Dissertations on the English Language.

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Creator

Noah Webster

Title

Dissertations on the English Language.

Coverage

Boston

Publisher

Isaiah Thomas & Co.

Date

1789

Description

This book is a compilation of Webster’s many speeches made as an itinerant promoter of his three-volume Grammatical Institute. Webster had unfortunately become enthralled with John Horne Tooke’s etymological follies, including the idea that if isn’t a conjunction but a verb in the imperative mood. According to Webster, this “fact can no more be controverted than any point of history, or any truth that our senses present to the mind.” He also thought yes to be a verb.