Page:A Grammar of the Persian Language.djvu/19

[ xiv ]

been requested to superintend another Edition of this work, and having deemed it necessary to make some additions to its matter, as well as alterations in its arrangement, it is necessary here to state what those additions and alterations are.

When I undertook to revise the last Edition, it appeared to me that the application of the vowels to the Persian examples, and an abstract of the Arabick Grammar, were absolutely necessary to insure a sound and rapid progress in the learner. All I have seen or heard on this subject since that period, has only tended to confirm the opinion I had formed: and, the consequence has been, every thing then added has now not only been retained, but augmented and in other respects improved.

The additions made are these, viz. 1. An account of the changes which occasionally take place in the letters. 2. Rules with appropriate examples for the introduction of the of unity, ascription of greatness, particularity, &c. 3. A more compendious method of deducing the form of the Imperative and Aorist from the Infinitives of verbs, for which I am indebted to the suggestions of an ingenious and learned friend. 4. Some additional forms in the tables of the conjugation of verbs, as well as in the derivation of the nouns. 5. An entirely new tract on the Syntax, much more copious than that given by Sir William Jones, and which, it is hoped, will be found more useful to the Student.