Divisions of Grammar--Definitions--Etymology.


In order to speak and write the English language correctly, it is
imperative that the fundamental principles of the Grammar be mastered,
for no matter how much we may read of the best authors, no matter how
much we may associate with and imitate the best speakers, if we do not
know the underlying principles of the correct formation of sentences and
the relation of words to one another, we will be to a great extent like
the parrot, that merely repeats what it hears without understanding the
import of what is said. Of course the parrot, being a creature without
reason, cannot comprehend; it can simply repeat what is said to it, and
as it utters phrases and sentences of profanity with as much facility as
those of virtue, so by like analogy, when we do not understand the
grammar of the language, we may be making egregious blunders while
thinking we are speaking with the utmost accuracy.


DIVISIONS OF GRAMMAR

There are four great divisions of Grammar, viz.:

_Orthography_, _Etymology_, _Syntax_, and _Prosody_.

_Orthography_ treats of letters and the mode of combining them into words.

_Etymology_ treats of the various classes of words and the changes they
undergo.

_Syntax_ treats of the connection and arrangement of words in sentences.