Word: syntax
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Dates: during 1900-1909
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...acknowledge that, in the past; courses in Greek and in Roman literature have been sacrificed to men who intended to teach. Interest has been centred not on thought or method of expression, but on classification of verb forms or irregularities of syntax. A knowledge of the latter is no doubt necessary for appreciation: we must note the peculiar subjunctive or optative to get the peculiar shade of meaning; but we do not gain anything by regarding the peculiar form as a curiosity to be catalogued, as the entomologist catalogues a rare insect. Greek and Latin are not word-puzzles...
...fashion and has passed as all fashions do. "Instead of teaching with Latin and Greek words we should deal with Greek and Latin things. . . . Imagine the content of such courses as Latin 10 and Greek 10 and 11 required for admission to College instead of the present syntax and inflections. . . . Leave the Latin language to the philologists; so wretched and grotesque a shadow as the Latin now in the average mind is not worth fighting for." We have heard the claim advanced by a modern Greek that classic Greek should be taught as a living language because modern Greek...