Part of a series on
English grammar
Morphology Plurals Prefixes (in English) Suffixes (frequentative)
Word types Acronyms Adjectives Adverbs (flat) Articles Coordinators Compounds Demonstratives Determiners (List here) Expletives Intensifier Interjections Interrogatives Nouns Portmanteaus Possessives Prepositions (List here) Pronouns (case · person) Subordinators Verbs
Verbs Auxiliary verbs Mood (conditional · imperative · subjunctive) Aspect (continuous · habitual · perfect) -ing Irregular verbs Modal verbs Passive voice Phrasal verbs Verb usage Transitive and intransitive verbs
Syntax Clauses (in English) Conditional sentences Copula Do-support Inversion Periphrasis Zero-marking
Orthography Abbreviations Capitalization Comma Hyphen
Variant usage African-American Vernacular English AmE and BrE grammatical differences Double negatives Grammar disputes Thou
v t e

A modern English grammar on historical principles is a seven-volume grammar of English written by Otto Jespersen. The first volume ("part"), Sounds and Spellings, was published in 1909; two through five were on syntax; six was on morphology; and seven returned to the topic of syntax. It took until 1949 for all seven to be completed.^[1]: 1766

In 1989 Randolph Quirk called the work "a continual source of inspiration and value".^[2]

Publishing details

• Part I. Sounds and Spellings. Heidelberg: Winter, 1909. OCLC 895492988. Heidelberg: Winter, 1927. OCLC 832266245.
• Part II. Syntax. First volume. Heidelberg: Winter, 1914. OCLC 721272956. Heidelberg: Winter, 1927. OCLC 504564992.
• Part III. Syntax. Second volume. Heidelberg: Winter, 1927. OCLC 163081744. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1928. OCLC 605978794.
• Part IV. Syntax. Third volume. Time and Tense. Heidelberg: Winter, 1931. OCLC 1072433169.
• Part V. Syntax. Fourth volume. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1940. OCLC 175015576.
• Part VI. Morphology. With Paul Christophersen, Niels Haislund, and Knud Schibsbye. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1942. OCLC 220329786.
• Part VII. Syntax. Completed and edited by Niels Haislund. Copenhagen: Munksgaard; London: George Allen & Unwin, 1949. OCLC 889073122.