A Practical German Grammar

Mr. Beresford-Webb, like Mark Twain, is seized with a divine despair at the eccentricities of German nouns. Private students are advised "not to make too great a point of mastering the rules for the declensions and genders, as the numerous exceptions may only tend to dishearten them and to weary them with the language before giving it a fair trial." And again, "very few rules can be given for the numerous foreign words of such frequent use in German." It must be remembered, however, that the written thought is as necessary as swift speech, and that examiners trouble the face of the earth. The simplification of German declensions justifies any means adopted, and possibly Mr. Beresford-Webb is justified by results when he adopts the division according to gender; we question, however, whether he has made the most of his opportunities in dealing with foreign words. Tiark, long ago, and Eve, lately, are less despondent. Mr. Webb, as a rule, is clear and practical, and his grammar is well arranged, and in most cases well digested; while facts are driven home by the use of clear type and wide spacing. If the book does not bear the same marks of wide scholarship as does that of Mr. Eve, it has, perhaps, the advantage in point of clearness and arrangement. Special emphasis is laid by the author on the fullness of his treatment of verbal prefixes and prepositions; both claims are valid, but we should like to see more notice taken of pseudo-prepositions and of the prepositional government of verbs and adjectives. As in French, "enumeratio simplex" is necessary, and the work must be complete and thorough. Mr. Webb is not at his best when he writes, "An denotes the object of some emotion, perception, or judgment, as "er leidet an der Gicht""; at the same time, he ignores the use of auf in the above connection. Among errors, we may notice that "die klassischen Schriftsteller" is said to be singular (p. 43); "Sand, Streit, Bund" are styled "abstracts " (p. 43). "What day of the month is it?" is translated "der wievielte ist heute? Zurnen," "to be angry," is said to govern the accusative (p. 236). "Al that" (p. 349) is a misprint. In 392 (p. 296), Mr. Webb implies that? " I know him to be an honest man" may be translated by the accusative and infinitive. The treatment of the use of the imperfect and perfect, on p. 307, seems to us meager and unsatisfying; and the discussion on the dative after verbs lands us in an "olla podrida" of examples which ought not to be classed together. Here, again, "enumeratio simplex" and a good memory are the best helps to disentangle the maze. Mr. Webb attempts to explain and classify, with unsatisfactory results. "Vorausreiten" means to "ride on before" a person, not to "ride on," when it governs the dative. Probably Mr. Webb will omit the note on p. 34 in his next edition; and we venture to think that the page (55) devoted to the German " innate love of titles " is superfluous. "Ich danke bestens, Herr Oberappellationsgerichtsvicepadsident" is a literary curiosity, but savours rather of curious than of necessary learning. The chapter on "Oratio Obliqua" is, on the whole, good, and the general impression given by the book is favourable. Its merit is enhanced by the addition of some well-selected exercises on the ground traversed by the Grammar. -"The Journal of Education," Vol. 9"