INTRODUCTION. THE principles of knowledge be come the most intelligible to young. persons, when they are explained and inculcated by practical illustrations and direction. This mode of teaching is, attended with so many advantages,, that it can scarcely be too much recommended or pursued,. Instruction, which is enlivened by pertinent examples, and in which the pupil is exercised in reducing the rules prescribed to practice, has a more striking effect on the mind, and is better adapted to fix the attention and sharpen the understanding, than that which is divested of these aids, and confined to bare positions and precepts, in which the learner has no further concern than to read and repeat them. The time and care employed in practical application, give occasion to survey the subject minutely, and in different points of view; by which it becomes more known and familiar, and produces stronger and more durable impressions. THESE observations are peculiarly applicable to the study of grammar, and the method of teaching it. The rules require frequent explanations: and, besides direct elucidation, they admit of examples erroneously constructed, for exercising the student's sagacity and judgment. To rectify these, attention and reflection are requisite, and the knowledge of the rule necessarily results from the study and correction of the sentence. But these are not all the advantages which arise from Grammatical Exercises. By discovering their own abilities to detect and amend errors, and their consequent improvement, the scholars become pleased with their studies, and are animated to proceed, and surmount the obstacles which occur in their progress. The instructor, too, is relieved and en couraged in his labours. By discerning exactly the powers and improvements of his pupils, he perceives the proper season for advancing them; and by observing the points in which they are deficient, he knows precisely where to apply his directions and explanations. THESE Considerations have induced the Compiler to collect and arrange a variety of erroneous examples, adapted to the different rules and instructions of English Grammar, and to the principles of perspicuous and accurate writing. It has not, indeed, been usual to make Grammatical Exercises, in our language, very numerous and extensive; but if the importance and use-fulness of them be as great as they are conceived to be, no apology will be necessary for the large field of employment which the following work presents to the student of English Gram-mar. If he be detained longer than is, common in this part of his studies, the probable result of it, an accurate and intimate knowledge of his subject, willi constitute an ample recompense.. |