The Comic English Grammar: A New And Facetious Introduction To The English Tongue

HE NATURE OF VE

t in all languages, is, that they are t

and also into Regular, Irregular, and Defective. T

"I love Wilhelmina Stubbs." Here, I am the agent; that is, the lover;

hing; and therefore implies an object acted upon, and an agent by which

action nor passion, but a stat

ous, M

inal

and Defective, we shall hav

o or to depart; to "bone," to "prig," that is to say, to steal; to "collar," which means to seize, an expression probably derived from the mode of prehension, or rather apprehension character

"calculate," I "reckon," I "realise," I "guess,

s instead of helps) are those, by the help of which we are chiefly enabled to conjugate our verbs in English. T

r, makes let-test and letteth. The phrase, "This House to Let," generally used instead of "to be l

which the writer of every book has, or ought to have in view, to get a reader who is wide awake, and to keep him so:-the latter of which, when Number, Person, Mood, and Tense are to be trea

OF NUMBER

Singular and the Plural: a

there are thr

LAR.

son I lov

Thou lovest

on He love

the following Lines, by a Young Lady, (now no more,)

y! fatal n

page with

to love' I le

h! teach me

OF MOODS AN

rtain variation which it undergoes, showing the manner

cative, the Imperative, the Potential

s a thing: as, "He teaches, he is taught or it a

ld age the

gives you the

rope support

se it is

s, entreats, or permits: as, "Vanish

or obligation: as, "A waiter may be honest. Yuu may stand upon

and is preceded by a conjunction, expressed or understood, and accompanie

hould serve you right:" that is

out limitation, and without any distinction of number

because it participates in the properties both of a verb and of

ub he addressed

ted a stave,

and the Compound Perfect: as, "I felt nervous at the thought of popping

estion is, that the report

IV. OF T

visions, namely, the Present, the Imperfect, the Perfect

hour-glass; but the youthful reader must bear in mind,

inal

ts an action or event occurring at the present t

ich, like a mutton chop, may be either thoroughly done, or no

ttle boy some fi

me-Lork! she mad

the Honorable Gentleman

tand on trifles. However, we are not going to commit ourselves, like some folks, nor to get comm

e present time. That, however, which the Perfect Tense represents as done, is completely, or, as we say of a

ainted with aquatic phraseology, that "pulling up" young ladies, or others, is a very different thing from "pulling up" an omnibus conductor or a cabman. What an equivocal language is o

s, as past previously to some other point of time also past; a

inal

at home to-morrow; and when I find it perfectly convenient, I shall pay him." The Second Future intimates that the action will be comp

en the means of killi

ious moral reflections to the thinking mind.

rable to splendid, but contingent futurity; i.

ivation of aliment;-a new way of putting an old proverb

TION OF THE AUXILIARY

uld be considered, we feel ourselves in an awkward dilemma. The omission of the conjugations is a serious omission-which, of course, is objectionable in a comic work-and the insertion of them would be equally serious, and therefore quite as improper. What shall we do? We wi

ngster I had n

jilted I shou

m me all ye lads

of Grammar occu

we recommend him to substitute for "to love," some word less harrowing to a sensitive mind: as, "to fleece, to tax," verbs which excite disagreeable emotions only in a sordid one; and which also, by association of ideas, conduct us to useful reflections on Political Economy. We advise all whom it may concern, however, to pay the

orrow?" asked Mon

replied Mons

m, Thou lovest to roam on the crested foam, He loves to roam on the crested foam, We love to roam on t

ful when a peculiar emphasis is requir

ll

rick worth

ou, t

e, who wanted to know what his name might

inal

e have to say about the conju

ONJUGATION OF REG

t tense of the indicative mood, and their perfect participle,

PERFECT. PE

reckoned.

I realise

tion by youth, as it tends to put ideas into their heads which they would otherwise never have thought of; and it is moreover our opinion, that several of our most gifted poets may, with reason, have attributed

inal

iss Cupid, and he must

SS

ed by the addition of d, or ed to the verb: as, from the verb "To bless," i

more than the repetition of that of the auxil

exander did the Gordian knot) instead of con

II. IRREG

rfect tense and the perfect participle are

MPERFECT.

I blew

tempestuous weather, proper enough; but I am blowed, it will at once b

s of some persons, divers of them become doubly irregular in the formation of

RFECT. PERF.

wur

bust b

RFECT. PERF.

ee Pa

I. OF DEFEC

have fi

s have si

folks Who are blind,

ve, or rum verbs, which are used onl

ee Pag