Conditionals in Nineteenth-Century Grammars of English
Conditionals in Nineteenth-Century Grammars of English

Summary/Abstract: The Grammars of the nineteenth century are an under-studied topic, although they bridge a gap between the much better-known grammar writing practices of the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. The present article looks specifically at how conditionals were approached in the nineteenth-century grammars of English, namely, at what conditional markers were recognized at the time, whether inversion was remarked upon, and what verb phrase combinations were registered in conditional protases and apodoses. Comparing the information provided in the grammars with contemporary research on nineteenth-century English, it was found that they were rather limited in scope. However, the results suggest a continuity of discourse between nineteenth-century grammars of English and ELT materials produced today, which may have been rooted in their common teaching goals.

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