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Chapter 8. The Eighteenth Century to the Present

Anyone who glances at a text written after 1800 will find the language remarkably familiar. Its idioms may

seem a bit odd, and the occasional archaic spelling, such as <shew> for <show> may be found, but the

language is essentially the same as the language we use today. Grammatically, English did not substantially

reach its present-day form until around 1800, making the 1700s a crucial period in the history of the

English language. Many of our contemporary attitudes towards the English language (such as the socially

constructed idea of ‘proper grammar’) which began their development in the early modern period also

reached their current form by the end of the eighteenth century. Developments have taken place since this

time both within the language and within attitudes towards language, but we still live with the legacy of the

eighteenth century both in the way we use English and in how we view the language.

The increasing awareness of the importance of English in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century society

which were explored in chapter 6 soon began to spawn ambitious plans for deliberate interference in the

form of the language. As we shall see, such schemes were increasingly often devised with the intent of

affecting society through the medium of language. There was by no means a consistent movement, and the

aims and purposes of linguistic ‘meddlers’ evolved over time. We will look at three developments which

began as early as the sixteenth century but became exceptionally important in the eighteenth century. Many

people desired the establishment of an organised academy, charged with the task of establishing a standard

form of English. Such bodies existed (and still exist) in France, Italy, and Spain, but one was never

established in England. However, their purpose has been partially achieved by the development of

prescriptive ‘grammars’ – works which attempt to guide us in how to use English – and by dictionaries,

which sometimes have a similar effect. Neither grammars nor dictionaries developed out of the blue; in

particular, we should concentrate on how their purposes and intended audiences changed over time.

To study the history of attitudes towards English in the eighteenth century and beyond, it is necessary

to look first at earlier attitudes and how eighteenth-century attitudes developed from them. Proposals for an

English Academy came relatively late in the seventeenth century and more or less subsided less than a

hundred years later. Dictionaries and grammars have roots as far back as the Middle Ages, but they began to

resemble forms we recognise in the 1500s.

Proposals for an English Academy

1. Purpose of the Académie Française, according to the royal charter of 1635

To labour with all possible care and diligence to give definite rules to [the] language, and to render it pure,
eloquent, and capable of treating the arts and sciences.

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2. John Dryden, Dedication to Troilus and Cressida (1679)

I am desirous, if it were possible, that we might all write with the same certainty of words, and purity of
phrase, to which the Italians first arrived, and after them the French; at least that we might advance as far as
our tongue is capable of such a standard.

3. Daniel Defoe, ‘Of Academies’, from An essay upon Projects (1697)

The Work of this Society shou’d be to encourage Polite Learning, to polish and refine the English Tongue,

and advance the so much neglected Faculty of Correct Language, to establish Purity and Propriety of Stile, and to
purge it from all the Irregular Additions that Ignorance and Affectation have introduc’d; and all those Innovations
in Speech, if I may call them such, which some Dogmatic Writers have the Confidence to foster upon their Native
Language, as if their Authority were sufficient to make their own Fancy legitimate.

By such a Society I dare say the true Glory of our English Stile wou’d appear; and among all the Learned Part

of the World, be esteem’d, as it really is, the Noblest and most Comprehensive of all the Vulgar Languages in the
World.

4. Joseph Addison, Spectator 135 (Saturday, 4 August 1711)

There is another Particular in our Language which is a great Instance of our Frugality of Words, and that is the
suppressing of several Particles, which must be produced in other Tongues to make a Sentence intelligible: This
often perplexes the best Writers, when they find the Relatives, Who, which or that, at their Mercy whether it may
have Admission or not, and will never be decided till we have something like an Academy, that by the best
Authorities and Rules drawn from Analogy of Languages shall settle all Controversies between Grammar and
Idiom.

5. Jonathan Swift, A Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Tongue (1712)

The persons who are to undertake this work, will have the example of the French before them, to

imitate where these have proceeded right, and to avoid their mistakes. Beside the grammar-part, wherein we
are allowed to be very defective, they will observe many gross improprieties, which however authorised by
practice, and grown familiar, ought to be discarded. They will find many words that deserve to be utterly
thrown out of our language, many more to be corrected; and perhaps not a few, long since antiquated, which
ought to be restored, on account of their energy and sound....

But what I have most at heart is, that some method should be thought on for ascertaining and fixing our

language for ever, after such alterations are made in it as shall be thought requisite. For I am of opinion, that
it is better a language should not be wholly perfect, than that it should be perpetually changing; and we must
give over at one time, or at length infallibly change for the worse.

But where I say, that I would have our language, after it is dully correct, always to last; I do not mean

that it should never be enlarged: provided that no word which a society shall give a sanction to, be afterwards
antiquated and exploded, they may have liberty to receive whatever new ones they shall find occasion for.

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6. Philip Dormer Stanhope, Lord Chesterfield, Letter to The World (28 November 1754)

I had long lamented that we had no lawful standard of our language set up, for those to repair to, who might

chuse to speak and write it grammatically and correctly: and I have as long wished that either some one person of
distinguished abilities would undertake the work singly, or that a certain number of gentlemen would form
themselves, or be formed by the government, into a society for that purpose. The late ingenious doctor Swift
proposed a plan of this nature to his friend (as he thought him) the lord treasurer of Oxford, but without success;
precision and perspicuity not being in general the favourite objects of ministers, and perhaps still less so that of a
minister than of any other.

Many people have imagined that so extensive a work would have been best performed by a number of persons,

who should have taken their several departments, of examining, sifting, winnowing (I borrow this image from the
Italian crusca) purifying, and finally fixing our language, by incorporating their respective funds into one joint
stock. But whether this opinion be true or false, I think the public in general, and the republic of letters in
particular, greatly obliged to Mr Johnson, for having undertaken and executed so great and desireable a work.

7. Samuel Johnson, Preface to A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)

I have, notwithstanding this discouragement, attempted a dictionary of the English language, which, while it

was employed in the cultivation of every species of literature, has itself been hitherto neglected; suffered to spread,
under the direction of chance, into wild exuberance; resigned to the tyranny of time and fashion; and exposed to
the corruptions of ignorance, and caprices of innovation.

When I took the first survey of my undertaking, I found our speech copious without order, and energetick

without rules: wherever I turned my view, there was perplexity to be disentangled, and confusion to be regulated;
choice was to be made out of boundless variety, without any established principle of selection; adulterations were
to be detected, without a settled test of purity; and modes of expression to be rejected or received, without the
suffrages of any writers of classical reputation or acknowledged authority.…

So far have I been from any care to grace my pages with modern decorations, that I have studiously

endeavoured to collect examples and authorities from the writers before the restoration, whose works I regard as
the wells of English undefiled, as the pure sources of genuinine diction. Our language, for almost a century, has, by
the concurrence of many causes, been gradually departing from its original Teutonick character, and deviating
towards a Gallick structure and phraseology, from which it ought to be our endeavour to recal it, by making our
ancient volumes the groundwork of stile, admitting among the additions of later times, only such as may supply
real deficiencies, such as are readily aadopted by the genius of our tongue, and incorporate easily with out native
idioms.…

Of the event of this work, for which, having laboured it with so much application, I cannot but have some

degree of parental fondness, it is natural to form conjectures. Those who have been persuaded to think well of my
design, will require that it should fix our language, and put a stop to those alterations which time and chance have
hitherto been suffered to make in it without opposition. With this consequence I will confess that I flattered
myself for awhile; but now begin to fear that I have indulged expectation which neither reason nor experience can
justify. When we see men grow old and die at a certain time one after another, from century to century, we laugh
at the elixir that promises to prolong life to a thousand years; and with equal justice may the lexicographer be
derided, who being able to produce no example of a nation that has preserved their words and phrases from
mutability, shall imagine that his dictionary can embalm his language, and secure it from corruption and decay,
that it is in his power to change sublunary nature, and clear the world at once from folly, vanity, and affectation.

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The Development of Prescriptive Grammar

1. William Lily, A Shorte Introduction of Grammar (1549)

[This is a grammar of Latin, not English, and it was originally written in Latin. Compiled in the early 16

th

century by Lily (1486?-1523), the work comprises an account of Latin inflexions by John Colet and a section
on syntax by Lily. The work was subsequently revised and translated into English, and by a proclamation of
Edward VI in 1548 its use was made mandatory in all grammar schools; a final revision of the work was made
at that time, and it long remained the chief grammar of Latin used in schools.]

Of a Verbe.

A verbe is a parte of speche, declined with mode and tense, and betokeneth dooyng; as Amo, I loue: or sufferyng:

as Amor, I am loued: or beeyng: as Sum, I am.

Of verbes such as haue persons, be called personalles: as Ego amo, Tu amas. And suche as haue no persons, be

called impersonalles: as Tædet, it yrketh. Oportet, it behoueth.

Of verbes personalles there bee fiue kyndes, Actiue, Passiue, Neutre, Deponent, and Common.

A verbe actiue endeth in o, and betokeneth to doo: as Amo, I loue, and by putting to, r, it maie be a passiue: as

Amor.

A verbe passiue endeth in or, & betokeneth to suffre: as Amor, I am loued, & by puttyng away, r, it may be an

actiue: as, Amo.

A verbe neuter endeth in o, or m, and can not take r, to make hym a passiue: as, Curro, I renne, Sum, I am. And

it is englyshed sometyme actiuely: as Curro, I runne: and sometyme passively: as Aegroto, I am sycke.

A verbe deponent endeth in r, lyke a passiue, and yet in significacion is but eyther actiue: as, Loquor uerbum, I

speake a woorde: or neutre, as Glorior, I boste.

A verbe common endeth in r, & in significacion is both actiue and passiue: as Osculor te, I kisse the. Osculor a te, I

am kissed of the.

Modes

There be syxe modes, the Indicatiue, the Imperatiue, the Optatiue, the Potencial, the Subiunctiue, and the

Infinitiue.

The Indicatiue mode sheweth a reason true or false: as Ego amo, I loue: or els asketh a question: as, Amas tu?

Doest thou loue?

The Imperatiue byddeth or commandeth: as, Ama, Loue thou.

The Optatiue wyssheth or desyreth, with these signes, woulde god, I praie god, or god graunt: as Vtinam amem, I

praie god I loue, and hath euermore an aduerbe of wishyng ioyned with hym.

The Potenciall mode is knowen by these signes, maie, can, might, would, shoulde, or ought: as Amem, I can or

maie loue, without an aduerbe ioyned with hym.

The Subjunctiue mode that euermore some coniunction ioyned with hym: as Cum amarem, whan I loued. And it

is called the Subjunctiue mode, because it dependeth of an other verbe in the same sentence, eyther goyng afore, or
commyng after: as, Cum amarem eram miser, whan I loued, I was a wretche.

The Infinitiue signifieth to dooe, to suffre, or to bee, and hathe neyther numbre nor person, nor nominatiue case

before hym, and is knowen commonly by this signe to: as, Amare, to loue. Also whan two verbes come together

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without any nominatyue case between them, then the latter shall be the infinitiue mode: as Cupio dicere, I desyre to
learne.

2.

William Bullokar, Pamphlet for Grammar (1586)

[Bullokar’s Pamphlet for Grammar was printed in a reformed orthography devised by Bullokar, using a number of
idiosyncratic symbols. In the extracts that follow the orthography and punctuation have been adapted to those of present-
day English.]

(a) William Bullokar’s Pamphlet for Grammar: Or rather to be said his abbreviation of his Grammar for English,
extracted out of his Grammar at Large. This being sufficient for the speedy learning of how to parse English speech
for the perfecter writing thereof, and using the best phrase therein; and the easier entrance into the secrets of grammar
for other languages, and the speedier understanding of other languages, ruled or not ruled by grammar; very profitable
for the English nation that desireth to learn any strange language, and very aidful to the stranger to learn English
perfectly and speedily; for that English hath short rule (therefore soon learned) yet having sufficient rules therein to
make the way much easier for the learning of any other language unknown before to the learner.

(b) A verb is a part of speech declined with mood, tense, number, and person.

It is called a verb active when it signifieth to do, as, I love, I teach; and hath a participle of the passive voice derived

of it, as, loved, taught; which participle being joined with the verb substantive, to be, taketh his mood or manner of
suffering, and his tense also, of the verb substantive, and his case, gender, number, and person, of his ruling
substantive, as, I am loved, be thou loved, O that he were loved, would God we had been loved, if they have been loved, when
shall we be loved, &c.; and having no participle passive is called a verb neuter, whose participial is joined with the verb
substantive in being only, as, I being run to the town, my father came home. More is said of the participle in the title
thereof.

To have may be called a verb possessive, and his compound, to have liever, a verb choicative. All other verbs are

called verbs neuters unperfect, because they require the infinitive mood of another verb to express their signification or
meaning perfectly; and be these may, can, might or mought, could, would, should, must, ought, and sometime will, shall,
being a mere sign of the future tense.

There be five moods: the indicative, the imperative, the optative, the subjunctive, and the infinitive.

the indicative mood showeth a reason true or false, as, I love; or else asketh a question, as, lovest thou?

The imperative biddeth or commandeth, as, love thou, love ye.

The optative, or wishing mood, wisheth or desireth, and hath alway an adverb of wishing joined before his

nominative case; as, praying God I love, I pray God thou love, God grant he love. Also these, I would, would, would God,
would to God, O that, and O if, be adverbs of wishing showing the optative mood.

The subjunctive mood hath evermore a conjunction set before his nominative case, and dependeth upon another

verb in the same sentence either going before or coming after it; as, the master will be angry if we be idle, when we use
diligence we learn.

The infinitive hath neither number nor person, nor nominative case before it, and is known commonly by this

sign or preosition, to; which to is not expressed many times when there cometh an accusative case between the
infinitive mood and the verb before-going, as, bid him come hither. With some verbs we use a like phrase in the
nominative case, as, you say I am idle; that being a resolver of the first and understanded in the last, as, bid that he come
hither, you say that I am idle. Neither do we use to after a verb neuter unperfect, except after ought, as, we ought to go
thither.

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There be three times, called tenses: the time that is now, called the present tense, as, I love; the time past, called

the preter tense, as, I loved; the time to come, called the future tense, as, I shall or will love.

Time past hath three divisions: the first, called the preter tense, as, I loved, sometime having the sign of

preposition did or didst joined with the simple, as, I did love, thou didst love; the second, being perfectly past, called the
preter-perfect tense, having alway the sign or preposition have, hast, or hath set before it, as, I have loved, thou hast loved,
he hath loved; the third, being more than perfectly past, having alway the sign or preposition had or hadst before it, and
called the preter-pluperfect tense, as, I loved, thou hadst loved, he had loved.

3.

Jeremiah Wharton, The English Grammar (1654)

(a) To the Courteous Reader. It is the judgement of many learned, that in the Education of Youth, it should be the
care of every Teacher, as well to accustom them to the exercise of good English, as of good Latine. And not without
great reason: for our mother-tongue is likely in the practice to bee most useful, and is as capable of any Scholar-like
expressions, as any whatsoever. Besides the puritie and elegancie of our own Language is to bee esteemed a chief part of
the honor of our Nation, which wee all ought to our utmost power, to advance. Lastly, because for one that is trained
up in the Grammar-Schools, to any perfection, fit for the Universitie, or any learned Profession, a hundred are taken
away before; of whom the most, very shortly after, wholely in a manner, forget their Latine; so that if they bee not
bettered in the knowledg of their Native Language, their labor and cost is to little or no purpose. Upon this ground,
and for these reasons, I have composed this ensuing Treatise, entituled, The English Grammar: By the use whereof,
anyone may bee able 1. In the hardest English both to judg of other’s Reading, whether ir bee true or fals, and also to
justifie his own, 2. To do the same in Writing, 3. In any English Subject, to distinguish every Part of Speech asunder;
the knowledg whereof is of great use to young Scholars, for the judicious Construing, Parsing, and making of Latine.
4. From any Primitive or simple word to form all the Derivatives and Compounds that flow from it; and likewise to
reduce any Derivative word to his Primitive; which propertie, as it will discover the elegancie of the English-tongue,
together with the proper sense and use of almost all pure English words, so will it bee a good model, so far as it
extendeth, by which to learn any other exotick language. 5. Upon the sight of any englished-Latine-word, perteining
to the rules of Derivation set down herein, hee shall bee able presently to turn it into Latine; though before hee never
saw or heard of it before. Which book therefore will bee very useful for all that desire to bee expert in the foresaid
properties; more especially profitable for the youth of this Nation immediately before their Entrance into the
Rudiments of the Latine tongue: becaus the knowledg of their mother-tongue is most necessarie, both for the
understanding of what they hear or read therein, as also the expressing of their conceit, in what they understand: And
it is as commendable to give a warrantable rule or reason of their own, as of a forrein tongue. Besides they will more
easily comprehend the Rules and Terms of Art in that tongue, wherein they have accustomed from their infancie, then
in the Latine, whereof they are altogether ignorant. Lastly, it will bee a notable Preparative to the learning of the
Latine, or any other Grammatized language; becaus the Rules in this, for the most part may bee applied unto that.
Moreover by them also, that are already entred into the Latine-tongue, it may profitably learned upn the By, without
any hinderance to their other proceedings. Likewise to strangers that desire to learn our language, it will be a special
help, which they shall finde not to bee barbarous, confused, and irregular, (as the common saying is) but familiar,
orderly and easie, equal to the Greek, and beyond the Latine for Composition, year happie above them both in this,
not that it cannot bee reduced to any; but that indeed it needeth little or no Grammar at all.

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(b)

Of a Verb.

A Verb betokeneth the dooing, suffering, or beeing of a thing with difference of time.

There bee three kinds of Verbs, Active, Passive, and Neuter.

A Verb Active betokeneth dooing; as, I love.

A Verb Passive betokeneth suffering; as, I am loved.

A Verb Neuter betokeneth Beeing; as, I am.

Moods.

There are four Moods, or Manner of signifying in Verbs.

The Indicative, the Imperative, the Potential, and the Infinitive.

The Indicative declareth; as, Thou lovest: or else demandeth, or doubteth; as, Doest thou love?

The Imperative commandeth, intreateth, exhorteth, or permitteth; as, Love thou, or let him love.

The Potential mood signifieth a power, duty, or desire, and hath one of these signs, may, can, might, would,

should; as, I may love.

The Infinitive mood followeth another Verb, or an Adjective, and commonly hath this sign to; as, I desire to learn.

Worthy to bee praised.

Tenses.

There are five Tenses, or distinctions of time; the Present tens, the Preter-imperfect tens, the Preterperfect tens,

the preterpluperfect tens, and the Future tens.

The Present tens speaketh of the time that now is; as, I love or do love.

The Preterimperfect tens speaketh of the time not perfectly past; as, I loved, or did love.

The Preterperfect tens speaketh of the time more than perfectly past; as I had loved.

The Future tens speaketh of the time to com with these signs shall or will; as, I shall or will love.

Signs of these five tenses in the Active voice bee, Do, did, have, had, shall or will.

Signs of the Passive voice bee, Am, was, have been, had been, shall or will bee.

These signs of the five tenses in both voices, as likewise the signs of the Potential mood, when they are alone, bee

perfect verbs themselves; as are in Latine, ago, habeo, volo, debeo, sum, possum.

Persons.

In Verbs there are three persons singular, and three persons plural, answering to the persons of the Pronouns, I,

thou, hee, Sing. wee, yee, they, Plur.

4.

James Greenwood, an Essay towards a Practical English Grammar (1711)

(a)

The Preface.

I need not, I hope, make any Apology for publishing a Grammar of our Mother Tongue, since it is too plain and
evident, how necessary a Performance of the Nature is, and especially for those Persons, who talk for the most part just
as they have heard their Parents, Nurses, or Teachers, (who likewise may happen to be none of the best Speakers) talk;
without ever taking the Matter into any farther Consideration: It is indeed possible that a young Gentleman or Lady
may be enabled to speak pretty well upon some Subjects, and entertain a Visiter with Discourse that may be agreeable
enough: Yet I do not well see how they should write any thing with a tolerable Correctness, unless they have some tast

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of Grammar, or express themselves clearly, and deliver their Thoughts by Letter or otherwise, so as not to lay
themselves open to the Censure of their Friends, for their blameable Spelling or false Syntax.

For which reason after several others, I have endeavour’d to explain the Principles of Grammar in such a

perspicuous and familiar way, as may rather incite, than discourage the Curiosity of such who would have a clear
Notion of what they speak or write. And herein I have had regard to three things: In the first place, I was desirous to
do what in me lay, to excite Persons to the Study of their Mother Tongue. Secondly, to give such a plain and rational
Account of Grammar, as might render it easy and delightful to our English Youth, who have for a long time esteemed
the Study of this Useful Art very irksome, obscure and difficult: And this their wrong and hard Notion seems to have
proceeded, partly from the unpleasing and disadvantageous Manner it has been deliver’d to them in, and partly through
the want of having every Thing explain’d and clear’d up to their Understanding as they go along: Not to mention the
Teaching them Grammar in Latin, before they have learn’t any thing of it in English. And every Body must readily grant
that the way to come to a true and clear Knowledge of any Art, is to explain Things unknown, by Things that are
known. and I dare be bold to say, that if the Grammar of our own Tongue was first Taught in our Schools, our Youth
would in a far less time, than they now commonly do, attain an Understanding of the Latin tongue, and also be better
prepared for the Study of Things. My third Aim that I had in writing this Treatise was, to oblige the Fair Sex whose
Education perhaps, is too much neglected in this Particular.

(b)

Of the Pronoun.

As the too frequent Repetition of the same Words is disagreeable and unpleasant; so this Inconvenience could hardly
have been avoided, since Men have Occasion to make frequent Mention of the same Things, if certain Words had not
been made Use of, to supply the Place of these Nouns, and prevent their being too often repeated; which Words are
called Pronouns, that is, Words put for Nouns. For as Nouns are the Marks or Signs of Things, so Pronouns are of
Nouns.

A Pronoun is a Word that may be used instead of any Nouns Substantive, as,

Instead of my Name, I say, I.

Instead of thy Name, I use, Thou.

Instead of his Name, I say, He.

Instead of her Name, I say, She.

So instead of saying the Book of Peter, we say, his Book; in speaking to Peter, we say, it is your Book, &c. so likewise

when it is said, I teach Thee or Him; the Pronoun I, represents to our Thoughts the Person teaching, suppose John,
and the Words Thee, Him, the Person spoken to, or of, suppose William or Thomas.

Now we are to consider, that all Discourse may be brought under, or confin’d to these three Heads:–That is, We

either speak of our selves; to another; or of another. And these three heads are call’d by the Name of Persons.

There are in Discourse, Three persons.

1. For in speaking of my self, I use the Word I; and if more than one speak of themselves, they use the Word We:
which Words I and We, are said to be, are said to be of the First Person
2. When we speak to another, we use the Word Thou; but when we speak to more than one, we use the Word Ye;
which Words Thou and Ye, are said to be of the Second Person.
3. In speaking of another, if of the Male-Sex, we say He; if of the Female-Sex, we say She; but if we speak of a thing
that is neither of the Male nor Female Sex, we use the Word It; and if we speak of more Things than one, let them be
of the Male or Female Sex, or otherwise, we use the Word They: and these Words, He, She, It and They, are said to be
of the Third Person.

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Hence we may observe.

1. I is of the first Person Singular.

We is of the first Person Plural.

2. Thou is of the second Person Singular.

You and Ye are of the second Person Plural.

3. He, She, It, are of the third Person Singular.

They is of the third Person Plural.

And so likewise, all other Nouns when spoken of, are of the third Person: Of the third Person Singular if only one

be meant; of the third Person Plural if more than one be meant.

It is customary among us, (as likewise among the French, and others) tho’ we speak but to one particular Person,

to use the Plural Number: but then we say You, and not Ye. And if any one speaks to another in the Singular Number,
as Thou Thomas, it is reckon’d a Sign of Contempt or Familiarity.

The Pronouns have a twofold State, both in the Singular and Plural Number. The first State we shall call the

Foregoing State, as I, We; the second State we shall call the Following State, as Me, Us.
The Pronoun is used in the Foregoing State, when it is set alone, as Who did it? I. Or, when it goes before a Verb, as, I
love, not Me love; We read, not Us read. But it is used in the Following State, when it follows the Verb or Preposition, as
the Man loves Me, not The Man loves I; God bless Us, not God bless We; So, Peter gave to Me, not to I; John wrote to Us,
not to We.

5. James Buchanan, The British Grammar (1762)

(a) Of the Construction of Adverbs, Conjunctions, and Prepositions

I. The Adverb (yes) is more genteel, as an Answer, than yea, which is seldom used but by the People called

Quakers. We use I as an Answer, in a familiar, careless, or merry Way; as, I, I Sir, I, I; but to use ay is
accounted rude, especially to our Betters.

II. No stands alone in an Answer; as, Will he go? No. but (not) must always be joined to some other Word; as,

Will he go? He will not go. We often find no used instead of not; as, I will stay whether he will or no: But
though Custom from Inadvertency has enfranchised this Way of Writing, if we strictly advert to the
Construction of the Sentence just mentioned, we shall find it repugnant to grammatical Propriety; for the
Construction cannot be, I will stay whether he will or will no…but I will stay whether he will or will not.…

III. Two Negatives, or two Adverbs of denying, make an Affirmation in our Language; therefor. we cannot say, I

cannot eat none, I cannot dance none, &c, for these make Affirmatives, and signify as much as, I can eat
some, &c.

(b) General Rules for English Concord, with Exercises of false Syntax under each, as an Introduction to the Scholar’s
Writing English syntactically.

RULE IX

The comparative Adverbs than and as, have the foregoing State of a Pronoun after them; except a Preposition
expressed or understood comes between them and the Pronoun.

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Examples of false Syntax

He has eaten more than me. I have writen more than thee. John reads better than him. He dances better than her,

but she sings better than him.…

I have not so much Gold as him. I have as good a Right as her. You have not so good a right as us.

6. Robert Lowth, A Short Introduction to English Grammar (1762)

(a) Preface
The English Language hath been much cultivated during the last two hundred years. It hath been considerably
polished and refined; it hath been greatly enlarged in extent and compass; its force and energy, its variety, richness, and
elegance, have been tried with good success, in verse and in prose, upon all subjects, and in every kind of stile: but
whatever other improvements it may have received, it hath made no advances in Grammatical accuracy.

It is now perhaps fifty years since Doctor Swift made a public remonstrance, addressed to the Earl of Oxford, then

Lord Treasurer, of the imperfect State of our Language; alledging in particular, ‘that in many instances it offended
against every part of Grammar.’ Swift must be allowed to have been a good judge of this matter. He was himself very
attentive to this part, both in his own writings, and in his remarks upon those of his friends: he is one of our most
correct, and, perhaps our very best prose writer. Indeed the justness of this complaint, as far as I can find, hath never
been questioned; and yet no effectual method hath hitherto been taken to redress the grievance of which he
complains.…

The English Language is perhaps of all the present European Languages by much the most simple in its form and

construction. Of all the ancient Languages extant that is the most simple, which is undoubtedly the most ancient: but
even that Language does not equal English in its simplicity.…

It is not owing then to any peculiar irregularity or difficulty of our Language, that the general practice both of

speaking and writing it is chargeable with inaccuracy. It is not the Language, but the practice, that is in fault. The
truth is, Grammar is very much neglected among us: and it is not the difficulty of the Language, but on the contrary
the simplicity and facility of it, that occasions this neglect. Were the Language less easy and simple, we should find
ourselves under a necessitie of studying it with more care and attention. But as it is, we take it for granted, that we
have a competent knowledge and skill, and are able to acquit ourselves properly, in our own native tongue: a faculty
solely acquired by use, conducted by habit, and tried by the ear, carries us on without reflection; we meet with no rubs
or difficulties in our way, or we do not perceive them; we find ourselves able to go on without rules, and we do not so
much as suspect that we stand in need of them.…

But perhaps the Notes subjoined to the following pages will furnish a more convincing argument, than any thing

that can be said here, both of the truth of the charge of inaccuracy brought against our Language as it subsists in
practice, and of the necessity of investigating the Principles of it, and studying it Grammatically, if we would attain to a
due degree of skill in it. It is with reason expected of every person of a liberal education, and much more is it
indispensably required of every one who express himself with propriety and accuracy. It will evidently appear from these
Notes, that our best Authors for want of some rudiments of this kind have sometimes fallen into mistakes, and been
guilty of palpable errors in point of Grammar. The examples there given are such as occurred in reading, without any
very curious or methodical examination: and they might easily have been much increased in number by any one, who
had leisure or phlegm enough to have gone through a regular course of reading with this particular view. However, I
believe, they may be sufficient to answer the purpose intended; to evince the necessity of the Study of Grammar in our
own Language, and to admonish those, who set up for Authors among us, that they would do well to consider this
part of Learning as an object not altogether beneath their regard.

The principal design of a Grammar of any Language is to teach us to express ourselves with propriety in that

language, and to be able to judge of every phrase and form of construction, whether it be right or not. The plain way

105

of doing this, is to lay down rules, and illustrate them by examples. But besides shewing what is right, the matter may
be further explained by pointing out what is wrong. I will not take upon me to say, whether we have any Grammar that
sufficiently performs the first part: but the latter method here called in, as subservient to the former, may perhaps be
found in this case to be of the two the more useful and effectual manner of instruction.

(b) Thou, in the Polite, and even in the familiar Style, is disused, and the Plural You is employed instead of it: we say
You have, not Thou hast. Tho’ in this case we apply You to a single Person, yet the Verb too must agree with it in the
Plural Number: it must necessarily be You have, not You hast. You was, the Second Person Plural of the Pronoun placed
in agreement with the first or Third Person Singular of the Verb, is an enormous Solecism: and yet Authors of the
first rank have fallen into it. ‘Knowing that you was my old master’s good friend.’ Addison, Spect. No. 517. ‘Would to
God you was within her reach.’ Lord Bolingbroke to Swift, Letter 46.

(c) Who, which, that, are called Relatives, because they more directly [than other pronominal forms] refer to some
Substantive going before; which therefore is called the Antecedent. They also connect the following part of the
sentence with the foregoing.… One of them only is varied to express the three Cases; Who, whose,

1

(that is, who’s)

whom: none of them have different endings for the Numbers.

(d) Adjectives are sometimes employed as Adverbs; improperly, and not agreeably to the Genius of the English
Language. As, ‘extreme elaborate:’ Dryden, Essay on Dram. Poet. ‘marvellous gracefull:’ Clarendon, Life, p. 18. ‘extreme
unwilling;’ ‘extreme subject;’ Swift, Tale of a tub, and Battle of Books. do ye think, me to be?’

(e) The Verb to Be has always a Nominative Case after it; as, ‘it was I, and not He, that did it:’ unless it be in the
Infinitive Mode; ‘though you took it to be Him.’

2

(f) The Preposition is often separated from the Relative which it governs, and joined to the Verb at the end of the
Sentence, or of some member of it: as, ‘Horace is an author, whom I am much delighted with.’ ‘The world is too well
bred to shock authors with a truth, which generally their booksellers are the first that inform them of.’ This is an Idiom
which our language is strongly inclined to; it prevails in common conversation, and suits very well with the familiar
style in writing; but the placing of the Preposition before the Relative is more graceful, as well as more perspicuous;
and agrees much better with the solemn and elevated Style.

(g) The Adverbs when, while, after, &c. being left out, the Phrase is formed with the Participle independently of the
rest of the Sentence: as, ‘The doors being shut, Jesus stood in the midst.’ this is called the Case Absolute. And the

1

Whose is by some authors made the Possessive Case of which, and applied to things as well as persons; I think,

improperly.
‘The question, whose solution I require,
Is, what sex of women most desire.’ Dryden.

‘Is there any doctrine, whose followers are punished?’ Addison.

2

‘Whom do men say, that I am?–But whom say ye, that I am?’ Matt. xvi. 13, 15. So likewise Mark viii. 27, 29. Luke ix.

18, 20. ‘Whom think ye, that I am?’ Acts xiii. 25. It ought in all these places to be who; which is not governed by the
verb say or think, but by the Verb am: or agrees in Case with the Pronoun I. If the Verb were in the Infinitive Mode, it
would require the Objective case of the relative, agreeing with the Pronoun me: ‘Whom think ye, or do ye think, me to
be?’

106

Case is in English always the Nominative: as,

‘God from the mount of Sinai, whose gray top

Shall tremble, He descending,

3

will himself,

In thunder, lightning, and loud trumpet’s sound,

Ordain them laws.’ Milton, P.L. xii. 227.

7. Joseph Priestly, Rudiments of English Grammar (1769)

It must be allowed, that the custom of speaking is the original, and only just standard of any language. We see, in
all grammars, that this is sufficient to establish a rult, even contrary to the strongest analogies of the language
with itself. Must not this custom, therefore, be allowed to have some weight, in favour of those forms of speech,
to which our best writers and speakers seem evidently prone; forms which are contrary to no analogy of the
language with itself, and which have been disapproved by grammarians, only from certain abstract and arbitrary
considerations, and when their decisions were not prompted by the genius of the language; which discovers itself
in nothing more than in the general propensity of those who use it to certain modes of construction? I think,
however, that I have not, in any case, seemed to favour what our grammarians will call an irregularity, but where
the genius of the language, and not only single examples, but the general practice of those who write it, and the
almost universal custom of all who speak it, have obliged me to do so. I also think I have seemed to favour those
irregularities, no more than the degree of the propensity I have first mentioned, when unchecked by a regard to
arbitrary rules, in those who use the forms of speech I refer to, will authorize me.

8. Lindley Murray, English Grammar (1795)

English grammar is the art of speaking and writing the English language with propriety.

It is divided into four parts, viz. Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody.…

Orthography teaches the nature and powers of letters, and the just method of spelling words.…

The second part of grammar is Etymology, which treats of the different sorts of words, their derivation, and the

various modifications by which the sense of a primitive word is diversified.…

The third part of grammar is syntax, which shews the agreement and right disposition of words in a sentence.…

To produce the agreement and right disposition of words in a sentence, many rules are necessary.…

RULE XIV.

Participles govern words in the same manner as the verbs do from which they are derived; as, ‘I am weary with

hearing him;’ ‘She is instructing us;’ ‘He was admonishing them.’

Participles are sometimes govern by the article; for the present participle, with the definite article the before it,

becomes a substantive, and must have the preposition of after it; as, ‘These are the rules of grammar, by observing of
which, you may avoid mistakes.’ It would not be proper to say, ‘by the observing which;’ nor, ‘by observing of which;’
but the phrase, without either the article or preposition, would be right; as, ‘by observing which.’

This rule arises from the nature and idiom of our language, and from as plain a principle as any on which it is

founded: namely, that a word which has an article before it, and the possessive preposition of after it, must be a noun;

3

On which says Dr. Bentley, ‘the context demands that it be,–Him descending, Illo descendente.’ But him is not the

Ablative Case, for the English knows no such Case; nor does him without a Preposition on any occasion answer to the
Latin Ablative illo.… this comes of forcing the English under the rules of a foreign Language, with which it has little
concern.

107

and if a noun, it ought to follow the construction of a noun, and not to have the regimen of a verb. It is the participial
termination of this sort of words that is apt to deceive us, and make us treat them as if they were of an amphibious
species, partly nouns and partly verbs.

9. George Eliot, Middlemarch, ch. 24 (1872)

‘Now let us go through that once more,’ said Mrs Garth, pinching an apple-puff which seemed to distract Ben, an

energetic young male with a heavy brow, from due attention to the lesson. ‘“Not without regard to the import of the
word as conveying unity or plurality of the idea”–tell me again what that means, Ben.’

(Mrs Garth, like more celebrated educators, had her favourite ancient paths, and in a general wreck of society

would have tried to hold her ‘Lindley Murray’ above the waves.)

‘Oh–it means–you must think what you mean,’ said Ben, rather peevishly. ‘I hate grammar. What’s the use of it?’

‘To teach you to speak and write correctly, so that you can be understood,’ said Mrs Garth with severe precision.

‘Should you like to speak as old Job does?’

‘Yes,’ said Ben, stoutly; ‘it’s funnier. He says, “You goo”–that’s just as good as “You go”.’

‘But he says, “A ship’s in the garden”, instead of “a sheep”,’ said Letty, with an air of superiority. ‘You might think

he meant a ship off the sea.’

‘No you mightn’t, if you weren’t silly,’ said Ben. ‘How could a ship off the sea come there?’

‘These things belong only to pronunciation, which is the least part of grammar,’ said Mrs Garth.… ‘Job has only

to speak about very plain things. How do you think you would write or speak about anything more difficult, if you
knew no more of grammar than he does? You would use wrong words, and put words in the wrong places, and instead
of making people understand you, they would turn away from you as a tiresome person. What would you do then?’

‘I shouldn’t care, I should leave off,’ said Ben, with a sense that this was an agreeable issue where grammar was

concerned.

The History of Dictionaries

1. Robert Cawdrey, A Table Alphabeticall (1604)

Title-page
A Table Alphabeticall, conteyning and teaching the true writing, and vnderstanding of hard vsuall English wordes,
borrowed from the Hebrew, Greeke, Latine, or French, &c. With the interpretation thereof by plaine English
words, gathered for the benefit & helpe of Ladies, Gentlewomen, or any other vnskilfull persons. Whereby they
may the more easilie and better vnderstand many hard English wordes, which they shall heare or read in
Scriptures, Sermons, or elsewhere, and also be made able to vse the same aptly themselues.

Illustrative Entries
Ebullient, seething

effectuall, forcible

ebulliated, boyled

effect, a thing done, or to bring to passe

[e]clipse, (g) failing of the light of the

effeminate, womannish, delicate, wanton

sunne or moone

efficacie, force, or strength

eccho, a sound, resounding back again

efficient, working, or accomplishing

ecclesiasticall, (g) belonging to the church

effusion, powring, or running foorth

eden, pleasure, or delight

eglogue, (g) a talking together

95

2. Thomas Blount, Glossographia (1656)

Title-page
Glossographia: or a Dictionary, Interpreting all such Hard Words, Whether Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian,
Spanish, French, Teutonick, Belgick, British or Saxon, as are now used in our refined English Tongue. Also the
Terms of Divinity, Law, Physick, Mathematicall, Heraldry, Anatomy, War, Musick, Architecture; and of several
other Arts and Sciences Explicated. With Etymologies, Definitions, and Historical Observations on the same. Very
useful for all such as desire to understand what they read.

Illustrative Entries
Accent (accentus) tune, tenor, the rising and falling of the voice, the due sound over any word or letter, or the

mark of any letter which directs the pronunciation. There are also Accents of sentences; As in the close of a
Period we let fall the voice, in a demand raise it.

Auricular (auricularis) belonging to, or spoken in the ear. As auricular Confession, is that which is made in private

to the Ghostly Father, none hearing but himself, opposite unto publick Confession, which is made in the
hearing of many.

Autumnal (autumnalis) belonging to the harvest or Autumn, which is from the sixth of August to the sixth of

November; and is one of the four Quarters of the year; Others reckon Autumne to begin at the
Æquinoctium. i. about the twelfth of September, and to end at the Solstice or shortest day, about the
eleventh of December.

Axiome (axioma) a maxim or general ground in any Art: a Proposition or short Sentence generally allowed to be

true, as in saying, the whole is greater then its part.

Banditi (Ital.) Out-laws, Rebels, Fugitives condemned by Proclamation; bando in Ital. signifying a Proclamation.

These in the Low-Countries are called Freebooters; in Germany, Nightingales; in the north of England,
Moss-Troopers; in Ireland, Tories.

3. J.K. [John Kersey], A New English Dictionary (1702)

Title-page
A New English Dictionary: Or, a Compleat Collection of the Most Proper and Significant Words, Commonly
used in the Language; With a Short and Clear Exposition of Difficult Words and Terms of Art. The whole
digested into Alphabetical Order; and chiefly designed for the benefit of Young Scholars, Tradesmen, Artificers,
and the Female Sex, who would learn to spell truely; being so fitted to every Capacity, that it may be a continual
help to all that want an Instructer.

Illustrative Entries
Sharp, keen, rough, smart, sower, harsh, &~c.

Shave-grass.

A Sharp in musick.

Shaven.

To sharp upon one, or over-reach him.

A Shaver.

Sharp-set, or very hungry.

The Shavings of planed boards, &c.

Sharp-sighted.

A Shaving-tub, to hold book-binders paper-shavings

Sharp-witted.

She, as she is a woman.

To sharpen, make sharp, or whet.

A She-cousin.

A Sharper, a subtil fellow, that lives by his wits.

A She-friend.

To shatter, shake, or break to pieces.

A Sheaf, a bundle of corn, or arrows.

A Shatter-pate, or shatter-pated fellow.

To sheaf corn, or bind it up into sheaves.

To shave, shear, or cut off the hair with a rasor.

96

4. Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)

Title-page
A Dictionary of the English Language: In which the Words are deduced from their Originals, and Illustrated in
their Different Significations by Examples from the best Writers. To which are prefixed A History of the
Language and An English Grammar.

Illustrative Entries
Cu´rious. adj. [curiosus, Latin.]
1. Inquisitive; desirous of information; addicted to enquiry.

Be not curious in unnecessary matters; for more things are shewn unto thee than men understand. Ecclus. iii.
23.

Even then to them the spirit of lyes suggests

That they were blind, because they saw not ill;

And breath’d into their uncorrupted breasts

A curious wish, which did corrupt their will. Davies.

2. Attentive to; diligent about: sometimes with after.

It is a pity a gentleman so very curious after things that were elegant and beautiful, should not have been as
curious as to their origin, their uses, and their natural history. Woodward.

3. Sometimes with of.

Then thus a senior of the place replies,

Well read, and curious of antiquities. Dryden’s Fables.

4. Accurate; careful not to mistake.

’Till Arianism had made it a matter of great sharpness and subtlety of wit to be a sound believing Christian,
men were not curious what syllables or particles of speech they used. Hook.

5. Difficult to please; solicitous of perfection; not negligent; full of care.

A temperate person is not curious of fancies and deliciousness; he thinks not much, and speaks not often of
meat and drink. Taylour.

6. Exact; nice; subtle.

Both these senses embrace their objects at greater distance, with more variety, and with a more curious
discrimination, than the other sense. Holder.

7. Artful; not neglectful; not fortuitous.

A vaile obscur’d the sunshine of her eyes,

The rose within herself her sweetness closed;

Each ornament about her seemly lies,

By curious chance, or careless art, composed. Fairfax, b. ii.

8. Elegant; neat; laboured; finished.

Understanding to devise curious works, to work in gold. Ex.

9. Rigid; severe; rigorous.

For curious I cannot be with you,

Signior Baptista, of whom I hear so well. Shakespeare.

Se´nsible. adj. [sensible, French; sensilis, Latin]
1. Having the power of perceiving by the senses.

Would your cambrick were as sensible as your finger, that you might leave pricking it for pity. Shakespeare.

These be those discourses of God, whose effects those that live witness in themselves; the sensible in their
sensible natures, the reasonable in their reasonable souls. Raleigh.

A blind man conceives not colours, but under the notion of some other sensible faculty. Glanv. Sceps.

2. Perceptible by the senses.

97

By reason man attaineth unto the knowledge of things that are and are not sensible; it resteth, therefore, that
we search how man attaineth unto the knowledge of such things in sensible as are to be known. Hooker.

Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle tow’rd my hand? Come, let me clutch thee: I have thee
not, and yet I see thee still: Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? Shakesp. Macbeth.

The space left and acquired in every sensible moment in such slow progressions, is so inconsiderable, that it
cannot possibly move the sense. Glanv. Sceps.

It is manifest that the heavens are void of all sensible resistance, and by consequence of all sensible matter.
Newton.

The far greater part of men are no otherwise moved than by sense, and have neither leisure nor ability so far
to improve their power of reflection, as to be capable of conceiving the divine perfections, without the
assistance of sensible objects. Rogers’s Sermons.

Air is sensible to the touch by its motion, and by its resistance to bodies moved in it. Arbuthnot on Air.

3. Perceived by the mind.

Idleness was punished by so many stripes in publick, and the disgrace was more sensible than the pain.
Temple.

4. Perceiving by either mind or senses; having perception by the mind or senses.

This must needs remove The sensible of pain. Milton.

I saw you in the East at your first arising; I was as soon sensible as any of that light, when just shooting out,
and beginning to travel upwards to the meridian. Dryden.

I do not say there is no soul in man, because he is not sensible of it in his sleep; but I do say, he cannot think
at any time, waking or sleeping, without being sensible of it. Locke.

The versification is as beautiful as the description complete; every ear must be sensible of it. Browne’s Notes
on the Odyss.

5. Having moral perception; having the quality of being affected by moral good or ill.

If thou wert sensible of courtesy, I should not make so great a show of zeal. Shakespeare.

6. Having quick intellectual feeling; being easily or strongly affected.

Even I, the bold, the sensible of wrong, Restrain’d by shame, was forc’d to hold my tongue. Dryd.

7. Convinced; persuaded. A low use.

They are very sensible that they had better have pushed their conquests on the other side of the Adriatick; for
then their territories would have lain together. Addison.

8. In low conversation it has sometimes the sense of reasonable; judicious; wise.

I have been tired with accounts from sensible men, furnished with matters of fact, which have happened
within their own knowledge. Addison.

5. James Buchanan, Linguae Britannicae Vera Pronunciatio [The True Pronunciation of the Language of Britain]
(1757)

Title-page
Linguae Britannicae Vera Pronunciatio, or, A New English Dictionary. Containing I. An Explanation of all
English Words used by the best Writers; the various Senses of each Word being distinctly pointed out by Figures
1, 2, 3, &c. II. The Language from which each Word is derived. III. The part of Speech to which it belongs. IV.
A Supplement of upwards of 4000 proper Names. In which every Word has not only the common Accent to
denote the Emphasis of the Voice, but, in order to a just Pronunciation, every Syllable is marked with a long or
short Accent to determine its Quantity; and the quiescent Letters, various sounds of Vowels, &c. are so
distinguished, that any Person, Native or Foreigner, who can but read, may speedily acquire an accurate
Pronunciation of the English Language. To the whole is prefixed a Dissertation on the Species of Sounds, &c.
with practical Observations on the various Powers and Formations of the Letters. A Work intirely new, and
designed for the Use of Schools, and of Foreigners, as well as Natives who would speak, read, and write English
with Propriety and Accuracy.

98

Illustrative Entries
Cù´rïous, (A.) l. Nice, delicate, uncommon. 2. Inquisitive, or desirous of seeing, knowing, &c. L.
Cürl, (S.) Hair, &c. turned up into a roll or ring.
Cü´r1ew, (S.) A water fowl.
Cürmü´dgeon, (S.) A covetous niggardly fellow.
Sënsïble, (A.) 1. Possessed with senses. 2. Arising from the senses. 3. Perceivable by the senses. 4. Judicious, of

good sense. 5. Made to understand.

Së´nsïtive, (A.) Having sense.
Së´nsöry, or Sensò´rïum, (S.) That part of the brain in which we receive the idea of all impressions made by

sensible objects.

6. John Walker, A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary (1791)

Title-page
A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary and Expositor of the English Language. In which not only the Meaning of
every Word is clearly explained, and the Sound of every Syllable distinctly shown, but where Words are subject to
different Pronunciations, the Reasons for each are at large displayed, and the preferable Pronunciation is pointed
out. To which are prefixed, Principles of English Pronunciation; in which the Sounds of Letters, Syllables, and
Words are critically investigated, and systematically arranged; the Rules for Pronouncing are so classed and
disposed as to be easily applicable to the most difficult Words; and the Analogies of the Language are so fully
shown as to lay the Foundation of a consistent and rational Pronunciation. Likewise Rules to be observed by the
Natives of Scotland, Ireland, and London, for avoiding their respective peculiarities; and Directions to Foreigners
for acquiring a Knowledge of the Use of this Dictionary. The whole interspersed with Observations, Philological,
Critical, and Grammatical.

Illustrative Entries
Curious, ku´re-us. a.
Inquisitive, desirous of information; attentive to, diligent about; accurate, careful not to mistake; difficult to

please, solicitous of perfection; exact, nice, subtle; elegant, neat, laboured, finished.

Curl, kurl. s.

A ringlet of hair; undulation, wave, sinuosity, flexure.

Curlew, kur´lu. s.

A kind of water fowl; a bird larger than a partridge, with longer legs.

Curmudgeon, kur-mud´jun. s.

An avaricious churlish fellow, a miser, a niggard, a griper.

Sensible, sen´se-bl. a.

Having the power of perceiving by the senses; perceptible by the senses; perceived by the mind; perceiving by
either mind or senses; having moral perception; having quick intellectual feeling, being easily or strongly
affected; convinced, persuaded; in low conversation it has sometimes the sense of reasonable, judicious, wise.

Soot, soot. s.

Condensed or embodied smoke.

Notwithstanding I have Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Nares, Dr. Kenrick, W. Johnston, Mr. Perry, and the professors of
the black Art themselves, against me in the pronunciation of this word, I have ventured to prefer the regular
pronunciation to the irregular. The adjective sooty has its regular sound among the correctest speakers, which
has induced Mr. Sheridan to mark it so; but nothing can be more absurd than to pronounce the substantive
in one manner, and the adjective derived from it by adding y, in another. The other Orthöepists, therefore,
who pronounce both these words with the oo like ü, are more consistent than Mr. Sheridan, though, upon
the whole, not so right.

99

Yeoman, yo´man. s.

A man of small estate in land, a farmer, a gentleman farmer; it seems to have been anciently a kind of
ceremonious title given to soldiers, whence we have Yeomen of the guard; it was probably a freeholder not
advanced to the rank of a gentleman.

This word is pronounced by Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Scott, and Buchanan, with the diphthong like e short, as if
written yëmman, and by Dr. Kenrick as if written yümman. But W. Johnston, Mr. Perry, Entick, and Fry,
pronounce the eo like long open o, as if written yòman. This last appears to me to be the most received
pronunciation. It is that which we constantly hear applied to the King’s body guard, and it is that which has
always been the pronunciation on the Stage; an authority which, in this case, may not, perhaps, improperly be
called the best echo of the public voice.

7. Thomas De Quincey, ‘The English Language’, Blackwood’s, April 1839

Rich, at several eras, in all kinds of learning, neither England nor France has any great work to show upon her
own vernacular language. Res est in integro: no Hickes in England, no Malesherbes or Menage in France, has
chosen to connect his own glory with the investigation and history of his native tongue.… In its elementary period
[the English language] takes a different name – the name of Anglo-Saxon; and so rude was it and barren at one
stage of this rudimental from, that in the Saxon Chronicle we find not more than a few hundred words, perhaps
from six to eight hundred words, perpetually revolving, and most of which express some idea in close relation to
the state of war.…The process by which languages grow is worthy of deep attention. So profound is the error of
some men on this subject, that they talk familiarly of language as of a thing deliberately and consciously ‘invented’
by the people who use it.

8.

‘Proposal for the Publication of a New English Dictionary by the Philological Society’ (1859)
1. The first requirement of every lexicon is that it should contain every word occurring in the literature of the

language it professes to illustrate.

2. In the treatment of individual words the historical principle will be uniformly adopted.

9.

A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (1928)

The aim of this Dictionary is to present in alphabetical series the words that have formed the English
vocabulary from the time of the earliest records down to the present day, with all the relevant facts concerning
their form, sense-history, pronunciation, and etymology. It embraces not only the standard language of
literature and conversation, whether current at the moment, or obsolete, or archaic, but also the main technical
vocabulary, and a large measure of dialectal usage and slang. Its basis is a collection of some five million of
excerpts from English literature of every period amassed by an army of voluntary readers and the editorial staff.
Such a collection of evidence – it is represented by a selection of about 1,800,000 quotations actually printed –
could form the only possible foundation for the historical treatment of every word and idiom which is the raison
d’être of this work. It is a fact everywhere recognized that the consistent pursuit of this method has worked a
revolution in the art of lexicography. In 1891 a great English philologist wrote of the ‘debt’ which ‘English
grammar will some day owe to the New English Dictionary’; and this debt has been mounting up ever since.

100

10.

A sample of the Oxford English Dictionary
buxom, a. ( b

ȱksǾm) Forms: ibuhsum, ibucsum, 2-3 buhsum(m, 3 bocsum, -om, 3-8 buxum, 4 bo

Ɛsam,

boghsom, bousum, -om, (?) busum, boxsom(e, bouxsome, bowxom, buxsom, 4-5 bowsom, boxsum,
buxsum, 4-6 bouxom(e, boxom(e, -um, 4-7 bughsom, bowsum, buxome, 5 bouxum, buxhum, 5-6 buxume,
buxsome, -home, (?) buscom, 6 bowsome, buxam, buckesom(e, 6-8 bucksome, 7-8 bucksom, (9

bucksome), 4- buxom. [early ME. buhsum, ibucsum (perh.:

OE. *búhsum, *ebúhsum), f. stem of bú

͝an

(

͝ebú͝an)

BOW

v.

1

+

-SOME

; cf. MDu. boochsaem, Du. buigzaam, Ger. biegsam flexible, pliant. Branch II

seems to have arisen from sense 1c; the development of sense 3 being precisely the same as in

BLITHE

, that

of 4 as in Fr. joli from ‘blithe’ to ‘comely’.].

I. Easily bowed or bent.
1. Morally. a. Obedient; pliant; compliant, tractable (to). Obs. (exc. as a rare archaism.)

c1175 Lamb. Hom. 57 Beo buhsum toward gode. Ibid. 75 Beon him ibucsum ouer alle þing. c1200 ORMIN

6176 Þin laferrd birrþ þe buhsumm beon. c1250 Gen. & Ex. 980 An angel..bad hire..to hire leuedi buxum

ben. 1340 HAMPOLE Pr. Consc. 8148 Alle men..þat meke of hert er here, and bowsom. c1380 WYCLIF Sel.

Wks. III. 49 Oure Ladi Marye..was..buxumer to his bidding þan ony hond-mayde. c1440 Generydes 2505,

Thanne came ther in.. The buscommest folk. c1450 LONELICH Grail lii. 1006, I schal..maken hem buxom

to

ǟowre hond. 1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) IV. i. 160/1 We ben..to them buxom and meke. 1523

FITZHERB. Surv. (1539) 15, I shall be buxome and obedient to justyces. 1581 J. BELL Haddon's Answ.
Osor. 287b, The Consuls should..sweare faythfully to become bonnaire and buxome to the Pope. 1591
SPENSER M. Hubberd 626 So wilde a beast..buxome to his bands, is ioy to see. c1684 MS. Let. Corporation

of Kirkby to Judge Jeffreys, Your Lordship was pleased to give us..your oath to become a buxome and beneficial
member of this corporation. [1843 BORROW Bible in Spain xliii, To be buxom and obedient to the customs
and laws of the republic. 1867 THIRLWALL Lett. Friend (1881) 88 In the hope that you will be buxom and
good, I conclude now my New Year's Lecture.]
b. Submissive, humble, meek. Obs.

a1300 Cursor M. 8356 Þat lauedi til hir lauerd lute Wit buxum reuerence and dute. Ibid. 29009 Oure praier

aw euer for to be bowsum. 1340 Ayenb. 59 Hi..ziggeþ..þet hi byeþ zuo kueade and zuo zenful..vor þet me ham
hereþ and hyealde uor wel bo

ǟsam. c1440 Promp. Parv. 57 Buxum, or lowly or make, humilis, pius, mansuetus.

c1440 York Myst. xxiv. 141 His sisteres praye with bowsom beede. a1455 HOLLAND Houlate xxxiv. 12

Bowsum obeysance.
c. Gracious, indulgent, favourable; obliging, amiable, courteous, affable, kindly. Obs.

1362 LANGL. P. Pl. A. VI. 56 Bouweþ forþ bi a brok beo-boxum-of-speche. 1393 Ibid. C. IV. 421 God

hym-self hoteþ To be boxome at my bidding. c1460 Towneley Myst. Annunc. 79 (Angel to Joseph) Meek and

buxom looke thou be, And with her dwelle. 1536 BELLENDEN Cron. Scot. (1821) I. 18 To mak the reders
more bowsum and attent. Ibid. 108 Ilk story be thi self is separat, To mak thaim bowsome to thine audience.
d. with inf.: Easily moved, prone, ready. Obs.

a1300 Cursor M. 25208 Þan suld we be..bowsom his bidinges to fullfill. 1340 HAMPOLE Pr. Consc. 50

The creatours þat er dom..er bughsom To lof hym. 1377 LANGL. P. Pl. B. VI. 197 Many a beggere for
benes buxome was to swynke. c1440 Gesta Rom. (1879) 22 Þe flesh is euer lewid, and buxom to do Evil.

2. Physically: Flexible, pliant. Yielding to pressure, unresisting (poet.). Obs.

1596 SPENSER F.Q. I. xi. 37 Then gan he..scourge the buxome aire so sore That to his force to yielden it

was faine. 1599 A. M. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 278/2 The Pockes..are verye buxume. 1615 CROOKE Body of
Man 1111 Their substance is..flexible or buxome that they should not breake but giue way to violence. 1667

101

MILTON P.L. II. 842 Wing silently the buxom Air. a1700 DRYDEN Palamon & Arc. II. 519 Her turtles

fann'd the buxom air above.

II. Blithe, jolly, well-favoured.
3. Blithe, gladsome, bright, lively, gay. arch.
(The explanation in Bailey and Johnson, ‘amorous, wanton’, is apparently only contextual.)

1590 GREENE Never too late Aiv, Grey and buxome were his eyne. 1598 FLORIO, Vago..blithe..buckesome,

full of glee. 1599 SHAKES. Hen. V, III. vi. 28 A Souldier firme and sound of heart, and of buxome valour.
1620 SHELTON Quix. IV. xxx. 229 He went on his Journey..most glad and bucksome. 1658 S. LENNARD
tr. Charron's Wisd. Pref., Philosophy, such as this Book teacheth, is altogether pleasant, free, bucksome, and
if I may so say, wanton too. 1675 COTTON Poet. Wks. (1765) 267 A fine Miss..as free, Buxom, and amorous
as He. 1678 MARVELL Def. J. Howe Wks. 1875 IV. 196, I could not but remark here of The Discourse..how
jovial It is and bucksom. 1827 HEBER Europe 312 Freedom's buxom blast. 1848 LYTTON Harold I. i, That
buxom month.
4. Full of health, vigour, and good temper; well-favoured, plump and comely, ‘jolly’, comfortable-looking
(in person). (Chiefly of women.)

1589 GREENE Menaph. (Arb.) 43 A bonny prety one, As bright, buxsome and as sheene As was shee. 1608

MIDDLETON Fam. Love III. vii, Those ribs shall not enfold thy buxom limbs. 1611 COTGR. s.v.
Matineux, An earlie man is buxome. 1681 HICKERINGILL Vind. Naked Truth II. 22 Those lazy and
bucksome Abby-Lubbers. 1683 tr. Erasmus' Moriæ Enc. 16 My followers are smooth, plump, and bucksom.
1742 GRAY Ode Eton Coll., Theirs buxom health of rosy hue. 1779 JOHNSON Gray Wks. 1787 IV. 303 His
epithet buxom health is not elegant; he seems not to understand the word. 1823 SCOTT Peveril xxi, She was
a buxom dame about thirty. 1828—F.M. Perth iii, A buxom priest. 1843 CARLYLE Past. & Pr. III. viii.
(1872) 153 Fresh buxom countenances. 1873 S. Sea Bubbles i. 4 A slight gathering in of her dress..to exhibit
her buxom figure to full perfection.
5. Comb., as buxom-looking.

1840 BARHAM Ingol. Leg. (1858) 77 He..followed a buxom-looking handmaiden into the breakfast parlour.

102

Attitudes towards Spoken English

The standard language recognised by eighteenth-century grammarians was that variety used by what they
called ‘the Learned and Polite Persons of the Nation’ (Swift) – polite in the sense of polished, refined, elegant,
well-bred. Here is some evidence on the language of the common people, which also explains why we know
much less about the regional, social, and spoken varieties of eighteenth-century English, except what we can
infer from novels, plays, letters, and other indirect sources. It was not worth the attention of scholars.

1. Samuel Johnson, Dictionary of the English Language (1755)

Nor are all words which are not found in the vocabulary, to be lamented as omissions. Of the laborious and
mercantile part of the people, the diction is in great measure casual and mutable; many of their terms are formed
for some temporary or local convenience, and though current at certain times and places, are in others utterly
unknown. This fugitive cant, which is always in a state of increase or decay, cannot be regarded as any part of the
durable materials of a language, and therefore must be suffered to perish with other things unworthy of
preservation.

2. Robert Baker, Reflections on the English Language (1770)

...themselves and Families (from the Monthly Review) ... a very bad Expression, though very common. It is mere
Shopkeepers cant and will always be found contemptible in the Ears of persons of any Taste.

3. Anselm Bayly, Plain and Complete Grammar (1772)

...though sometimes it may be difficult, if not impossible to reduce common speech to rule, and indeed it is
beneath a grammarian’s attempt.

4. George Campbell, Philosophy of Rhetoric (1776)

No absolute monarch hath it more in his power to nobilitate a person of obscure birth, than it is in the power of
good use to ennoble words of low or dubious extraction; such, for instance, as have either arisen, nobody knows
how, like fib, banter, bigot, fop, flippant, among the rabble, or like flimsy, sprung from the cant of manufacturers.

5. Philip Withers, Aristarchus (1788)

My Animadversions will extend to such Phrases only as People in decent Life inadvertently adopt ... Purity and
Politeness of Expression ... is the only external Distinction which remains between a gentleman and a valet; a lady
and a Mantua-maker (= dress-maker).

In eighteenth-century society associations were made between language and birth, rank, wealth, and
education. The evidence of the following quotation suggests that, if the language of the common people
was considered inferior by the educated upper classes at the beginning of the eighteenth century, then their
ideas and thoughts would be similarly devalued.

Art of Speaking, translated from the French of Messieurs du Port Royal (1676, 2nd end, 1708)
The best Expressions grow low and degenerate, when profan’d by the populace, and applied to mean things. The use
they make of them, inflecting them with a mean and abject Idea, causes that we cannot use them without sullying and
defiling those things, which are signified by them.

But it is no hard matter to discern between the depraved Language of common people, and the noble refin’d

expressions of the Gentry, whose condition and merits have advanced them above the other.

103

In the eighteenth century, the linguistic differences between refined and common speech were held to
match fundamental differences in intellect and morality. Language was regarded as ‘the dress of thought’ or
the ‘the mirror of thought’. It was believed that there was a direct relationship between good language and
good thinking. This view was reinforced by a theory of language called ‘Universal Grammar’. The following
quotation illustrates a belief in the direct connexion between language and the mind, or soul, and in the
superior value of abstract thought over the senses.

James Harris, Hermes: or a Philosophical Inquiry Concerning Language and Universal Grammar (1751)
’Tis a phrase often apply’d to a man, when speaking, that he speaks his MIND; as much as to say, that his Speech or
Discourse is a publishing of some Energie or Motion of the Soul....The VULGAR merged in Sense from their earliest
Infancy, and never once dreaming any thing to be worthy of pursuit, but what pampers their Appetite, or fills their
Purse, imagine nothing to be real, but what may be tasted, or touched.

As it was believed that the contrasts between refined language of the classically educated class and the vulgar
language of the common people mirrored equal differences in intellectual capabilities, as well as virtue and
morality, such beliefs had social and political consequences. For instance, the years of the long wars with
France (1793-1815) were marked by the political oppression of popular movements for reform. Ideas about
language were used to protect the government from criticism. The notion of the vulgarity of language
became an excuse to dismiss a series of petitions to Parliament calling for reform of the voting system. The
following was stated in a contemporary parliamentary debate:

Liberty of speech and freedom of discussion in this House form an essential part of the constitution; but it is
necessary that persons coming forward as petitioners, should address the House in decent and respectful language.

Here are short extracts from three petitions to Parliament. The first was presented by ‘tradesmen and
artificers, unpossessed of freehold land’ in Sheffield in 1793 and was rejected; the second, by ‘twelve
freeholders’ from Reading in 1810, was accepted; the third was presented by non-voters from Yorkshire in
1817. At that time, only men who owned freehold land had the vote.

Petition to Parliament, 1793
Your petitioners are lovers of peace, of liberty, and justice. They are in general tradesmen and artificers, unpossessed of
freehold land, and consequently have no voice in choosing members to sit in parliament; – but though they may not be
freeholders, they are men, and do not think themselves fairly used in being excluded the rights of citizens...

Petition to Parliament, 1810
The petitioners cannot conceive it possible that his Majesty’s present incapable and arbitrary ministers should be still
permitted to carry on the government of the country, after having wasted our resources in fruitless expeditions, and
having shewn no vigour but in support of antiquated prejudices, and in attacks on the liberties of the subject...

Petition to Parliament, 1810
The petitioners have a full and immovable conviction, a conviction which they believe to be universal throughout the
kingdom, that the House doth not, in any consititutional or rational sense, represent the nation; that, when the people
have ceased to be represented, the constitution is subverted; that taxation without representation is slavery...

104

Exercise

It was charged that the language of the first petition was ‘indecent and disrespectful’, and compare it with
another comment made at the time: ‘I suspect that the objection to the roughness of the language was not
the real cause why this petition was opposed’. Parliament judged that the language of the second petition,
‘though firm as it ought to be, was respectful’. The Tory minister George Canning said of the third
petition: ‘if such language were tolerated, there was an end of the House of Commons, and of the present
system of government’. What attitudes do these comments reflect? What is found objectionable about the
language of the first and third petitions?

The grammar and spelling of the extracts above are perfectly ‘correct’. In contrast, consider the following
example of a letter of protest against the enclosure of common land, written anonymously by ‘the Combin’d
of the Parish of Cheshunt’ to their local landowner.

Letter to Oliver Cromwell, Esquire, of Cheshunt Park, 27 February 1799
Whe right these lines to you who are the Combin’d of the Parish of Cheshunt in the Defence of our Parrish
rights which you unlawfully are about to disinherit us of.... Resolutions is maid by the aforesaid Combind
that if you intend inclosing Our Commond Commond fields Lammas Meads Marches &c Whe Resolve
before that bloudy and unlawful act is finished to have your hearts bloud if you proceede in the aforesaid
bloudy act Whe like horse leaches will cry give, give until whe have split the bloud of every one that wishes to
rob the Inosent unborn. It shall not be in your power to say I am safe from the hands of my Enemy for Whe
like birds of pray will prively lie in wait to spil the bloud of aforesaid Charicters whose names and places of
abode are as prutrified sores in our Nostrils. Whe declair that thou shall not say I am safe when thou goest to
thy bed for beware that thou liftest not thine eyes up in the most mist of flames...

The ideas about the relationship between social class and language use which were so prevalent in the
eighteenth century continued throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Here, for example, is the
Dean of Canterbury, Henry Alford, writing a book called The Queen’s English: Stray Notes on Speaking and
Spelling in 1864.

And first and foremost, let me notice that worst of all faults, the leaving out of the aspirate where it ought to be,
and putting it in where it ought not to be. This is a vulgarism not confined to this or that province of England,
nor especially prevalent in one county or another, but common throughout England to persons of low breeding
and inferior education, principally to those among the inhabitants of towns. Nothing so surely stamps a man as
below the mark in intelligence, self-respect, and energy, as this unfortunate habit...

As I write these lines, which I do while waiting in a refreshment-room at Reading, between a Great-Western

and a South-Eastern train, I hear one of two commercial gentlemen, from a neighbouring table, telling his friend
that ‘his ed used to hake ready to burst’.

One feature of common usage that was taught as an error until quite recently is called the ‘split infinitive’.
Here is Dean Alford on the subject:

A correspondent states as his own usage, and defends, the insertion of an adverb between the sign of the infinitive
mood and the verb. He gives as an instance, ‘to scientifically illustrate’. But surely this is a practice entirely unknown
to English speakers and writers. It seems to me, that we ever regard the to of the infinitive as inseparable from its
verb.