Preface to the Second Edition

Preface to the Second Edition
The need after a comparatively short time for a new Edition of this Syntax encourages the belief that the book is being found serviceable by students and teachers. In the present Edition a few changes have been introduced into the body of the book, and some errors in the Index of passages have been corrected.
The main principles of Syntax are printed in larger type, and the less common, poetical or anomalous, usages thrown into the form of notes. The illustrative examples, at least the earlier ones in each case, have been taken as much as possible from the classical prose, but references have been multiplied, partly in order that the principle illustrated may be seen in various connexions, and partly under the impression that the references might be useful in forming exercises for Prose Composition; and the purposes of composition have been had in view in the form given to a number of the sections.
Several points in Syntax are still involved in some obscurity, such as the use of the Imperfect, and its interchange with other tenses, especially in poetry; and the use of the Jussive, particularly in later writings. What has been said on these points, if it do nothing more, will make intelligible the state of the question regarding them. For fuller details Canon Driver's special work on the Tenses should be consulted.
From the assumption, perhaps, that the Predicate is the principal element in the sentence, Arabic Grammars usually begin Syntax with the Verb, and this order has been followed in some recent Hebrew Grammars. It may be disputed which order is the more logical in analysing the sentence. The order here followed, Pronoun, Noun, Verb, and Sentence, was adopted partly for the sake of simplicity, and partly to make the book run somewhat parallel to the Introductory Grammar, in the hope that the two might occasionally be read simultaneously. In order to avoid repetition, treatment of Infinitive and Participle, which have both a nominal and verbal character, was postponed till the sections on the Government of the Verb had been completed.
I am under great obligations to Mr. Charles Hutchison, M.A., formerly Hebrew Tutor, New College, Edinburgh, who read over the proofs of the first edition, and to several students and reviewers who have made useful suggestions.
—Edinburgh, February 1896.