11.  It is true, that the relation of words—­by which I mean that connexion between them, which the train of thought forms and suggests—­or that dependence which one word has on an other according to the sense—­lies at the foundation of all syntax.  No rule or principle of construction can ever have any applicability beyond the limits, or contrary to the order, of this relation.  To see what it is in any given case, is but to understand the meaning of the phrase or sentence.  And it is plain, that no word ever necessarily agrees with an other, with which it is not thus connected in the mind of him who uses it.  No word ever governs an other, to which the sense does not direct it.  No word is ever required to stand immediately before or after an other, to which it has not some relation according to the meaning of the passage.  Here then are the relation, agreement, government, and arrangement, of words in sentences; and these make up the whole of syntax—­but not the whole of grammar.  To this one part of grammar, therefore, the relation of words is central and fundamental; and in the other parts also, there are some things to which the consideration of it is incidental; but there are many more, like spelling, pronunciation, derivation, and whatsoever belongs merely to letters, syllables, and the forms of words, with which it has, in fact, no connexion.  The relation of words, therefore, should be clearly and fully explained in its proper place, under the head of syntax; but the general idea of grammar will not be brought nearer to truth, by making it to be “the art of expressing the relations of things in construction,” &c., according to the foregoing definition.

12.  The term grammar is derived from the Greek word [Greek:  gramma], a letter.  The art or science to which this term is applied, had its origin, not in cursory speech, but in the practice of writing; and speech, which is first in the order of nature, is last with reference to grammar.  The matter or common subject of grammar, is language in general; which, being of two kinds, spoken and written, consists of certain combinations either of sounds or of visible signs, employed for the expression of thought.  Letters and sounds, though often heedlessly confounded in the definitions given of vowels, consonants, &c., are, in their own nature, very different things.  They address themselves to different senses; the former, to the sight; the latter, to the hearing.  Yet, by a peculiar relation arbitrarily established between them, and in consequence of an almost endless variety in the combinations of either, they coincide in a most admirable manner, to effect the great object for which language was bestowed or invented; namely, to furnish a sure medium for the communication of thought, and the preservation of knowledge.