From the PREFACE.
The object of the present work is to assist the student in arriving at a more intimate acquaintance with the Turkish language than can be acquired by means of the grammars which have hitherto been published, and which are either incorrect or too complex for a general reader.
For a person who aspires to read and write a language with any degree of accuracy, something more is necessary than a superficial knowledge of grammatical rules. He must study its construction and possess a just conception of its organization; and this the author ventures to hope may be effected by following the plan laid down in these pages.
While it is impossible to foresee all the difficulties that may arise in the mind of a student, the author has done his best towards anticipating them, and in this task he has been mainly guided by the remarks and questions put to him by his pupils in the several stages of their progress.
By first presenting .a number of simple but necessary forms and rules, he lays a foundation for observations of a more critical nature; by giving a grammatical analysis of every difficult word, he renders these rules familiar; and by constant repetition, he inculcates them on the memory. By giving a literal translation of each word, he saves the learner much time and trouble; and by presenting the same word in the vocabulary, he lays before the student its root and origin as it would occur in a dictionary.
Doubtless, a great deal more might be written without exhausting the subject; but the author trusts that sufficient has been done to simplify the rules, and bring them within reach of the comprehension of every one—without prolixity, and yet with sufficient diffuseness for every requisite purpose.
It is with much diffidence that the author now lays the result of his experience before the world; but he trusts he may, in some measure, gain the approval of more competent judges, amongst whom there is no one whose good opinion he could more highly value than the distinguished officer to whom he ventures to dedicate this volume.
