselves, are but children a little older grown.

The improved straight-line system of diagrams presented in this work is eminently natural and practical; it is peculiarly simple in its elements and laws; it gives the clearest view of a sentence as a whole; it saves time in teaching grammar and analysis, and makes these branches the delight of pupils; it adapts the study of grammar and analysis to the taste and capacity of the pupil. Hon. A. J. Russell, Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Florida, sums it up thus: "I consider it of great help to the teacher and positive good to the pupil, in that it relieves the study of grammar of that which makes it so universally repulsive to young pupils, and creates an interest novel and pleasing, while it gives a knowledge of the use of language the old methods are slow to impart."

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