Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Doctrine of Correctness in English Usage, 1700-1800
Chapter III. The appeal to authority, whether that of the writer or of another theorist whose ipse d'ixit was assumed to have sway. This extremely common mode of judgment was used by most of the writers here discussed, from Swift to Webster, and of course is still employed.
Chapter IV. The appeal to norms of universal grammar to which individual problems of usage could be referred for settlement, developed by Bishop Lowth, Anselm Bayly, and James Harris chie?y. As the only grammars studied to any extent in the eighteenth century were those of the classical languages, this meant in practice an appeal to supposed parallels in Latin, and more rarely in Greek. Occasional resort was had to French, and still less often to the anglo-saxon and the other even less comprehended Germanic languages.
Chapter V. The appeal to reason and analogy in the language itself. This led to proposing (l) parallels and (2) differentiae in form as altogether essential in deciding problems of in?ection and syntax in English. As these two principles were often contrary in application, this is a most involved story of contradictions and mutual recriminations in which all the grammarians took part.
Chapter VI. Appeals to considerations of logic in dealing with problems of syntax and word order.
Chapter VII. Similar application of logic to nice discrimina tions of the meanings of words.
Chapter VIII. Appeal to the etymology or the earlier mean ings of words to determine what their present use should be, and to language history for justification of opinions as to structure. Dr. Johnson, Horne Tooke, George Campbell, and Noah Webster are interesting figures here. In the prevailing state of ignorance of both etymology and the history of languages, this principle naturally introduced further confusion.
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