A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles

A modern English grammar on historical principles is a seven-volume grammar of English written by Otto Jespersen. The first volume ("part"), Sounds and Spellings, was published in 1909; two through five were on syntax; six was on morphology; and seven returned to the topic of syntax. It took until 1949 for all seven to be completed.^[1]: 1766

Cover of Part I of Otto Jespersen's A modern English grammar on historical principles

In 1989 Randolph Quirk called the work "a continual source of inspiration and value".^[2]

Publishing details

• Part I. Sounds and Spellings. Heidelberg: Winter, 1909. OCLC 895492988. Heidelberg: Winter, 1927. OCLC 832266245.
• Part II. Syntax. First volume. Heidelberg: Winter, 1914. OCLC 721272956. Heidelberg: Winter, 1927. OCLC 504564992.
• Part III. Syntax. Second volume. Heidelberg: Winter, 1927. OCLC 163081744. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1928. OCLC 605978794.
• Part IV. Syntax. Third volume. Time and Tense. Heidelberg: Winter, 1931. OCLC 1072433169.
• Part V. Syntax. Fourth volume. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1940. OCLC 175015576.
• Part VI. Morphology. With Paul Christophersen, Niels Haislund, and Knud Schibsbye. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1942. OCLC 220329786.
• Part VII. Syntax. Completed and edited by Niels Haislund. Copenhagen: Munksgaard; London: George Allen & Unwin, 1949. OCLC 889073122.

References

1. Huddleston, Rodney; Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2002). The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-43146-0.
2. Linn, Andrew (2006). "English grammar writing". In Aarts, Bas; McMahon, April (eds.). The Handbook of English Linguistics. Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell. p. 81. ISBN 978-1-4051-1382-3.

External links

• Part I, Sounds and Spellings (1949), at the Internet Archive
• Part II, Syntax. First volume (1949), at the Internet Archive
• Part III, Syntax. Second volume (1928), at the Internet Archive
• Part IV, Syntax. Third volume (1931), at the Internet Archive
• Part V, Syntax. Fourth volume (1940), at the Internet Archive
• Part VI, Morphology (also here) (1942), at the Internet Archive
• Part VII, Syntax (1949), at the Internet Archive