ABSTRACT
It would evidently be utterly impracticable to throw the whole traditional nomenclature overboard and create a totally new one, for instance by an arbitrary system analogous to that of the old Indian grammarians, who coined words like lat present tense, lit perfect, lut first future, lrt second future, let subjunctive, lot imperative, lan imperfect, lin potential, etc. (Benfey, Gesch. d. sprachw. 92: I omit the diacritics). We must take most of the old terms as they are, and make the best use of them that we can, supplementing them where it is necessary, and limiting the meanings of all terms, old and new, as precisely and unambiguously as possible. But this is no easy task, and I have the greatest sympathy with Sweet, who wrote to me at the time when he brought out his New English Grammar: "I have had most difficulty with the terminology. "
