Excerpt from Short Historical English Grammar

Sanskrit, &c., , they are of little use for etymological purposes. But although most of those who have kept pace with the recent developments of Comparative Philology admit all this, some of them still plead for the retention of Grimm's Law on the ground of its being so interesting, and having such a stimulating effect on pupils. The answer to this is, By all means teach it then, but teach it as an extra, not as a part of English grammar, any more than you would include French, Latin, and Greek etymology in English grammar although, of course, English grammar undoubtedly leads up to all these subjects, and is more or less directly connected with them, in the same way as it is connected with the political, social, and literary history of England.

The study of this grammar requires no preparation except a knowledge of the ordinary grammatical terms. It does not even postulate any practical knowledge of Old English, although I should advise every teacher of historical English grammar to let his pupils go through a preparatory course in Old English with the help of such a book as my Anglo Saxon Primer.

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