Paradigms and exercises in Syriac grammar

In issuing this little volume, I should like to make it clear at the outset that I have no desire to add to the number of treatises on the Syriac language already in existence. Nothing has been further from my intention than to write a scientific dissertation on a subject so thoroughly dealt with by men far better qualified for the purpose. Mine has been a humbler, but, I trust, a not less useful aim. The exigencies of practical teaching in Europe and India have made me feel that there was room, nay more, that there was a need, for something of an elementary nature which should be of value to the student who takes up Syriac for the first time. A book of paradigms and exercises is especially desirable in the case of those who have had no previous experience of Semitic languages. This book is designed as an introduction, and an introduction only. With that object in view, many details of the grammar have been left on one side for future study. - Author's note.